Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: King Rail

These birds have a long, large decurved bill with some plumage differences in comparison to the Clapper Rail.  The coloration is more rich with a rufous upperwing.  There is also more black upperwing center with very bold flank barring.

These rails are much less common than the Clapper Rail, yet they share similar habitat, fresh as well as brackish reedy or grassy marshes where they are very secretive.  They have a nickname of marsh hen or freshwater marsh hen for this reason.  They would rather swim short distances than fly across marsh openings.  The calls are also much slower than the Clapper Rail, and the sound has been compared to the "tchuk-tchuk" calls of a stagecoach driver.

The diurnal King Rail will nest in the same area for years, and they are known to hybridize with the Clapper Rail.  The species will nest upon the ground or in the branches of the buttonbush or similar wetland shrubs.  The ground nests are concealed with a grassy semicircular or cone-shaped roof with a ramp leading to it.  It is hidden by a clump of grass just above the water.  The adults molt after nesting and will be flightless for about a month.

                                                                      King Rail
                                                        McCurtain County, OK 2016

In tidal marshes, they will feed at low tide or in shallow water where only a portion of the bill is below the surface of the water.  If they should feed away from water, they will often take their insects to the water, where they will dunk them before consuming.  They will regurgitate small pellets in owl fashion containing exoskeletal material, small crab shells, etc.

The freshwater marsh hen population appears to be declining due to loss of wetland habitat, vehicles running them over during breeding season, and pesticides.

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Black-billed Magpie

A large bird of the American West in the corvid family, the Black-billed Magpie is easily identified by long black tail with black, white and blue-green iridescent plumage.  It also boasts white primaries and scapulars, readily observed in flight.  The mechanical sounds that the magpie makes are reminiscent of R2D2 of Star Wars fame.  With such a recipe, this is a bird sure to cause the curious to become even more intrigued.

This unusual bird flashes white wing patches while in flight, somewhat similar to the Northern Mockingbird. The long rudderlike tail, which makes up half its body length, appears to belong to the Great-tailed Grackle at first glance.  So what IS it?

The American magpie is common in parklands, riparian thickets, and prairies, as long as there are scattered trees at its disposal.  It also perches on fenceposts as well as along the roadside.  A seed- as well as animal eater, it forages on the ground for insects, rodents, and worms, usually in small groups of its kind.




                              Black-billed Magpie
        Pen, ink, graphite pencil, marker, colored pencil
                        Art by Liana Winters Smith

A Cimarron County resident in the 1920s and early '30s, it has recently been seen in Cimarron County along the river for which the county is named off Highway 325. Though a very rare bird now, it still remains in the Panhandle as a species.  It was last seen in numbers of a dozen in 2012.

The domed nest, though historical, sits near the tops of trees and is twig construction.

These omnivores have habits of the Cattle Egret, which also stays around moose or cattle herds and removes ticks and other pests from their backs by standing upon them. As a gregarious species, it is also somewhat tolerant of humans, often in their vicinity and around their structures, conveyances, or bird feeders to supplement their diets.

They have also followed wolves, cleaning up after their kills, as any opportunistic animal would.  Like crows, they cache food on the ground.  The food is covered up with grass or leaves, and usually consumed within a few days, moved elsewhere for security reasons, or simply abandoned.  No doubt that the aroma will eventually lead other animals to its location if unused.

The magpie ants as well as suns itself under appropriate conditions.  They also roost in the winter, like the American Crow, but don't huddle.  They will also regurgitate pellets, which can be found under the trees on the ground.

They have decreased in the plains due to habitat loss since the mid-1960s and are susceptible to topicals applied to the backs of cattle as a pest deterrent.

Magpies tend to use altitudinal migration over any other type of seasonal movement.
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Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Yellow-headed Blackbird

The Yellow-headed Blackbird offers a harsh, unmusical utterance, even harsher than the Red-winged Blackbird, sounding quite like a rusty hinge.  They will roost and nest within thick, reedy marshes.  Sometimes these flocking birds will mix with other blackbirds to forage for invertebrates and seeds in pastures and fields, where they can obtain sufficient food in both arenas.  They can be found often in cow pastures where refuse from the animals is readily found to attract a variety of insects and flies.

Perhaps one of the most beautiful of blackbirds, the male of the species boasts a bright yellow head, throat, and breast with white primary wing coverts.

They are colonial nesters in marshes west of the Great Lakes, with the nest being attached to vegetation in marshes.  They often sit upon cattails to keep intruders out of their little piece of real estate by displaying and announcing their territorial rights, and often nest with Red-winged Blackbirds.  Breeding males usually have eight females at their disposal for breeding purposes and females will often mate with males in adjacent territories.  They have a cooperative relationship with Forster's Terns to mob predators or give alarm calls.  Yellow-heads may still be breeding in Texas County, OK, and are generally a new breeding species.

In winter, they often migrate to Mexico and the southwestern US, joining large flocks with other birds.  Northern wintering populations are mostly males, while the southern group is usually females.

An interesting feeding technique is opening their bills in the ground like a post hole digger to unearth food and they will also overturn stones for the delectables underneath.

For Views of the Yellow-headed Blackbird and Other Species:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/05/pre-and-post-storm-events.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/04/springs-migrants-have-been-dropping-in.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2016/07/alls-quiet-before-proverbial-storm-not.html

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Rufous-crowned Sparrow

A large, stocky sparrow that is uncommon on arid rocky hillsides or canyons with patches of grass and sparse shrubs.  It is usually solitary unless mated and will not flock.  Much more common in southwestern states like Arizona, it is becoming much less common in Oklahoma.  Its most likely observation spot is either at Black Mesa, Black Mesa State Park, or the Wichita Mountain NWR in the Sunset picnic area in western and southwestern Oklahoma, respectively.

Known for the dark lateral throat striping, the red rear eyeline, pale malars, and split rufous crown with plain gray breast and ground dwelling behavior, it appears to resemble a towhee phylogenically.  It also has a husky descending chatter that seems like it is more mumbled than clear.

                                                           Rufous-crowned Sparrow
                                                          Santa Rita Lodge, AZ 2018

With isolated populations and from twelve common subspecies up to another six more possible,  its populations are often very isolated from one another.

They are insectivores during the spring and summer, then rely on seeds for the winter.

Nests are often predated upon by snakes and a number of mammals, to which the sparrow has adopted a few defense mechanisms.  It uses the drooping wing like the Killdeer, falling from a bush, and the "rodent" run voicing a drawn out alarm call, where all three habits take predators away from the nest.

Its breeding area is a sparsely vegetated scrubland.  The males are very territorial and guard their breeding grounds throughout the year.  When a nest site has been chosen, they will usually rely upon it for many years.  A single brooder, but a clutch replacer when necessary, this species is a victim of the Brown-headed Cowbird.

Rodenticides are also a problem for this species, namely warfarin, since they spend so much of their time on or near the ground.