071925 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

https://stwnewspress-cnhi.newsmemory.com/?publink=062cb449a_134fa83&fbclid=IwY2xjawLojQZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhD7pE8S5NxAvCnpHsne0q274ndQm78vXEXkCb0qFKq61-txpHSJ22chSTP0_aem_VQosPLb8IhLu1eQ85qWGuA 

100823 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

https://www.stwnewspress.com/news/lifestyles/life-at-boomer-lake-which-birds-will-come-out-at-night/article_ff903c34-63a1-11ee-89b7-9f824ba6288c.html 

082623 Muskogee Edition, Birding Today

https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/columns/birding-today-learning-about-terns-of-north-america-from-cameron-cox/article_3618bcb0-435c-11ee-b903-cbd75cf411f2.html 

Birding On a Shoestring: Brevard County Florida--The Final Act

                                                                 Osprey with Fish

                                                            Magnificent Frigatebird

                                                               Black-bellied Plover

                                                                   Ruddy Turnstone

                                                                       Royal Tern

                                                                         Osprey

                                                                    Laughing Gull

                                                             Laughing Gull, View 2

                                                                          Dunlin

                                                                     Black Scoters

                                                                Black Scoters, View 2

                                                                     Northern Gannet


112318
70's/partly cloudy/windy

Most of the day was spent on the sand in Cocoa Beach off South Atlantic Ave. post Thanksgiving.  The Magnificent Frigatebird showed up early, and several were seen, which is proving that pelagics are not only near land during breeding season.

The early birds were the gulls, terns, pelicans, Osprey, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover, and Willets, among several others.

When the sun started cresting toward the west, it brought out the pelagics.  The Northern Gannet was seen on the horizon, and I believe this photo was nearly a good half mile off.  The Black Scoters were also all day birds, but these sea ducks wandered closer as time marched on.  I don't think that they would have come any closer.

It was a wonderful final day, but unfortunately all good things come to an end.  But see the other two adventures here:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/11/florida-birding-adventure-in-brevard.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/11/florida-birding-adventure-in-brevard_30.html

Oklahoma Vagrants: Royal Tern

Our New Year's Day present in 1989 was the arrival of a Royal Tern at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City, then in 2008, it managed to return.  In 2008, Red Slough was the lucky location for this stately tern.  Sadly, it has not been seen since, so what might we be waiting for?

The Royal Tern is a large tern with a bright orange-red bill.  It is common, and found on open salt water along beaches, oceanfront inlets, and backwater bays.  They are also plunge divers usually in salt water, and very rarely found in fresh water.  These neotropical migrants have a completely black cap during breeding season only, and for the remainder of the year appear to resemble a bald man, with black around the ears and the back of the head.

They are usually present year round in their breeding range, and should be expected on the Gulf coast and the southern Atlantic Ocean.

                                                                   Royal Terns (rear)
                                                         South Padre Island, Texas 2014

These vagrants are colonial nesters that usually breed at four years of age and only lay one egg, very rarely two.  When the young hatch, they leave the nest and join others in a creche, which is a group of young birds.  The parents continue to feed them, each bird recognizing family members by the sound of their voice.  The young will migrate south with the parents, some heading as far as Ecuador and Argentina.

This species sometimes feeds at night, mostly eating fish and small crustaceans, as well as squid and shrimp.  On the Atlantic coast, they favor blue crab.