041925 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

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033024 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

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011324 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

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011920 SNP Edition, Life at Boomer Lake

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Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

White stripe from bill to belly, less red than black on the head and males' throat, bold white upperwing coverts, and that will likely equal a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker wintering bird.  Even rarely, one might even discover the adult black-crowned female.  With a similar call to a flicker with the wick-a-wick-a, and Queeh-yah, one will soon spot this uncommon bird, if it is heard.  It is usually less active than many other woodpeckers, and will tap quietly.  Its small, shallow holes are usually in line vertically, where they will feed upon sap and the insects contained therein.

These woodpeckers have strong, straight bills.  In winter they can be found in orchards, favoring deciduous trees.  It will hybridize with the Red-naped and Red-breasted Sapsuckers of the west in appropriate zones.

This woodpecker is sometimes considered a pest, as its feeding habits are known to seriously damage trees due to frenzied feeding practices.  They will gird trees, meaning that they will remove an entire ring of bark around a tree that insects will permeate.

                                                             Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
                                                      Northwest Payne County CBC, 2017

Even though the lemony belly can be difficult to observe on perching birds, one's chances will be better on maple, aspen, and fruit trees, due to their strong sap production.  Due to its continual work with seeking sap, these woodpeckers tend to help feed insects, hummingbirds, bats, porcupines, butterflies, and warblers with their overzealous work.

The Spanish woodpecker will readily avail itself to back yards for suet, sugar water, jelly, and small pieces of sweet desert, like donuts or Danish.

Look for a photo of an immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker here:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2016/01/first-of-year-spectacular-shots.html

A Portion of Christmas Bird Count, Northwest Payne County

                                                             Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

                                                                     Barred Owl

                                                                    Hermit Thrush

                                                             Golden-crowned Kinglet


12-30-17

1050-1610/19 F (wind chill 11F)/mostly cloudy with very light snow/NNE-8

This was a most fortuitous day, even though it was extremely cold and very cloudy.  When one is a
serious birder, the only thing that matters for Christmas Bird Count is that the barometric pressure be rising.  Today, it was.

With this being my first cold day out and about since hand surgery, I was slightly apprehensive, but we were car birding and that literally took the chill out of my apprehension.

When we got to our destination, we encountered a very light snow, which lasted the better part of this trip, which for all intents and purposes, I considered icing on the cake.  Serious birders know that certain things are a plus for birding and I knew this was going to be an incredible day.  Even though we were the last to sign up for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, our area was not terribly desirable due to lack of bodies of water, weather conditions improved it.  When the barometer rises like it did, things rapidly change for the better.

Our day was excellent, not only for what we saw, but for what happened to make itself visible.  These
photos happen to show what I considered good birds for me, because the better part of these, I had been unable to photograph until today.  The shot of the Golden-crowned Kinglet isn't the usual quality that I hope for, but this shot took YEARS.  The Hermit Thrush doesn't usually make itself visible, so this was the first photo op that it ever gave me.  I had only heard it in the past.  This adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was the first adult that I have been privy to in such prime conditions.

My companions were equally as happy.  So when you have something to do when it comes to birding and the weather is not quite to your liking, you'd best get out there, because you could have missed those pictures that you have been trying to obtain for quite some time.  I'm glad that I did it.

By the way, my hand did quite well.

As the Cool Wind Blows, the Stars Come Out of Hiding

                                                             Ruby-crowned Kinglet

                                                             Female Northern Cardinal

                                                                 Harris's Sparrow

                                                                Carolina Chickadee

                                                           Female Northern Cardinal

                                                       Bald Eagle Pair(Male on the right)

                                                               Ruby-crowned Kinglet

                                                     Immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker


31-42 degrees F/0750-1050 hrs./partly cloudy/light and variable winds

Most of these photos were from today, but the first two belonged to Monday.  The Bald Eagle
pair was seen through the trees a half mile away, so I meandered out that way in order to obtain
a rare shot, since they are not seen together often.  Since they rely on fish, none of the area birds
were bothered by their presence, and fearlessly went about their business.

Mr. Ruby-crowned Kinglet is getting quite familiar with me, and usually as soon as he sees me,
he swing over to say hello.

The sparrows have settled into the area for the winter, but most of them aren't there every day.
If I had to pick the most common, I would have to say over the years that it has been the
ubiquitous Song Sparrow, who I can see anywhere from twice to six times a day on a good day.

We're now in for a little warming trend, so let me get back to you on the weekend to see if anything
changes.  The ducks have been coming in,m but I am not seeing the numbers that I normally
encounter for the winter.

First of Year Spectacular Shots

                                                                 American Coot

                                                                 American Robin

                                                                   Slate-colored Junco

                                                        Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker

                                                                       Song Sparrow

                                                                Hooded Mergansers

                                                     Immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

                                                              Red-shouldered Hawk


0730-1238 hrs./30-47 degrees F/partly cloudy/light and variable winds

Late yesterday afternoon, came a long awaited walk, but today was a serious day for
birding.  As you can see, five hours was devoted to my passion, and my wonderful
players gave a superb show.  I was alerted to those beautiful mergansers several days ago,
and even though they were across the lake, luck would have it that my camera was able to
perform and give us something to see.

Many of these were obtained at The Northern Reaches, like the immature Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, which does just that:  it drills holes for sap wells and it drinks the sap.  There are
a couple of adults around, and I'm almost certain that this youngster was born there last year.

I have yet to get a nice photo of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, but he was very excited today and displayed his rarely shown red crown.  The pictures are not good enough to post, but once this
bird gets used to me and realize that I mean him no harm, I will get that photo.

Plenty of Great Blue Herons were away from the rookery, available in both locations, the park
as well as The Northern Reaches.  As winter gets colder, they will be skating on the ice.

I was told that both eagles were surveying their territory, but I only saw one.  The sun was shining
upon him, which made my photo a little washed out.

There was a lot of birding activity, even with the eagle in residence, yet most birds realize that
these largesse prefer fish over them.

Let's see what tomorrow brings...