Monday, September 30, 2024
Saturday, July 15, 2023
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Saturday, May 14, 2022
Monday, May 2, 2022
050222 Migratory Action in the Heat of 2022
Warbling Vireo
042722 Clay-colored Sparrow
042922 Lincoln's Sparrow
Green Heron, First of Season
There was also a second one in the area.
042122 Gray Catbird
Every year a pair come to breed.
042022 Snow Goose
At the end of March, this bird who was a juvenile at the time, and in the company of 19-20 Canada Geese remained at Boomer Lake until close to the end of April. It simply disappeared, even though it went everywhere with its Canada Goose entourage. Writer believes that nature finally struck and it reached the time when Zugunruh made it restless. It could easily be in its northern breeding area now doing what comes naturally.
Brown Thrasher
Several thrashers appeared in the area all calling for mates, which was fine for a day or two, but even nest mates will become angered and expect the others to move on, even if they must be forced to do so. This is the male that is left and he has a mate. As a matter of fact, just on May 4, one was seen collecting nesting material.
041522 Yellow-rumped Warbler
We still have a sparse amount of Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers that hatched later than the first group, which should be in breeding territory now. As one can observe, this male was in breeding plumage when this photo was taken.
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Saturday, October 17, 2020
101720 September-October Migrants at Boomer Lake, Stillwater, OK
092320 Least Sandpiper
092820 Pied-billed Grebes
Migration began in September, and this was one of the earlier photos this fall. This was the day that I found a total of 26 grebes, but I believe the highest count this year was 98 in April (spring migration) at the same location. Between spring and fall, one grebe that was chosen for food was located on Shorebird Jetty.
101220 Franklin's Gull
This was one of multiple Franklin's Gulls, which is a common migrant heading south.
101620 Orange-crowned Warbler
We're in one of the higher migrant days, and this was one of several species that was located in this general area.
Yellow-rumped Warbler
This lovely specimen was one of multiple yellow-rumps AKA butterbutts found in the same Bradford pear as the Orange-crowned Warbler, not far from where it was.
White-crowned Sparrow, View 1
White-crowned Sparrow, View 2
Broad-winged Hawk
This hawk wasn't far from where the above birds were located, but far enough to attract attention if it tried to go after all of them. They had plenty of observant eyes all about them.
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Saturday, September 26, 2020
Saturday, April 25, 2020
042520 The Secrets of the Wood and Migrants Galore
042320 Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Painted Turtle
042420 Neotropic Cormorant
042320 and 042420 were outstanding birding days. It started off at about sixty degrees after midnight and by 0700 hrs, we were raring to go on Friday the 24th, since it had rained all day Thursday until around 1800 hrs with a little more in the wee hours Friday. Two Green Herons were on Heron Cove, which appeared to be a mated pair looking for a nest site in the center overhanging trees where they usually build the first nest. We may be getting down to business shortly, since we recall that the herons moved out six weeks early last year due to extreme heat by June-early July on the west side of the Cove where the afternoon sun is strongest.
There were Pied-billed Grebes, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal, American Coots, and Double-crested Cormorants all around the outskirts of the Heron Cove area on the main portion of Boomer Lake. There were plenty of Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers all around the Cove, as there were normal resident birds and at least one out-of-the ordinary Bobolink for this area. It was heard but remained hidden within the taller grass on the west end of The Cove. It was refreshing to hear the cheerful and bubbly warbling on assorted pitches, but it was unfortunate that the bird did not avail itself for a photo. That really would have been the feather in writer's cap, especially since the first bird didn't avail itself to me either back in 2017.
Responding toward Shorebird Jetty, there was what appeared to be a White-faced Ibis among American Coots, Northern Shovelers, and Blue-winged Teal. Spotted Sandpipers were wafting around The Jetty, and eventually a Lesser Scaup was observed among a second raft of Blue-winged Teal, much larger than the diminutive ducks on the northwest side of the jetty. Another birder was sneaking up on the ibis trying to get a positive identification and it flushed, heading south and off Boomer Lake. Our Savannah Sparrow, which has been hanging its hat on this jetty for the past two weeks, continued to show itself. There were also multiple waves totaling hundreds of Franklin's Gulls, while the three Bonaparte's Gulls hung tight at Boomer Lake Park.
Heading north, sparrows were apparent, including the Lincoln's, Chipping, and another Savannah Sparrow. All over the east side of the lake, the Purple Martins were riding high capturing insects. At least one female must be sitting on eggs!
Baltimore and Orchard Orioles are actively ringing in the spring, along with additional Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, and a single Western Kingbird. An Eastern Meadowlark was heard on the Kicker field. Several young patches of trumpet vines are awaiting happy customers at choice locations.
Plenty of high breeding plumaged Double-crested Cormorants are roosting on the trees of Goose Island, as well as fishing in the nearby waters. Every day the male's crests are getting longer. The lone Neotropic Cormorant that was stationed on a snag between the northeastern jetty and Goose Island left the area over a week ago, and on Friday there was another one possibly replace it.
Heading nearer Airport Road, a couple of first of year Yellow Warblers were madly feeding on insects, likely having just extricated themselves from dealing with yesterday's assorted thunderstorms and rain.
It started to get interesting around the former new metal power pole clear cut site where trees were removed last year to make room for added electrical connections. For unusual nature there was a very young painted turtle and an odd orange fungus on a red cedar tree.
Within the now damp area along the small creek bed near Airport Road, numerous warblers were cavorting, including Yellow-rumped, more Yellow, and a Black-and-White Warbler. Fully investigating this area, we came up with Louisiana Waterthrush, possibly additional Black-and-White Warblers, a Painted Bunting, and more Harris's Sparrows in the distance and what could be emulating the Hooded Warbler in the drier area near the taller marsh grasses, along with a Marsh Wren. These additional birds were confirmed with a hosting Carolina Chickadee in the area of the columbines, while more Brown Thrashers went about their new nesting area. Spending a good hour in this region, it truly paid off, including the Red-bellied Woodpecker sounding off across Airport Rd.
After over four hours of birding and 67 species for the day, writer was very pleased with the fruitful adventure.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Monday, October 28, 2019
Post-Rain Adventures still Continue with One Shorebird
Pine Siskin atop Bradford Pear
Yellow-rumped Warbler in Northern Catalpa
102619
0822-0929/48-50 F/clear/NW-7/87-86% RH/29.80-29.83 Hg and falling
After two solid days of rain, it was certainly necessary to get out for a while to look for birds, as I knew they would be out there. On the water we had both Pied-billed and Horned Grebes, the American Coot, Ring-billed Gulls, Ruddy Ducks, and a few Double-crested Cormorants with most of them heading south.
Songbirds comprised large numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a half dozen Eastern Bluebirds, a few Pine Siskins with a couple of fall plumaged American Goldfinches, several Chipping Sparrows, and last but not least a Savannah and a White-crowned Sparrow. The Carolina Chickadees were there as a welcoming committee, but no unusuals were there...yet.
Greater Yellowlegs
102719
0815-0934/50-55 F/clear/SE-9/83-8-% RH/29.72 Hg and steady to 29.81 Hg and rising
Today there were both the Bewick's and Carolina Wrens, American Goldfinch, Western Meadowlark,
38 Yellow-rumped Warblers with most of them in the air, my first Dark-eyed Junco of the season staring me down in a tree, and the Greater Yellowlegs that I saw from Heron Cove. It was so far away, I thought that I had a yellowlegs or Solitary Sandpiper, so I had to go see for myself what was among the ten Killdeer.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Friday, October 25, 2019
Boomer Migration Prior to Rains
Yellow-rumped Warbler, View 1
American Coots
Yellow-rumped Warbler, View 2
102219
0750-0853/45-47 F (wind chill 41)/clear/W-5/54% RH/30.06-30.09 Hg and rising
Just prior to this two day rain that began very early Wednesday October 23, birds were flying in an erratic manner and preparing by eating as much as they could.
There were a dozen or more migrant Killdeer between Shorebird Jetty and the most southwest jetty. I got the actual count when a man was walking his dog and drove them into the air and they went onto the secondary location. There were some Killdeer there, a smaller amount, but I was unable to get an exact count prior to the incident. There were at least six, but I used the dozen figure.
Since this was actually a minor seasonal cooldown, there were also a few ducks upon the water, which included eighteen Gadwall, a few Northern Shovelers (juveniles), and eight American Coots.
The coots didn't even notice me at Heron Cove, and just came nearer when the above shot was taken.
As many know, Ken Kaufman wrote a book on pishing, and gave many examples on the included CD, but I have developed many of my own calls over the years. One that I came upon was actually learned from a Palm Warbler that I once encountered at Boomer Lake. When the Palm Warbler moved out of my view, I used it to call it back last fall.
Several birds were in sycamores, western soapberry and even within the Bradford pear trees on the west side of The Cove. I'm being very conservative when I say that there were thirty-five Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers in the area, along with the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Carolina Chickadee, Eastern Bluebird, American Pipit, Chipping Sparrow, and Belted Kingfisher. Of course, the pipit will never be located in a tree, yet it had been clearly observed in the lowland nearby.
The warblers, kinglet, sparrow, and kingfisher all responded nicely to my own pish, and I could have shown many more photos of the warblers. The kinglet also availed itself, but was on the move, so out of the several shots that I obtained, none of them were worthy to be posted here. The chippie also hung in the brambles, but writer managed to get a lot of good looks for an extended period of time and just might have come up with other birds.
Then the rain hit and my birding adventures were curtailed. Perhaps tomorrow...
For the Palm Warbler Sighting:
https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/10/oklahoma-migratory-species-profile-palm.html
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Fall Migration Still Waiting to Top Out or World of Birds On the Rise
Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored)
Field Sparrow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Field Sparrow
Field Sparrow, View 2
Lincoln's Sparrow
American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch, View 2
Eastern Phoebe
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Goldfinch, View 3
American Goldfinch, View 4
10-20 - 10-23-18
Last weekend and the first couple of weekdays brought two expected fallouts to Boomer Lake. This turned into the sparrow capital of the world, as well as songbird numbers increased. Being conservative, my opinion was in the neighborhood of a dozen winter Yellow-rumped warblers, but I believe it was close to twenty-five.
Also visiting were Orange-crowned and Nashville Warblers. Making attempts to get from one habitat change to another proved interesting, but just listening to the sounds of the birds that came in together, it was easy to tell what was near. However, finding each species was definitely another story.
After the Palm Warbler find, which was Boomer Lake's first recorded sighting, my spirits were high, and we did manage either a late migrating Gray Catbird, or the breeding catbird from these parts just decided to stay longer.
The Dark-eyed Juncos only stayed for a day, but the American Goldfinches and sparrows were eating every seed in sight.
After a brief sighting of about sixty Franklin's Gulls, Lady Luck asked me to settle down and enjoy the sights. So I did.
What I bring to you was just a basic representation of what I was able to find or at least be in view. The sounds of the Spotted Towhee rang through, it was briefly spotted once, but it has been staying put.
After a couple of days rain, it will be time to see what else flew in. Stand by for more information as soon as possible.
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Fall Migration and a First Time Surprise at Boomer Lake
Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal
Solitary Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper, View 2
Blue Jay
Clay-colored Sparrows
10-05 through 10-17-18
A little more migratory movement was underway during this period and as time progresses, it is getting even better.
The Blue- and Green-winged Teals came through during the cold snap, and the Solitary Sandpiper was waiting for me after the rains ended, which left several low points filled with water, but just enough for the shorebirds to be comfortable with. I keep looking over those areas, which are still retaining water, but nothing else has come.
Clay-colored Sparrows along with several other LBJ (little brown job) species have infiltrated the lake. The migrants have been busy devouring fruit and seeds, barely looking up when a shadow is cast.
The big surprise was this beautiful Western Palm Warbler amid the Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and the Clay-colored Sparrows at a tree off by itself with shrubs. I could hear other sparrows, but had been unable to locate them in the area, but the next day was definitely another story.
Stay tuned for more.