Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Swamp Sparrow

pete-pete-pete-pete-pete, chip! or  Zeeeeeeee!

Common at pond edges or in wet marshes around cattails, shrubs, prairies, salt marshes, or grass, the Swamp Sparrow can be found in old fields or other wet areas during times of migration.  They will mix with the Song Sparrow, and usually stay low under thick cover.  Do not expect this bird at your feeders, though stranger things have happened.

The throat is usually unstreaked and there are blurred streaks upon the buffy gray breast, and a light belly with solid rufous wing coverts.  Even though it has a red crown, its bulky build should not suggest a Chipping Sparrow, as it rarely comes out in the open and stays within a different habitat.  Remember GISS, general impression, shape, and size as a rule for sparrows.  Also note that is has gray cheeks and eyebrows, another defining characteristic from the chippie.  Northern and western birds are lighter in color than the eastern and southern birds.

                                                                  Swamp Sparrow
                                                           Boomer Lake Park, 2015

These songbirds breed in boreal Canada, as well as northern and eastern parts of the US.  Wintering in the eastern part of the country, they make their way to Oklahoma frequently, as well as south to Mexico.

If one is able to photograph the bird, note its longer legs than most sparrows.  This enables it to forage in shallow water.  They usually begin their song early in the day and can even be heard during a nicely moonlit night.

Numbers have been declining in parts of its range, naturally due to loss of habitat, as well as degradation and ill health of its favored waterways.

This bird will clearly be expanding north in its ranges, most notably for winter limits.

Oklahoma Irruptive Species Profile: Red-breasted Nuthatch

yank-yank-yank-yank-yank

One of the smallest songbirds with the classic steel-blue upperparts and orange breast and belly, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is either in your face at feeders, or a distant tease with that nasal call.

A few Oklahoma residents are already predicting  an invasion, which may or may not come to pass, but if food is scarce for them already in the northern hinterlands, they could be getting interested in the Great Plains as a possible range expansion vector.

Known for a strong interest in the spruce budworm, this nuthatch can almost smell them for their weight in gold.  During the massive budworm infestation of the 1970s in the Boreal Forest wildness, a change was created in forestry over a ten year period that still lasts today with irruptive migrant behavior.  Tied in with this species, it also includes the Evening Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, both crossbills, Pine Siskin and more on the tail end of the phenomena.  This will be discussed in the next section.  For more information, see:  https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/10/long-term-effects-regarding-late-1960s.html

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Wikipedia

The species has already increased its range in a southward moving by nesting in ornamental conifers, especially in mature forest, which is required for nesting sites in decaying wood.  Like its white-breasted cousin and others, this nuthatch is known for hitching backward down trees.

The future of this bird over the next several decades to half century will be in a northerly direction.  However, areas with conifers will always win out, be it north or south.  Therefore, there will be much more range loss in summer than in the winter.

Known for its friendless and lack of fear toward humans, if one stands still in its favored zone, it will come quite close.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: White-throated Sparrow

Poor Sam, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody or
My Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada 

Many times near openings in openings in mixed woods, along brushy understory, or woodland edges, this classic sparrow has a powerful song for such a small bird.  A stocky and dark brown-red sparrow, the gray breast is either understreaked or coarsely mottled.

The offset white throat has sharp delineation and the yellow lores are another identification point.

Attracting this beautiful songster to a feeder will  not be difficult if it is near a thicket for rapid cover.

This late fall migrater can be a slow mover to its southern sources and moves mostly at night.  The tan striped supercilium (eyebrow) adult is more drab and the white striped supercilium adult is more brightly colored.  Oddly, one of each tends to make a pair and it has been noted in studies that the white-striped adult is the more aggressive.

                                                             White-throated Sparrow
                                                           Boomer Creek Park, 2015

This ground forager enjoys fall berries and in the winter likes grass and weed seeds.  A good way to be attractive to the species is to have an unmowed section of back yard for its feeding pleasure.  Wintering birds are most common in the south and east and not difficult to find in Oklahoma and as far west as the Pacific coast, especially when it belts out song.

Mostly a Canadian breeder, this bird is very susceptible to window strikes and is a prey choice of many smaller raptors.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Harris's Sparrow

Uncommon and local, the wintering flock chooses brushy areas around riparian corridors near water.  The species tends to mix well with other sparrows and stands out for its size as our largest sparrow.

Adult songbirds have a lovely color, including the characteristic white face and belly, as well as light gray or brown cheeks.  Only breeding in central Northern Canada in the Nunavet and Northwest Territories of the Boreal Forest, this sparrow is definitely one to be noticed, with the pink bill setting off its good looks.

As a lover of the grassland ecology, it is no surprise that this perching bird chooses to winter in the southern Great Plains through central Texas with open woods and brush piles, as well as the edges of bordering states.  Harsh weather tends to force them from the prairie provinces of Canada.

                                                                Harris's Sparrow
                                                          Boomer Lake Park 2016

Named by John James Audubon after amateur American ornithologist and naturalist Edward Harris, its song will usually be carried from a high perch.  They are expected to arrive in the Great Plains commonly through the month of November and early December, though early migrants have been recorded.  It will sometimes visit feeders for outstanding views of its countenance.  A group of Harris's Sparrows is known as a poll.

Immature birds will show a brown striped head, with a more orange toned bill.  This species will likely be affected by climate change due to logging, fires, and soil change on the breeding grounds, which will influence its preferred brushy habitat.

This bird only breeds in Canada, and is only native there and in the US.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Red Fox Sparrow

The Red (Taiga) Fox Sparrow is the most brightly colored Fox Sparrow that winters in Oklahoma.
It comes to the southern Great Plains area around October to mid-November and stays until early April, when it goes back north for breeding purposes.  It is widespread locally over the entire state except the Panhandle, which is lacking in brush and trees.

Associates of many other wintering sparrows, they are also ground foragers, as backward scratchers within leaf litter seeking insects, fruit, and seeds, similar to towhee behavior.

This large sparrow is the most prolific of all of the Fox Sparrows with the largest swath of migratory and breeding range, especially in the Boreal Forest.  Depending upon the races or forms, their coloration can vary from foxy red to dark brown to gray.

                                                          Red (Taiga) Fox Sparrow
                                                         Boomer Creek Park, 2015

Out of the breeding zone, these are generally solitary birds, occasionally in small groups.  Their distribution has changed somewhat due to human proclivities involving logging and both natural and set fire regimes.  Both of these create a heavy understory, which this bird finds very appealing.

This stocky sparrow is larger than the Song Sparrow and more brightly colored.  Sometimes confused with the Hermit Thrush, it has a much different GISS (general impression, shape, and size) and coloration will not change with the season.

It is a long- to short-distance migrant, whereby the Alaskan population may go as far southeast as Florida.  The Sierra Nevada subspecies is an altitudinal migrater, and the remainder are more of a short distance mover.

As can be seen thus far in the winter bird profiles on sparrows, this will be another easy sparrow to identify.

Oklahoma Winter Bird Profile: Lincoln's Sparrow

Often a mild winter resident of Oklahoma in dense thickets and overgrown fields, some of the Lincoln's Sparrows are already moving in from northern US and Boreal Forest breeding grounds.  These sparrows tend to like grassy patches around trees and brush near water sources.  Generally solitary, they will mix with other flocks of sparrows.

This streaked brown and buff sparrow clearly shows malted-milk sides with a black streaked breast and white belly and throat.  The buffy mustache stripe is bordered with brown lines.  The crest commonly moves up and down when the bird is intrigued or alarmed, but is not a clear delineator of the species.

The medium sized sparrow is not as dainty as it appears and is a skulker.  It often is missed in migration, so tune your ears to its sound.  Pishing will draw it out, but never do that to any bird in the winter so they may conserve energy when they need it the most.

                                                               Lincoln's Sparrow
                                                         Boomer Lake Park, Winter 2017

This New World sparrow covers most of North and Central America in subalpine woods,  thickets, and even subarctic streams, fens, swamps, wet meadows, and mountain meadows of the western US.  Alders, willows, spruce, tamarack and thick ground vegetation will draw it within.

If one hears the characteristic double scratch of a sparrow, look carefully for the source on the ground, as it could well be the shy migrant.  Flitting from one spot to another,  Lincoln's will incessantly chip when faced with an intruder's approach.

Enjoying grasses, weeds, insects, seeds, grains, and invertebrates, they can be expected in September or October as migrants.  Expect it for Christmas Bird Count if in the appropriate area in Oklahoma.

This bird was named by John James Audubon for his friend, Thomas Lincoln of Dennysville, Maine.  It was originally called Tom's Finch after the man that shot it for Audubon.

Vagrants of Oklahoma: Great Kiskadee

KREEtaperrr, Kiskadeee, Christopher, BEE-tee-WEE

Whatever dialect you choose, the raucous Great Kiskadee will say something that you will understand.  This handsome passerine perches conspicuously in treetops in small groups, and due to its coloration, it is very easy to locate.

Common is dense woodlands, as well as around a water source, this perching songbird sometimes consumes fish, lizards, insects, and berries.

Seen only from spring through summer and until migration, a Great Kiskadee presented itself at Red Slough in McCurtain County in 2012.  It had been seen several times during that stretch, but was the only time recorded on eBird.  As several people there would agree, it was a very eye-catching vagrant.

Open and second growth wood lots appeal to them, as do scrubby irrigation channels, and suburbs when in a breeding area.  In the tropics and subtropics, they are within shade-grown coffee farms, and citrus and banana plantations.

                                                                Great Kiskadee
                                                   Lower Rio Grande Valley, TX 2017

These bold large flycatchers will eat animal or vegetable matter, human offerings, and even steal cat and dog food from the dishes.

Commonly found in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a permanent resident, this is one subspecies out of ten seen worldwide.  In 1957, the large flycatcher was introduced to Bermuda to control the large number of lizards.  It has proliferated to this day, and was never interested in Caribbean amphibians as a food source.  Only rarely will it migrate to Arizona.

In flycatcher fashion, it will mob hawks and larger birds due to its nature.


More of the Great Kiskadee and the Lower Rio Grande Valley:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/02/birding-on-shoestring-days-11-through-13.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/02/days-one-and-two-of-birding-lower-rio.html

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Cassin's Kingbird

Chi-beer, chi-bew, chi-beeeer-beeeer-beeeer

Cassin's Kingbird is easily distinguished by a yellow belly, dark gray head and breast, which accentuates the white throat patch.  The tail tip is also white, and it has a thick bill.  This species of kingbird is locally common around tall cottonwoods, ponderosa pine clearings in forests, as well as in oak savannah.  They will even be found in higher elevations than other kingbirds. More of a southwestern bird, it is seen in Oklahoma in one of the hottest spots that I have ever discovered, Black Mesa State Park, and chances are mediocre to good that it is still breeding there.

Like tyrant flycatchers do, it settles upon a perch like limbs, barbed wire, and fenceposts to sally for insects either in flight or upon the ground.  They will also consume fruit and seeds.

                                                                   Cassin's Kingbird
                                                            Patagonia Town Park, 2018

Mating rituals are of interest with flycatchers.  They will hover in place with outstretched wings upon a perch calling in a high pitched tone.  This occurs several times daily, usually in a favored hunting spot.

Trees, fenceposts, and bushes are used for nest sites, but most are found in great heights in taller trees.

Cassin's and Western Kingbirds have a low tolerance for one another, but have clearly been seen nesting in the same tree.  Collective terms for the species are tyranny, court, and  coronation.

There had been mention that a Cassin's was observed in Oklahoma feeding a juvenile Western Kingbird repeatedly in 1997, which raises the question as to whether they may hybridize upon occasion.

Cassin's Kingbird and Other Birds on Panhandle and in Southeast AZ

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2017/05/birding-on-shoestring-life-on-oklahoma.html

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/05/birding-on-shoestring-american_6.html

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Eastern Bluebird

Jeew, jeew, jeew.

Ever so softly spoken, that sound can be recognized anywhere.  One might have to look a bit to see where it came from, but it is truly a happy sound and welcome in any season.

Often observed in back yards, woodlands, farmlands, upon fences, in parks, or in orchards in open grassy areas, this little thrush feeds upon insects or fruit and seeds.  They are often in groups combing the area in search of food.  As long as there is plenty of food available, they will not migrate.

Very social, yet territorial during the breeding season, they normally raise two to three clutches each season.

                                                          Adult male Eastern Bluebird
                                                             Boomer Lake Park, 2015

Nest construction is done in abandoned woodpecker holes, telephone poles, snags, dead limbs, or nest boxes with holes no larger than 1.5 inches in diameter.  This can be done as early as late February.  There should be an adequate perch near the residence, where the entrance should face east or south due to rain exposure in Oklahoma.  It takes the female about ten days to build a small cup nest lined with grass, feathers, hair and stems, usually in March.  Three to six or seven light blue or sometimes white eggs are laid, which take about two weeks to hatch.

                                                         Adult female Eastern Bluebird
                                                             Boomer Lake Park, 2015

Both parents raise the young insect protein and a few of the young birds may help to rear the second or possibly, third brood, as a cooperative breeder.  Young are gray with a speckled breast.

A large portion of the young don't survive their first winter due to both starvation and the cold.   They have plenty of predators including rodents, snakes, raptors, invasive birds, and the worst of all, the house cat.

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Northern Parula

In springtime, this delightful small wood warbler can be seen actively moving in upper tree branches seeking insects.  The Northern Parula, about the size of a kinglet, is one of those wee birds.  This multicolored delicate bird likes moist deciduous evergreen or mixed woods.  It can be found near any body of water and beard or Spanish moss is necessary for nesting.  Spanish moss will be found in the forests of the South, while beard moss grows in the northern areas.

This is usually a mid- to upper-story canopy bird that hovers for insects, but usually remains out of sight.  It is similar to a chickadee clinging to branches upside down.  They are actually quite friendly and tame when encountered.

                                                                  Northern Parula
                                               South Padre Island Convention Center, 2014

A breeder of the east, Northern Parula families are readily found in eastern Oklahoma.  The female is a pendulum nest builder in their favored moss of the region.  Sometimes clumps of vegetation and tangled vines are used for nest building.  At times the female will build a concealing veil above and around the nest, so it might only be visible from under it.  It takes about four days to build.  Though she is the sole incubator, she leaves the nest quite often to forage.  Both sexes feed the young, but the greater share is done by the female.

The original name for the Northern Parula was the Finch Creeper.   The species is known to hybridize with the Yellow-throated Warbler, and the offspring are called Sutton's Warbler.  They are extremely rare

One of the earliest spring migrants for warblers, this New World Warbler is found on the breeding grounds in April or May, with fall migration from September through mid-October.

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: House Wren

This upbeat and cheerful, bubbly sounding wren is common in dense, moist brushy patches, overgrown gardens, and thick hedgerows.  It has a thin, small eyebrow and is faintly barred with pale underparts.

Nesting in the northern segment of Oklahoma, it avoids drier uplands, choosing both natural and artificial nest cavities.  Dense, heavy woodlands are preferred for both living and breeding.

The most common wren has about the widest range of any song wren and besides nesting in the usual wren spots, has even been known to nest inside occupied houses.

                                                                   Marsh Wren
                                                             Boomer Creek, 2015

Fond of spiders and insects, as well as insects more inclined to be on the wing, it will also consume snail shells for calcium and grit.

Males usually arrive upon breeding grounds about nine or ten days before females, and the immatures are shortly after the adult males.  Males will nest in the same territory or not far from it.  Females like to return to the previous nesting areas, so the male will have plenty of possible sites for her to choose from.  Almost half of the males will have a second mate within his territory, and about the same chance for him pairing with the same original individual the next season.

Musician wrens are very competitive for females while courting and will displace a rival about half the time.  He will even go so far as to destroy the eggs and nestlings of another pair.  Being known for puncturing the eggs of other species, the House Wren does it merely for survival of the species, and perhaps to increase food sources.

Nesting cavities will have a one inch diameter entrance with a twig bottom substrate.  Nest cups are made with feathers, grass, and other soft material.  The species is double-brooded.

Who was around the House Wren today?

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-secret-of-wood.html

                                                     House Wren, Gray Eastern Subspecies

                                                  Three Lakes area, Miami-Dade County, FL

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Blue Grosbeak

Singing a rich, husky warble with a mumbling quality, the uncommon Blue Grosbeak makes itself known in open weedy fields singing from tall weeds or bushes.  Characteristic of old fields turning back to woodlands, they breed in areas of mixed grass and shrubs with scattered trees.

Named for two noticeable field marks, the deep blue color and the large powerful bill, this songbird usually raises two broods each summer.  It often uses snakeskin as a nesting material, perhaps to surprise possible predators.  Nests are usually at clearing edges that are built near the ground, with incubation done by the female.  Nestlings are cared for by both parents.

                                                                 Male Blue Grosbeak
                                                                     Big Thicket, TX
Most of these large finches nesting in the eastern US migrate across the Caribbean, as they are regularly seen there during both spring and fall migrations.  What data exists shows that the Blue Grosbeak may be heavily parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird.  In the fall, flocks will gather in rice fields before they fly south.  The flight call is a metallic klink.

A group of grosbeaks is known as a gross of grosbeaks. 

The Blue Grosbeak and Birds of Northeast Texas:

https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-natural-world-according-to.html

Oklahoma Breeding Bird Species Profile: Lark Sparrow

A passerine common in open grassy areas with scattered trees or in shortgrass adjacent to trees, and found easily in pastures and on farmlands.  They are ground foragers, oftentimes on lawns searching for seeds and insects.  This large, thick-billed sparrow has a variegated face pattern, the best identifying feature.

Even early in the breeding season, the male will sing often, be it in flight, on the ground or perched on fenceposts.  Tail spreads are a conspicuous part of display before mating.  The male will  hold a small twig, copulate with the female, and then pass it to her, when she will fly off and possibly use it while she constructs the nests.

Females will occasionally use thrasher or mockingbird nests instead of building theirs, sometimes preferring to be in a tree or shrub.  They will frequently nest upon the ground in natural grasslands where there is a slight rise or a shallow depression in shaded and bare locations.

There are some minor issues with population growth most likely used by loss of habitat or the increase of fire frequency due to invasive grasses.  They once were plentiful in the east, but population drove them away.

One of the easiest sparrows to identify due to the distinctive facial pattern and long tail with broad white edges, the lark sparrow is found in a wide range across the US, except in the east.  This New World sparrow is a short to medium distance migrant wintering in Mexico and is also a vagrant to the United Kingdom.