Bird migration booming
Oklahoma Mesonet reported no rain for the weekly period.
October Payne County migratory arrivals is lengthy, so we will split up the month for both arrivals and departures: Arrivals include Snow and Greater White-fronted Geese, Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks, Western Grebe, Sandhill Crane, Dunlin, Little and Herring Gulls, Common Loon, Short-eared Owl, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Sprague’s Pipit, Pine Siskin, Thickbilled and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, White-crowned, White-throated, LeConte’s, Song, and Swamp Sparrows, Horned Grebe and Redhead.
Departures shall be Yellow- billed Cuckoo, Common Poorwill, Snowy Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Semipalmated, Western, Spotted, and Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Wilson’s Phalarope, Black Tern, Neotropic
DEB HIRT
Cormorant, Little Blue and Green Herons, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Broad-winged Hawk, Least Flycatcher, White-eyed, Philadelphia, and Red-eyed Vireo, Bluegray Gnatcatcher, Clay-colored Sparrow, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Ovenbird, Blackand- white, Tennessee, and Mourning Warblers, Northern Parula and Wilson’s Warblers, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted and Blue Grosbeaks, Dickcissel, Blacknecked Stilt and Northern Rough-winged Swallow.
An estimated 327,600 birds crossed Payne County between Monday, Oct. 7 at 1900 hours and Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 at 1930 hours. Peak migration traffic was an estimated 140,100 birds in flight at an altitude of 2,700 feet at a speed of 15 mph from the SSW.
Expected nocturnal migrants were Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Scissor- tailed Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, Indigo Bunting, Dickcissel, Spotted Towhee, Common Nighthawk, Least Flycatcher, Summer Tanager, Northern Parula, and Yellow- bellied Sapsucker.
The nationwide rare bird/vagrant list included Nova Scotia’s Bell’s Vireo, New York’s Common Ringed Plover, and Pennsylvania’s Kirtland’s Warbler.
Michigan’s Burrowing Owl, British Columbia’s Prairie Warbler, and Alberta’s Red bellied Woodpecker were the final individuals for our time frame.
Alaska counted St. Paul Island’s Pribilofs to locate Wood Warbler, Song Thrush, Eurasian Bullfinches, and a Song Thrush on Adak Island in the Aleutians.
Geomagnetic vagrancy conditions were at 0.5, geomagnetic disturbance was at 0.1, while current solar activity was reaching a high at 1.7.
Species demographic trends show Western Tanager on a n upward climb, while Indigo Buntings number’s were still falling.
Payne County tallied Canada Goose, Mallard, American Coot, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Blue Jay, Belted Kingfisher, American and Fish Crows, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal, Green- and Blue-winged Teals, Mourning Dove, Killdeer, Bald Eagle, Great Horned Owl, Pileated and Downy Woodpeckers, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, European Starling, House Sparrow, House Finch, Pied-billed Grebe, Franklin’s Gull, Chimney Swift, Northern Harrier, Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, Common Grackle, Nashville and Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers, and domestic Mallard.
Lake Carl Blackwell counted Rock Pigeon, Spotted and Least Sandpipers, American Goldfinch, Eastern Meadowlark, Sabine’s Gull, and American White Pelican.
Teal Ridge Wetland added Sharp-shinned Hawk and Sedge Wren.
Keep your eyes on the ground and your head in the clouds.
Happy birding! Deb Hirt is a wild bird rehabilitator and photographer living in Stillwater.
An Wood Warbler.
STEVE GARVIE FROM DUNFERMLINE, FIFE, SCOTLAND, CC BY-SA 2.0
