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Cold snap likely slowed recent bird migration in Oklahoma
Oklahoma Mesonet recorded no rain over the past weekly period.
Payne County April migrant arrivals continue for the final half of the month: We are expecting Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Yellow- and Black-billed Cuckoos, Common Nighthawk, Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, Sanderling, Whiterumped, Buff-breasted, and Spotted Sandpipers, Sanderling, Least Bittern, Tricolored Heron, Mississippi Kite, Western and Eastern Kingbirds, Olive-sided, Acadian, and Least Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Bell’s and Blue-headed Vireos, Veery, Gray-cheeked, Swainson’s and Wood Thrushes, Gray Catbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, Bobolink, Baltimore Oriole, Northern Waterthrush, Tennessee, Yellow, and Nashville Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Palm, and Wilson’s Warblers, Rose-breasted and Blue Grosbeaks, Lazuli, Painted and Indigo Buntings, and DIckcissel.
April departures shall be Surf Scoter, Horned Grebe, Red Throated and Pacific Loons, Long- and Shorteared Owls, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Merlin, Mountain Bluebird, Townsend’s Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Purple Finch, Red Crossbill, Darkeyed Junco, Song and Swamp Sparrows, and Western Meadowlark..
An estimated 200 birds crossed Payne County between Monday, April 14, 2025 at 2000 hours and Tuesday April 15, 2025 at 0650 hours.
An estimated 500 birds in flight were recorded on Tuesday April 15, 2025 at 0100 hours. Not all birds may fully cross a region in one night, resulting in a greater number of birds in flight than total birds crossed. No doubt the cold snap contributed to the lack of migrants.
DEB HIRT
Geomagnetic vagrancy conditions on 040825 are currently high – vagrancy conditions are at 0.9, current magnetic field distortion is 0.9, and current solar activity conditions are at 1.8. Relative richness is running high in the south and western portions of the coastal US.
Eastern Bluebird is on a slight downtrend, while Wood Thrush has been climbing for slightly over a decade.
Nationwide rare/vagrant birds show Texas has quite a selection of continuing guests: They are still hosting Amur Stonechat, Mottled Owl, Brown Jay, Yellow-headed Caracara, and Cattle Tyrant.
Florida shared their first Yellow-legged Gull, a primarily Mediterranean bird, which appears in assorted locations on the east coast. We assume this is one of the Azores subspecies, most likely to occur on our continent.
Ontario counted Crested Caracara, which seems to increase as the decades pass.
Florida also tagged Forktailed Flycatcher, while Texas added the same information.
South Carolina added Black-throated Gray Warbler, as Mississippi was not shy with a Harris’s Sparrow.
Wisconsin ticked Tufted Duck, as New Mexico got in on the action with Northern Wheatear.
Boomer Lake tallied Canada Goose, Mallard, domestic Mallard, Mourning Dove, Double Crested Cormorant, Eastern Phoebe, Purple Martin, Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Northern Cardinal, American Coot, American Herring Gull, Western Cattle-Egret, Turkey Vulture, Cooper’s Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Barn and Cliff Swallows, Carolina Wren, European Starling, Eastern Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, House Sparrow, House Finch, Harris’s, White-crowned, Chipping, and Lincoln’s Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Orange- crowned and myrtle Yellow- rumped Warblers, Bluewinged Teal, Franklin’s and Ring-billed Gulls, Blue Jay, Fish Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Great Blue Heron, Turkey and Black Vultures, Great Horned Owl, Northern Mockingbird, Osprey, Bald Eagle, and Swainson’s Hawk.
Deb Hirt is a wild bird rehabilitator and photographer living in Stillwater.
A Yellow-legged Gull
ZEYNEL CEBECI, CC BY-SA 4.0
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