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Birds have their favorite snack trees
Oklahoma Mesonet reported 0.29 inches of rainfall in Stillwater for the past seven-day period.
Payne County rare birds for the same time frame include ongoing injured American Herring Gull at Boomer Lake and Spotted Sandpiper and Forster’s Tern at Lake Carl Blackwell.
Oklahoma July arrivals for the month expected will be American Avocet, Semipalmated, Piping, and Snowy Plovers, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Stilt, Buff-breasted, Pectoral, Western, Spotted, Solitary, and Baird’s Sandpipers, Sanderling, Short- and Long-billed Dowitchers, Willet, Wilson’s Phalarope, Caspian and Forster’s Terns, White-faced Ibis, Peregrine Falcon, Willow and Least Flycatchers, Bank Swallow, Sedge Wren, Yellow Warbler and Yellow-headed Blackbird.
The lone departure will be Glossy Ibis.
Writer was unable to get to the aba site to peruse the nationwide rare/vagrant bird list due to site issues.
Just a heads up on a June 24 observation for a pair of Western Grebes at Hackberry Flat.
A reminder for birders interested in crossbills, since we are in the right time of year.
Cones ripen mid-summer to early fall and crossbills may begin swarming unripe cones by early July. Despite fairly pliable scales, seeds typically endure well into winter and early spring. Multiple types are early breeders in the winter.
Douglas fir is one of two universal snack trees that play the biggest role in driving western crossbill irruptions in years when cones are abundant. There are forests dominated by this tree across
DEB HIRT
the contiguous western US and British Columbia, and it would be rare and even possible, to spend a morning in one of these forests with a bumper cone crop without finding crossbills.
Cones are not just an option, but a favorite for all our irruptive crossbills from the smallest-billed type 3 to the large-billed type 2, so finding a local patch or elevation band may be your best bet at locating crossbills.
Know your trees, cones, and crossbill types for a possible rewarding experience this year. Rules are never hard and fast, and crossbills will also eat buds, feeder seeds, lichens, insects, and deciduous tree seeds in cone absence. They will arrive in droves once the new young fledge.
Boomer Lake added Canada Goose, Mallard, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Mississippi Kite, Eastern Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Carolina Chickadee, Purple Martin, Cliff and Barn Swallows, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, House Sparrow, Orchard Oriole, Northern Cardinal, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Belted Kingfisher, Carolina Wren, European Starling, Common Grackle, Downy Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo, American and Fish Crows, Gray Catbird, House Finch, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Pine Warbler, Summer Tanager, Painted Bunting, Dickcissel, Blue Jay, Baltimore Oriole, Prothonotary Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Brown Thrasher.
Lake Carl Blackwell counted Northern Bobwhite, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-headed Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Indigo Bunting, Eurasian-collared Dove, Least and Black Terns, Bewick’s Wren, Chipping Sparrow, and Painted Bunting.
Sanborn Lake tagged Green Heron and White-eyed Vireo.
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.
A Bank Swallow
ALAN VERNON, CC BY 2.0
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