Building a better home for birds

Oklahoma Mesonet reported 0.73 inches of precipitation over the past weekly period.

Payne County rare birds listed male Black-chinned Hummingbird at Sanborn Lake for the past several months.

Nationwide rare/vagrant birds for the same timeframe include Newfoundland and Labrador’s ongoing Steller’s Sea-Eagle, Texas’ Yellowgreen Vireo and Wisconsin’s Kelp Gull.

New Jersey’s Ruff and Florida’s Shiny Cowbird still shine on.

Arizona’s Berylline Hummingbird can never be forgotten.

Oregon’s Tufted Duck and California’s Guadalupe Murrelet are some of the finest eye candy.

A couple are buying a residence with 160 acres and hoping to start a wildlife refuge there, which has a lot of the necessities for birds already there. Naturally there are plenty of red cedars, which can be both good and bad, but if they choose to retain a manageable amount, it could be beneficial, yet a lot of ongoing maintenance work. Its northern boundary is the 68th Street Ravine, a recently adopted eBird hotspot.

The buyer feels it has great potential, but with writer’s experience, it already has that, but clearly will need work. If there are red cedars, there are also other invasives that will likely need to be removed.

This is how hotspots tend to come into placement. They plan to apply for grants and do controlled burns and see if studies or conservation projects would be useful there, a capital idea.

There are plenty of articles on the internet about this topic, a couple of which writer has included, and it is obvious that we all want to hear more about this, hopefully to volunteer to plant native trees and help with insect hotel construction, as well as owl nesting boxes and whatever else would be beneficial. They are not comfortable with asking for donations, but it is definitely going to be a necessity.

Kudos to this project in Oklahoma, because we all know that our prairie birds all need a little help with proliferating. Hoping to hear more about this as it unfolds!

Our friend Jerry Davis also did another wonderful article, and it shows the depth of thought that went into it. It follows hedonic adaptation, which is the common return to baseline after an uplifting experience like a bird that we have never discovered in our yards before. Personally, writer cannot imagine such a thing, but as humans, we tend

See HIRT on C4

LIFE AT BOOMER LAKE

Deb Hirt

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to forget when things have crept into the “too distance past.” Imagine...

Instead of just relying on new experiences to feed that fire, take a moment to consider gratitude, sustainability, engagement, and awareness. Like I wrote about last week, experiencing the Black-billed Cuckoo in its breeding habitat, it is impossible to forget about such a find as this northern breeder, which appears here in Oklahoma in its transit. This bird clearly has a lot to tell if we begin to get complacent, so pick up the gear, put it in the car or on the plane, and travel to get an interest level established.

Losing 3 billion birds in half a century is a great eye opener, another reason never to forget the beauty that we have in our midst. The Carolina Parakeet, Eskimo Curlew, Great Auk, Bachman’s Warbler, Passenger Pigeon and the remote possibility of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker will never grace your prized haunts again.

Boomer Lake added Canada Goose, Mallard, Great Blue Heron, Scissortailed and Great Crested Flycatchers, Blue Jay, Purple Martin, Eastern Bluebird, House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, Eastern Kingbird, American Crow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Wren, Northern Mockingbird, American Robin, House Finch, Baltimore Oriole, Great-tailed Grackle, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, American Robin, Black-and-white Warbler, Mississippi Kite, Downy Woodpecker and Whitebreasted Nuthatch.

Teal Ridge shared Northern Flicker, Indigo Bunting, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Green Heron, Redtailed Hawk, Bell’s Vireo, Red-winged Blackbird and Common Grackle.

Sanborn Lake tagged Chimney Swift, Blackchinned Hummingbird, Great Egret, White-eyed Vireo, Fish Crow, Brownheaded Cowbird and Painted Bunting.

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.

We once thought or rather did NOT think, that the Eskimo Curlew would not be with us in the future. When birds are treated like food and disposable commodities, the inevitable occurs. It is best to always have a future plan for what you cherish.

James St. John via Wikimedia Commons