Plenty of late birds coming through

Oklahoma Mesonet recorded no rainfall over the past seven-day period.

Payne County rare birds for the same timeframe included a late Dickcissel at Whittenberg Park, late Indigo Bunting at Bearded Birding Wildlife Refuge (private), and several late Black-throated Green Warblers at Couch Park.

An estimated 1,000 birds crossed Payne County between Monday, Oct. 26 at 1840 hours and Tuesday, Oct. 26 at 0740 hours.

Peak Migration traffic was an estimated 8,400 birds in flight recorded Oct. 26 at at 2320 hours from a direction of WSW, wind speed of 5 mph, and at an altitude of 1,300 feet.

Expected nocturnal migrants were Dark-eyed Junco, Song, Lincoln’s, White-throated, Fox, Harris’s, and White-crowned Sparrows, Scissortailed Flycatcher, Gadwall, Redhead, Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers, Lesser Scaup and Spotted Towhee.

Nationwide vagrant/rare birds were Barnacle Goose of Massachusetts and Tundra Bean-Goose of New York.

Roadside Hawk of Texas and Rosethroated Becard of Texas were also observed.

Slaty-backed Gull, McKay’s Bunting of Nome Harbor and Eyebrowed Thrush of Alaska made an appearance.

Yellow-green Vireo and White Wagtail of California stood for the count.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper of Hawaii made an appearance.

Late Eastern Wood-Pewee was tagged at Myriad Botanical Gardens in downtown OKC, as well as late female Blackburnian Warbler at Martin Park Nature Center, in northern Oklahoma City, all on Oct. 24.

Male Common Poorwill was also checked at Oklahoma DEQ Pollinator Nature Garden in OKC day roosting for several days.

There are still plenty of late birds coming through the area, so do stay vigilant, especially with rains expected over this weekend. Not only do we have the advantage of some unusual finds, the trees are becoming bare for better visibility.

Boomer Lake added Canada Goose, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, domestic Mallard, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Doublecrested Cormorant, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Redbellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, Carolina Wren, American Robin, Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Cardinal, gull sp., Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, European Starling, Eastern Bluebird, House Sparrow, House Finch, Red-winged Blackbird and Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Lake Carl Blackwell counted Eurasian Collared-Dove, Killdeer, Franklin’s Gull, Osprey, hawk sp., Redheaded, Downy, Hairy, and Pileated Woodpeckers, American Kestrel, Eastern Phoebe, Tufted Titmouse, Golden-crowned Kinglet, White- and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Northern Mockingbird, Pine Siskin, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Whitethroated, Lincoln’s, and Swamp Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlark, Common Grackle, blackbird sp., Pine Warbler, Ring-billed Gull, Forster’s Tern, Northern Harrier and Red-tailed Hawk.

Teal Ridge spotted American Goldfinch.

Keep your eyes on the ground and your head in the clouds. Happy birding!

LIFE AT BOOMER LAKE

Deb Hirt

Common Poorwill is our smallest nightjar that has an overall grayish appearance with a very short tail. Don’t confuse that short tail with young birds during breeding

jakeschneider00, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons