Great Salt Plains 10-16-09 thru 10-18-09

It's been a while since I posted anything, mainly due to not much going on. Did have an unexpected fall migrant at the Tish Refuge which will come in a later post.


My mom and I made our first trip to the Salt Plains. On the way up in a construction zone on Hwy 81 (not sure where we were) we saw a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk (Picture 1).



The other highlight was seeing Ring-necked Pheasants at the Salt Plains on the road to the crystal digging area.

Not much going on at Sandpiper Trail, 1 sandpiper, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and some ducks that were too far to ID.

Didn't see any Sandhills or Whoopers even though hunters reported them. This list is for all 3 days.

1. Red-tailed Hawks
2. American Kestrels
3. Scissor-tail Flycatchers
4. Ring-billed Gulls
5. Snowy Egrets
6. American Avocets
7. American Crows
8. Bonaparte's Gulls
9. Red-bellied Woodpeckers
10. Northern Cardinals
11. Barn Swallows
12. Meadowlarks
13. Canada Geese
14. American White Pelicans
15. Dowitchers
16. Sandpipers
17. Greater Yellowlegs
18. Orange-crowned Warblers
19. Northern Flickers
20. Carolina Chickadees
21. Blue Jays
22. Eastern Bluebirds
23. Mourning Doves
24. Great Blue Herons
25. Great Egrets
26. Red-winged Blackbirds
27. Grackles
28. Northern Harriers
29. Brown-headed Cowbirds
30. Snow Geese
31. Greater White-fronted Geese
32. Northern Shovelers
33. Mallards
34. Wood Ducks
35. Killdeers
36. Blue-winged Teal
37. Gadwalls
38. Turkeys
39. Mockingbird
40. Ring-necked Pheasants (3 males, 5 females)
41. Double-crested Cormorants
42. Northern Pintails
43. Tufted Titmouse
44. Pie-billed Grebe
45. Green-winged Teal
46. American Widgeons
47. American Coots
48. Cattle Egrets
49. Belted Kingfisher
50. Eurasian Collard Doves
51. Great Horned Owls
52. Pigeons
53. European Starlings
54. House Sparrows
55. American Robins
56. Forrester's Terns
57. Bobwhite Quail


Also saw: deer, armadillos, coyotes, snakes and the best of all was a badger running around in a wheat field.

Too hot

It's been so hot lately that I haven't been out much. Went to Tish NWR last week, but didn't see anything worth posting about.

Will hopefully get to go to Hackberry Flats this weekend to see the babies that are there: plovers, stilts, avocets.

Hackberry Flats 5-17-09

It started off pretty cool, but warmed up in the afternoon. Sunshine!!!

(Somewhat in the order that we saw them.)

Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Meadowlark
Mourning Dove
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Great-tailed Grackle
Lark Sparrow
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Killdeer
American Coot
Eastern Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Canada Goose
Northern Mockingbird
Wilson’s Phalarope
Black Tern
Great Egret
White-faced Ibis
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Snowy Plover
Pie-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Nighthawk
Franklin’s Gull
Willet
Least Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Common Grackle
Cliff Swallow
Black-bellied Plover
Northern Bobwhite

Life birds are in bold.


Also saw
Skunk
Cottontail
Deer

Tishomingo NWR 5-12-09

Went out for about an hour this evening. Best time was when I had 2 male Indigos, 1 Painted Bunting, and 1 Chipping Sparrow all in the scope at the same time.

1. Painted Buntings (seemed to be an abundance of females out)
2. Indigo Buntings
3. Yellow Warblers
4. Great Blue Heron
5. Crow
6. Barn Swallows
7. Prothonotary Warbler
8. Gray Catbird
9. Least Flycatcher
10.Cardinals
11. Red-shouldered Hawk
12. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
13. Mockingbird
14. Eastern Bluebird
15. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
16. Chipping Sparrow
17. Western Kingbird
18. Eastern Kingbird


Hopefully this weekend we will have some sun. If so expect a report Monday of the Hackberry Flatt outing from Sunday.

Lazuli Buntings

Went to the Tish NWR yesterday to see the Bobolinks that were reported, but couldn't locate any. I did however see Lazuli Buntings.

Also saw Indigo and Painted Buntings, lots of Orchard Orioles, American Pelicans, Franklin's Gulls, both Kingbirds, a clay-colored sparrow, and heard a couple of Swainson's Thrushes.

Arbuckle-Simpson Nature Festival

The Arbuckle-Simpson Nature Festival was this past weekend. I had a good time even though it rained off and on most of the time.

Pictures from ASNF 2009

Tishomingo NWR 4-21-09

Went out for a few hours after work. Watched a Common Yellowthroat for about 10 minutes.

1. Red-winged Blackbirds
2. Yellow-throated warblers
3. Snowy Egrets
4. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
5. Northern Cardinals
6. Red-bellied Woodpecker
7. Eastern Bluebirds
8. American Crows
9. Barn Swallows
10. Scissortail Flycatcher
11. Common Yellowthroat
12. Franklin's Gulls
13. Blue-winged Teal
14. Spotted Sandpiper
15. Eastern Phoebe
16. Carolina Wren
17. Great Egrets
18. Northern Shovelers
19. European Starlings
20. Cedar Waxwing
21. Black Vulture
22. Mockingbirds

And a couple of armadillos.

Tishomingo NWR 4-19-09

Also stopped by the Tishomingo NWR on the way home to see what was there. We saw a possible Swainson's Thrush. It made a quick appearance with limited viewing so I'm not 100% sure .

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Barn Swallows
3. American Goldfinch
4. Tufted Titmice
5. Northern Parula
6. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
7. Snowy Egrets
8. Red-winged Blackbirds
9. Northern Cardinals
10. Possible Swainson's Thrush
11. Prothonotary Warbler
12. Scissortail Flycatcher
13. Eastern Bluebirds
14. European Starlings
15. Northern Mockingbirds

Milburn Sewage Lagoons 4-19-09

On the way home yesterday we (my mom and I) stopped by the Milburn Sewage Lagoons. Only thing worth mentioning were some Wilson's Pharalopes.

American Coots
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shovelers
Wilson's Pharalopes
Barn Swallow

Beaver's Bend State Park 4-16-09 - 4-19-09

My mom (Linda) and I spent 4 days in the Beaver's Bend area. These were all seen in Beaver's Bend State Park.

Started the time with a pair of Hooded Mergansers, one Orchard Oriole and tons of Buffleheads. Had a nice showing of Indigo's at the Nature Center in Beaver's Bend on Friday morning. Ended Sunday morning getting good views of some good birds before the drive home: Louisiana Waterthrush, Summer Tanager, and Red-eyed Vireo. As we were leaving the lodge we had 1 Indigo make a final appearance which was a great way to end it.

Listed in order of appearance except for the Orchard Oriole as I forgot to add him to the original list.

1. Barn Swallows
2. Gold Finches
3. Eastern Kingbirds
4. Chipping Sparrows - pic
5. American Crows
6. Eastern Phoebes - pic
7. Purple Finches
8. Turkey Vultures
9. Carolina Wrens
10. Tufted Titmice
11. White-breasted Nuthatches
12. Hooded Mergansers - pic
13. Spotted Sandpiper
14. Yellow-throated Warblers (life for Linda)
15. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
16. Blue Jays
17. Great Blue Herons
18. Buffleheads
19. Blue-winged Teals
20. Northern Parulas
21. Belted Kingfishers
22. Great Egrets
23. Double-crested Cormorants
24. Northern Cardinals
25. House Sparrows
26. American Kestrel
27. Ospreys (1 with a fish)
28. Wood Ducks
29. Indigo Buntings
30. Common Grackles
31. Sharp-shinned Hawk
32. Mourning Doves
33. Northern Rough-winged Swallows
34. Yellow-rumped Warblers
35. White-eyed Vireos - pic
36. Pileated Woodpecker - pic
37. Red-bellied Woodpecker
38. Ruby-crowned Kinglets
39. Brown Thrasher
40. Tree Swallows - pic
41. Carolina Chickadees
42. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds - pic
43. Red-shouldered Hawk
44. Common Goldeneye
45. Killdeer
46. Blue Grosbeak - pic
47. Cliff Swallows
48. Green Heron
49. Louisiana Waterthrush
50. Summer Tanager
51. Red-eyed Vireo
52. Eastern Bluebird
53. Orchard Oriole

Biitern Tour (Red Slough 4-17-09)

Ford Hendershot gave my mom and I a tour of the Red Slough on Friday, 4-17-09. Met at 1:30pm with occasional rain and thunderstorms.

We wanted to see bitterns, moorhens, rails, alligators, etc. Ford did a great job of making appointments with 3 of those. Not only did we get to see 1 American Bittern; we saw at least 14! They were everywhere.

We also saw a sandpiper that we couldn't ID, but after looking at the pictures I'm sure it is a Spotted Sandpiper. Link to picture is in the list. We also saw a dark duck, but didn't get pictures of it.

List is in order of appearance (The first 3 were on the way in, Idabel to the Red Slough).

1. Mourning Doves
2. European Starlings
3. Mockingbirds
4. American Crows
5. Eastern Bluebirds
6. Great Egrets
7. Great Blue Herons
8. White Ibis (1 group had 8, another group had 20) - pic
9. Dark Ibis
10. Northern Harrier
11. Pie-billed Grebe
12. American Bittern (at least 14) (life for both of us) - pic
13. American Coot
14. Wood Ducks
15. Red-winged Blackbirds
16. Black-crowned Nightherons
17. Yellow-rumped Warblers
18. Blue-winged Teals
19. Scissortail Flycatchers
20. Meadowlarks
21. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
22. Northern Cardinals
23. Common Moorhen
24. Vesper Sparrows
25. Eastern Kingbirds
26. Tree Swallows
27. Sandpiper - pic
28. Barn Swallows
29. Yellow-crowned Nightherons
30. Dark Duck
31. Red-bellied Woodpeckers
32. Green Heron
33. Black Vulture
34. White-crowned Sparrows
35. Red-tailed Hawk
36. Eastern Phoebes
37. Canada Geese
38. Snowy Egrets
39. Little Blue Herons
40. Cattle Egrets
41. Northern Shovelers
42. Savannah Sparrows
43. Blue Jays
44. Coopers Hawk
45. Green-winged Teal
46. Red Headed Woodpecker (on the way out, still within Red Slough boundaries)

Also saw: Alligator (pic), rabbit, mink.

Tishomingo NWR 3-26-09

Made a trip out to the refuge this morning to drop off a CD at headquarters. I saw 4 turkeys (2 males, 2 females) in the front yard of the house that is on the way to headquarters.

Tishomingo NWR 3-22-09

Ran out to Tishomingo NWR this evening to see what I could find. Was only there for maybe an hour.

Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Cardinal
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Hermit Thrush (On the Nature Trail)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Gadwall
Northern Shoveler
Great Egrets
Yellowlegs
Pelicans
Barn Swallow
Eastern Bluebirds

Heard blue-gray gnatcatchers

Hagerman NWR 3-19-09

Started the day off about 8:30am it was sunny and 50 degrees. When I ended about 11:30am it was cloudy and 64 degrees. Below is what I saw:

Eastern Phoebes
European Starlings
Eastern Bluebirds
Northern Cardinals
Meadowlarks
Crows
Red-winged Blackbirds
Killdeer
American Coots
Gadwall
Greater Yellowlegs
Downy Woodpecker
American White Pelican
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shovelers
Great Egret
Green-winged Teal
Mallards
Pie-billed Grebes
Double-crested Cormorants
Black Vultures
Turkey Vultures
Northern Pintails
Forrester's Terns
Coopers Hawk
Canada Geese
Least Sandpipers
Buffleheads
Mockingbirds
White-crowned Sparrows
Yellow-rumped Warblers
Carolina Chickadee
Ring-billed Gull
Bonaparte's Gull
Tufted Titmouse
Snowy Egrets (8)
Wilson's Snipe (over 500)

Unidentified Sparrows

Tishomingo NWR

Went out to Tishomingo NWR last Thursday & Friday to look for the Vermillion Flycatcher that was reported but I didn't get to see him.

Went out again Monday and just saw the usual species and got close to some Eastern Bluebirds so hopefully the pictures turned out good (they are still in the camera).

TREES Birding

Went out this past weekend to the TREES birding event. Started off the day at 9am, around 35 degrees with a strong North wind. I didn't keep a list, but I think we got somewhere around 40 species in about 2 hours.

Hagerman NWR 2-12-09

Went to Hagerman NWR with the MSC Vet Tech students on 2-12-09. Looked for the long-tailed duck at the L-pad, but it didn't show up. There was hardly any water left in the spot where I had seen the duck last month so that is probably why it left the area.

Nothing special to report. Around 30 species in 2 hours.

Hagerman NWR

Went to Hagerman NWR yesterday to see the long-tailed duck that was reported to TexasBirds on Tuesday. The day started out around 29 degrees and only warmed up to 35 or thereabouts, cloudy and windy. We saw it on the L Pad as reported (with pic). Other species of interest was a Common Loon at the boat ramp between A & B Pads, 9 Horned Grebes, a Red-shouldered Hawk eating an unidentified bird, and a Krider's Red-tailed Hawk. We got around 45 species in about 5 hours.

Trumpeter Swans

Mary and Lou Truex reported seeing Trumpeter Swans on a farm pond close to Sterling. So mom and I got up this morning and went to search for them. Found 4 of them on the pond, 2 imm. and 2 adults. Vic Fazio showed up shortly after we arrived to view them as well.

White-winged Crossbill and Yellow-billed Loon

Went up to Norman/OKC Saturday to look for the white-winged crossbill and yellow-billed loon. We got to the house at Norman where the crossbill was reported and saw it within about 5 minutes. I wanted better pictures so I stood outside the car and froze for nearly 30 minutes. I was putting up the camera when Lou Truex came up to the window to ask if we saw it. We didn't see it that time, but I had enough of the cold so we decided to leave for Lake Hefner and try for the loon.

We started at Prairie Dog Point but only saw coots, pie-billed grebes and ring-billed gulls. We then made our way to the damn. First scoped out a horned grebe, then a loon and some common mergansers (lifer). My mom talked to someone else and he felt certain we were seeing the yellow-billed loon (would be another lifer) based on the way it held its head. Scoping it at 60x I couldn't make anything out except for the fact it was a loon. We then slowly kept driving across the damn spotting more loons far out again. Then we had one fairly close, but I still don't know what kind it was. The guy we talked to earlier said he was wanting a good picture of a pacific loon and was photographing this bird so I'm assuming this one was a pacific (which would be another lifer).

We turned onto Old Lakeshore Dr. and spotted a bunch of hooded mergansers (lifer). Got a few decent pictures of those. For us they were the treat of the day at Hefner since we couldn't see the loons good enough.

We made a second pass around the lake, again starting at Prairie Dog point. We saw DC cormorants and a possible domesticated Mute Swan (won't count this on the life list since he was so friendly). Fed him a few raisins.


Bill

Tishomingo NWR

Made a quick trip out to Tishomingo NWR on my lunch hour today, but didn't see the Hooded Mergansers or the Cedar Waxwings that Dr. Wood reported yesterday. I saw about 15 Great Blue Herons all standing around fishing in the same spot on the lake though.

Lake Lawtonka and Area

We found the Horned Grebe on 1-2-09 that was reported (OKBirds). Also got a good look at a Common Goldeneye through the scope. Below is what we saw at Lake Lawtonka and the Medicine Park Sewage Lagoons.

Junco
Kestrel
Common Goldeneye (pic)
Canada Geese
Pelicans
Starlings
Mallards
Buffleheads
Pie-billed Grebes
Great Blue Herons
Cackling Geese
Kingfishers
Coots
Killdeer
Horned Grebe (pic)
Ruby-crowned Kinglets
Yellow-rumped Warblers (pic)
American Crows
Northern Flicker
Mockingbirds
Mourning Doves
Harris Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker
Robins
American Tree Sparrow
Chickadees
American Goldfinches
Eastern Bluebirds
Northern Pintails
American Pipit (pic)
Green-winged Teal
Red-tailed Hawks
Canvasbacks (pic)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Scaup (pic)
Spotted Towhees