October 2015

On day 267 Noah commented: “If I hit 5,000 this year that means I’ll still miss half the birds in the world. And if we saw everything all the time, it wouldn’t be fun anymore!” But even if we can’t travel, migration can bring international bird travelers to us. Check out the link about fall migration Jerry W. Davis provided: https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/ pwd_bk_w7000_0511.pdf. As these migrants arrive notice how Towhees and Sparrows search for food by scratching in the leaf litter. So do we send our leaves to the landfill or do we use our leaves as mulch or compost to create bird friendly areas in our yards? SEPTEMBER On the 5th T K located a White-winged Dove and Horned Lark at the Goldsby Sod Farm in McClain County, and Emily Hjalmarson had an Eastern Wood-Pewee at Lake Stanley Draper’s Marina. Along South Jenkins Jennifer Kidney saw a male Lesser Goldfinch among the American Goldfinches on September 8, 13, and 23.

On the 7th Joe Grzybowski spotted a Prothonotary Warbler along South Jenkins, and on the 8th Hal Yocum identified Black-necked Stilts at the John Marshall High School Pond. On the 9th Scott Loss reports migration is really heating up as he observed a flight of 31 Common Nighthawks, 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers and a big fallout of 48 Baltimore Orioles at Boomer Lake. Meanwhile in Oklahoma County at Devon Energy Zach Poland found a Sora Rail. On the 10th Deb Hirt had a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Rosebreasted Grosbeak at Boomer Lake Park; and Scott had a Swainson’s Thrush at Whittenberg Park. On the 12th at Boomer Lake Deb Hirt saw a Northern Waterthrush; in Garvin County Jeff McIntyre noticed a Turkey Vulture; at South Lakes Park Larry Mays had a Gray Catbird; and at the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge Emily Hjalmarson had a Black-throated Green Warbler. On the 13th Dala Grissom spotted an Eastern Screech-Owl in Pottawatomie County.

On the 15th Kyle Horton had a Black -and-white Warbler along South Jenkins. On the 17th David Dowell had an American Redstart at Lake Thunderbird and Nancy Vicars found a beautiful male Wilson’s Warbler feasting on ants in her okra patch. On the 18th Anthony Solorio saw a juvenile Peregrine Falcon at the intersection of 11th and Foreman Road in Yukon. In Norman on September 19, Mark Howery had a mini fallout in his yard, including a life bird—a Mourning Warbler, while Joe Grzybowski captured 11 Nashville Warblers and a Blue-headed Vireo. At Teal Ridge Wetland Jessica Mitcham spotted a Sedge Wren, at Lake Hefner Roy McGraw discovered Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and at Little River State Park Rachel Wrenn had a Lesser Black-backed Gull. OCTOBER On the 2nd Anthony Laquidara saw a Common Poorwill in the Myriad Botanical Gardens. On the 2nd at the USAO Habitat Area, Jason Shaw spotted a Northern Harrier, and along South Jenkins Jeff Roberts had a Mourning Warbler. On the 5th Dave and Sue Woodson watched a Common Yellowthroat Warbler fly to a butterfly bush where it caught and ate a small skipper butterfly. On the 10th Jennifer Kidney heard a chip note similar to a Northern Cardinal from a warbler like bird. She could see bluish wings with faint wing bars and a very yellow breast. After much patience and a little pishing, the bird popped up, and she saw that little comma of black eyeliner–a Blue-winged Warbler!

On the 11th Chad and Bob Ellis found a Magnolia Warbler at the Myriad Gardens. On the 14th John Bates spotted a Sedge Wren near the Will Roger’s Airport. On the 15th Rachael Wren and John Tharp noticed a Bobolink along South Jenkins. On the 17th Jimmy Woodard and Nadine had a Big Sit in their Midwest City yard and recorded Hairy Woodpecker, Merlin, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow and Dickcissel. Caitlin Laughlin saw a Pine Warbler at Sanborn Lake; Brian Marra saw a Semipalmated Plover at the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge; and Zach had an Eastern Towhee arrive in his yard. On the 22nd Larry Mays identified a Horned Lark and Lark Sparrow at the Newcastle Library in McClain County. On the 23rd Corey Riding had a Marsh Wren at the Teal Ridge Wetland, and T K reported a Winter Wren at Lake Thunderbird Alameda Bridges. The next day at the bridges he saw a Dunlin, Brown Creeper and Golden-crowned Kinglet. Joe Grzybowski netted Grasshopper Sparrow and Le Conte’s Sparrow at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and along South Jenkins he spotted a Swamp Sparrow. At Lake Stanley Draper, Dr. Chris Butler found a White-throated Sparrow. Jessica Mitcham discovered a Le Conte’s Sparrow at the Teal Ridge Wetland, and Christine Snitkin spotted a Long-billed Dowitcher at the John Marshall High School Pond

On the 25th Deanne McKinney discovered White-faced Ibises and a Swamp Sparrow at Rose Lake. Joe Grzybowski caught a Hermit Thrush in his Norman backyard, and Brian Marra identified one at Martin Park Nature Center. Chad Ellis saw a Harris’s Sparrow at the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge. On October 26 Noah identified his 5,000th bird species this year in the Philippine Islands and continues on. Can he reach 6,000 before the end of the year? In the Central Oklahoma area the number of bird species reported were 168 in September and 163 in October with 2 new species bringing the year’s total to 286.

In eBird so far this year three counties have reported 240 species. I appreciate those who help provide the history of central Oklahoma birds and can be contacted by e-mail at : emkok@earthlink.net . Esther M. Key, Editor.