Recorders Report – January 2018
A raft of unusual birds
A New Year and time to start a New Year bird list and an excellent place to record it is in eBird. eBird had redesigned their Home Page including an exciting new feature. Your individual stats with an interesting bird photo shows at the top. A fun new stat is how many consecutive days you have reported birds in eBird along with a record of your longest streak. It is such an easy way to keep track of your sightings and organizing them by county, state, life list, monthly and yearly lists. It is such a great tool for beginners and expert birders and contains information on where to go birding to possibly find that special bird you are looking for.
On the 1st Laura Madden noticed Pine Siskin and Downy Woodpecker at her home in McClain County. At Summit Lake in Norman, Joe Grzybowski counted Redhead, Common Goldeneye and Eastern Bluebird; and Rachel Wrenn added Northern Pintail and Green-winged Tea; while John Tharp spotted Common Loon at Lake Thunderbird West Sentinel.
Jerry Taylor found White-winged Dove at his OKC home, Great Egret at Lake Hefner and Wood Duck at Lake Overholser East. Brian Stufflebeam verified Greater Scaup, Ruddy Duck and Horned Grebe at Lake Hefner west; and Don Maas had Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers at his OKC home. On the 2nd Larry Mays documented Red-breasted and Common Merganser, plus Ross’s Goose at Lake Overholser North; Steven Ireland detected Red-shouldered Hawk at Martin Park Nature Center; John Hurd identified Iceland Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull at Lake Hefner; and Larry Butler searched out the Snowy Owl at Will Rogers World Airport.
Caleb McKinney birded Shannon Springs Park in Grady County several times and on the 3rd he saw Northern Shoveler and Wilson’s Snipe. Meanwhile, in Stillwater Corey Riding confirmed Iceland Gull at the Meridian Technology Center Pond and Scott Loss recognized Lesser Black-backed Gull at Boomer Lake Park. In Oklahoma County Bill Diffin encountered Greater White-fronted Goose and Bald Eagle at Lake Hefner; Zach Poland observed Winter Wren and Orange-crowned Warbler at the Myriad Botanical Gardens in downtown OKC; and Jimmy Woodard tallied Spotted Towhee at his Midwest City yard. On the 4th John Moyer got Horned Grebe at Lake Thunderbird Dam; and in Garvin County Esther Key recorded Loggerhead Shrike, Brown Creeper and Bewick’s Wren. In Payne County Kent Andersson had Purple Finch in Stillwater; Scott Loss located Long-tailed Duck and Prairie Flacon at Lake Carl Blackwell; and he reported six Trumpeter Swans and a Tundra Swan found by Eric Duell on Boomer Lake.
On the 5th Gretl Landes identified Orange-crowned Warbler at her suet feeder in Norman. On the 6th Zach Poland confirmed Rusty Blackbird, Bonaparte’s Gull and Ruby-crowned Kinglet at Liberty Lake in Guthrie County; and Brian Marra verified Northern Bobwhite and Spotted Sandpiper at Arcadia Lake. On the 7th Zach Poland detected Eared Grebe at Lake Hefner; and Chad Ellis spotted Snow Goose at his home in OKC. On the 8th Zach Roy verified Pine Warbler at Boomer Lake Park; and Bill Diffin observed Red-necked Grebe at Lake Hefner. On the 9th Larry Mays documented Pacific Loon at Lake Hefner. On the 10th Jason Shaw had a Sharp-shinned Hawk in Chickasha in Grady County. On the 11th Chris Butler saw Northern Harrier at Martin Park Nature Center.
On the 12th Rachel Wrenn discovered Black Vulture at Stars and Stripes Park at Lake Hefner. On the 13th Zachary Helmans got a Common Goldeneye at Guthrie Lake; Jim Arnett located Barred Owl at Stinchcomb WMA and at Rose Lake Deanne McKinney counted Lincoln’s Sparrow; while Bob Ellis noticed Savanna Sparrow. On the 14th Steve Davis photographed a Common Redpoll at his backyard feeder in NW OKC; Thomas Jones saw Northern Pintail and Bonaparte’s Gull at Purcell Lake in McClain County; and Rachel Wrenn recognized Ferruginous Hawk at Ten Mile Flats west of Norman. On the 15th Caleb McKinney encountered Snow Goose, Greater Roadrunner, Barred Owl and Fox Sparrow on 90 acres Hunting Land in Grady County; Steve Davis recorded Chipping Sparrow at Guthrie Lake and a Vesper Sparrow at Liberty Lake; while Emily Hjalmarson tallied Prairie Falcon at Ten Mile Flats.
On the 17th Grant Beauprez added Red-breasted Nuthatch at Arcadia Conservation Education Area. On the 18th Emily Hjalmarson reported American Pipit along South Jenkins in Norman. On the 19th Brian Stufflebeam viewed Northern Pintail and Hairy Woodpecker at Lake El Reno; and Larry Mays turned up Marsh Wren at Stinchcomb WMA East. On the 20th John Hurd counted Snow Goose, Wood Duck, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and LeConte’s Sparrow at Cannon Ranch in Lincoln County; Caitlin Laughlin recognized American Woodcock at West Richmond Road in Payne County; Zach Roy found Smith’s Longspur at Boomer Lake Park and Orange-crowned Warbler at Sanborn Wetland; and Larry Mays identified Red Crossbill at Lake Carl Blackwell.
On the 21st Zach Poland discovered Chestnut-collared Longspur at his home in Logan County; and Brian Marra spotted Wilson’s Snipe and Greater Yellowlegs at Stinchcomb WMA West. On the 23rd Jimmy Woodward located Ross’s Goose and Bald Eagle at Taylor Lake in Grady County. On the 24th Joe Grzybowski added Eastern Screech-Owl at the North Base in Norman. On the 26th Joe Buck observed Pine Siskin in Edmond. On the 27th John Hurd detected American Tree Sparrow and Western Meadowlark at NW 63rd and Kilpatrick Turnpike; Emily Hjalmaron recorded Red-breasted Nuthatch at Pebblebrook Park in Norman; and John Tharp saw Brown Thrasher at John H Saxon Park in Norman. On the 28th Bridger Arrington noticed a Red-headed Woodpecker in South Muhall; and Joe Grzybowski found Purple Finch in Old Alameda neighborhood in Norman. On the 29th Michael Kane reported Hermit Thrush at Stinchcomb WMA. On the 30th John Tharp documented Winter Wren along South Jenkins. On the 31st Ben Sandstrom confirmed a White-throated Sparrow at Mineral Wells Park in Guthrie. What a busy month with quite a few interesting and unusual birds. Now is the Time to plan for The Great Backyard Bird Court on February 16-19. For information see: http://gbbc.birdcount.org/
During January of 2018 in the Central Oklahoma area 139 species were reported for the year. I appreciate those who help provide the history of central Oklahoma birds by making reports at http://ebird.org and I can also be contacted by e-mail at emkok@earthlink.net . Esther M. Key, Editor.