More birding

The family and I got up early to go birding. I had intended to take them to the Osage Trail between 86st N and Sperry, but we didn't like the parking situation. We went out to Keystone Dam instead. Took Avery Drive and then old Highway 51. Stopped on both sides of the Dam. Not a lot going on, intermittent rain kept most of the birds down. As we were crossing the dam, I spotted a raft of ducks on the lake, fairly close to the dam. Couldn't stop on the dam, though. Damn dam safety rules. They were letting a lot of water out of the dam, which slowed things below the dam down some as well. There were a lot of pelicans below the dam. I saw four of them do something I've only read about; co-operative fishing. They form up in a circle, then rush inwards beating the water with their wings, herding fish into a eating zone, then scoop them up. I also saw a Great Blue Heron which thought it was gull. It was flying low over the water, and then dove into the water grabbing a fish. It then had to fly away quickly to avoid the converging pelicans. I've never seen or heard of Great Blues fishing like this. One exciting sighting; As we were going up Old Highway 51, The Wife called out, "Cardinal, but that wasn't a Cardinal". I stopped the car, got out the field guide and started looking at red birds. She rejected a tanager, and described a black mask on the bird. I showed her the Vermilion Flycatcher. As soon as I showed her the bird she said, that's it! A pretty rare bird for this part of Oklahoma. We went back and looked around for ten minutes or so, but failed to find it again.

The list for the day:

Rock Pigeon
European Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
American Robin
Turkey Vulture
Carolina Chickadee
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Blue Jay
Cardinal
American Crow
Savanna Sparrow
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Ring-billed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant

Fifteen birds, including five new ones for a total of 39 year birds for the family. (I noticed that had in fact counted House Sparrow before, so adding it to the number here was wrong.)

Some more birds.

Our family birding year is not off to a great start, but hope springs eternal. We have gotten out a few more times. Some of the birds we have picked up are:

32. Yellow-rumped Warbler
33. Gadwall
34. Tufted Titmouse
35. Carolina Chickadee

I stopped by Oxley Nature Center the other day, on my way home from work. The damage done by December's Ice storm is amazing. The marsh was full of birds, many of the them Dark-eyed Juncos I've never thought of them as marsh birds. There were also a lot of sparrows. I don't know which kind. I need to work on sparrows. I went to the Pathfinder in Bartlesville this week as well. Saw a lot of expected birds. I also saw some sort of thrush and some "black bird". Never did figure out what they were. This is getting frustrating.

Birds

On a recent trip to Osage Hills we saw the following year birds for the family.

29. Red-Headed Woodpecker
30. Red-Bellied Woodpecker
31. Turkey Vulture.

We didn't see any Wild Turkey, which are quite common there and almost tame. We did see, and hear an unidentified hawk. It sounded like a Red-Tail, and probably was, but it didn't look like one. Maybe a juvenile. According to the TV and movies all raptors sound like Red-tails, so you just never know.

Libraries

The sword fighting lessons Sophia and I go to on Tuesdays are held at the Tulsa Library. We went down early today so that I could turn in an application to the library. I'm looking for a part time gig shelving or any thing like that. The pay sucks, but I am seriously considering going back to school to get an MLS (Master of Library Science), and would like some experiencing working in a library before I jump off the deep end, even if it is just scut work. Anyway, the lesson got bumped by a library event, but they forgot to notify us. Oh well, half a day wasted. On the birding front, Sophia pointed out that my lists didn't have House Sparrows on them. Of course we've seen them, and heard them, and cursed them. Make that 28 year birds for the family. I'm too tired to do a manuscript tonight. Maybe two tomorrow.

More Birds

Since the weather was so great today, we decided to do a little birding trip today. The plan was to get out of the house at 9:00 AM, swing by Copan, Hulah, the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and Osage Hills and get back in time for Sophia's ballet lesson at 5:30. As we were leaving town about 11:15, we realized we wouldn't make everything. As it turned out we made Copan, and the Tallgrass Prairie. We did some walking through the woods at Copan point. It was very birdy area. We decided that every where else around Copan was too muddy. (Note, we must get better shoes for everyone.) Time constraints meant that we couldn't do the little hike we planned at the Prairie Preserve. We picnicked on the veranda at the Preserve headquarters. I did a little birding while while April watched the girls run around the yard. We made it back to Bartlesville about 5:00.

The list of birds seen and heard is as follows. Year birds for the family are in bold.

American Kestrel
Meadowlark (Probably Eastern)
Rock Pigeon
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Ring-billed Gull
American Goldfinch
American Robin
American Crow (heard only)
Scissortail Flycatcher
Great Blue Heron
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird

Only 17 species, but 5 year birds bringing the family year list total to 27. One frustrating note. I saw at least three different species of sparrows, but was not able to ID any of them. I need to work on this.

Year List

April and I have set the the goal for 2008 of seeing 200 bird species. So far we have only managed one birding outing, on January 1, to Lake Copan. It was very cold that day, so we did most of our birding from the car. Most of the birds on this list were seen on that trip, plus a few more picked up here and there.

Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Goldeneye
Northern Harrier
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow

22 birds, not the best start, perhaps, but a start.