David Sibley calls the Peregrine Falcon the “embodiment of speed and power.” It’s known to hunt medium-size birds in spectacular dives and is sometimes seen in the Southern Plains the same time the ducks migrate through. The waterfowl, especially teal, are often the falcon’s target and that’s what I was fortunate to see on a windy, cold afternoon this week. It was the first time I watched a Peregrine Falcon at a close distance and it was exciting to see it manuever over the shoreline, dive at the ducks or pester the much larger Great Blue Heron. I was making my way through a lot of mud, trying to get close enough to photograph the bird but I did take the time to watch it through the scope and learn a little about its markings. I never got close enough for a good photo but did come away with a few shots that confirm the sighting. As a result, I’ve decided to get back into digiscoping (photographing through the spotting scope). My scope is an inexpensive Nikon and lacks the brilliant optics of Swarovski but I used it in the past to digiscope with an Olympus 730. I think it would work better to have a closer match in the sizes of camera lens and scope eyepiece so I purchased a used Nikon Coolpix 995 on eBay. The camera will be here in a few days and I’m hoping for an easy learning curve… foolish notion, I’m sure! But I’m truly motivated because Friday brought a chance to see my first Western Grebe and, once again, I was too far away to get good photos. Do these special birds ever hang around long enough for “do-overs” with better equipment?! I hope to find out!

I wrote in late April about the Great Egret rookery and the incredible beauty of these elegant birds building nests in the tops of oak trees. Now there is some good news to report from the rookery: babies!! Yes, visits to the rookery during the past two weeks have produced sights of many fuzzy-headed, big-beaked egret chicks sticking their heads up above the stick nests. What a sight!!!

Several Great Egret nests contained two or three chicks. The earliest to hatch are now getting quite tall. Unfortunately, a few of the young have fallen out of the nest and wandered around under the trees. I spoke yesterday with Rondi Large at WildCare, an incredible wildlife rehabilitation facility in Noble. She says the adults will often continue to care for the young when they’ve fallen (or been shoved) from the nest. I’m relieved because it was difficult to see the young ones out of the nest and it’s hard to know when to intercede in the process. My late husband was a strong believer in the course of nature, painful and unpleasant though it can be. I know there is much wisdom in that philosophy but isn’t there a time when getting involved is the right thing? I simply don’t know. These experiences with the natural world are a part of what makes birding so rewarding. What are your thoughts?

For many bird species, migration is the only time of year when they pass through Oklahoma en route either to their northern breeding grounds (in spring) or their wintering grounds, sometimes as far away as Argentina. So spring is a unique time for finding and photographing birds in my area.

There are 125 bird species listed in the Oklahoma Ornithological Society’s “Date Guide” with arrival dates in April… more than 25% of all the species possible in Oklahoma. I set my sights, both literally and figuratively, on finding some of those birds and getting photographs!

When migration ended a few weeks ago, I ended up with photos of four new birds in my Photo Gallery. News on the OKBirds listserv in late April brought a report of a Piping Plover at Lake Hefner. The bird is classified as “Threatened” on the Endangered Species List and I didn’t want to miss the chance to finally see this bird. My dash out the door after reading the message was rewarded with my finding the bird quite easily. And it posed for photos!!

My next new bird came as quite a surprise. I simply looked out the patio door and saw a black-head bird with a red spot on his chest. Had no clue!! Seriously… I had absolutely no clue what the bird was. Fortunately, I took one photo before it flew off and I was able to then indentify it as a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Not a rare bird, but not commonly found around Oklahoma City.

Another OKBirds report sent me once again to Lake Hefner (I’m there almost every day anyway) and I located a rare visitor — a Tricolored Heron. I took more than 100 photos anticipating that the bird would vanish before I got any good shots. The bird didn’t let me get very close but I was determined to get evidence of seeing this unusual visitor. I got my best shots by walking along the dam above the bird. This he didn’t seem to mind…

And the final of my new birds was the Bobolink, located by birders at a sod farm in eastern Oklahoma County. It was chilly, windy and very cloudy but I put my camera on a tripod and hoped for the best. A black bird against a gray sky doesn’t make for “pretty” pictures. But I got a few photos that show the bird and, now that I know where to look, can hope for better pictures next year.

There are many marvelous birds that summer in Oklahoma so migration doesn’t mean everyone keeps moving through! I’ll write soon about two of my favorite summer birds: the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (our state bird — we have the best state bird!!) and the Mississippi Kite. Both are nesting and I hope before too long to get photos of fledglings.

Enjoy the birds!

Although the Great Horned Owls are already seeing their chicks leave the nest, nesting season for most birds is just beginning. The spring migrants are finally showing up… they aren’t late — I’ve just been impatient for their return. I’ll write soon about some of the birds I’m hoping to photograph, but it’s going to be hard to witness a nesting experience better than what I had this week when I visited an egret rookery!

Bethany is a suburb of Oklahoma City and has many neighborhoods with wonderful oak trees. For some reason, great numbers of egrets began nesting in Bethany more than three decades ago. They’ve been chased out of some neighborhoods; the egrets simply vacated other nesting sites after a few years. This spring the birds decided on a new location (I don’t know how the collective decision is made… has to be one of the strange mysteries of nature) and I was delighted when I received an e-mail from another birder with directions to the new site.

The new rookery* is located along a paved road that leads into a neighborhood. This may not sound like the greatest news to you, but it sure beats climbing over fences and trudging through tick-infested fields — such foolishness as I’ve been known to do just to get a photo! Yes, I drove down the paved road and saw more than 150 Great Egrets on the ground, in the trees and, to my delight, building nests in the tops of the trees. Scattered among the large number of egrets on this 3.7 acre wooded lot were a few Cattle Egret, Little Blue Herons, and a Black-crowned Night-Heron.

The birds didn’t seem disturbed by my presence and I had a wonderful time photographing the birds. The sky was a rich blue and the late afternoon sun highlighted the treetops filled with elegant, spectacular egrets! A few of the birds were already sitting on nests while others were flying in and out with sticks for the construction process. Great Egrets incubate eggs for 23-26 days and the young stay in the nest for 21 days. If all goes well, I may be able to visit the site several times during the next 6 weeks and get photographs of the birds with their young.

*I’ve heard Great Blue Heron and Great Egret nesting sites called rookeries and I think it’s a term that is commonly used. I learned this week, however, that it isn’t accurate. So I’ll pass along input from an expert birder who responded to a question on the OKBirds listserv about “rookery.” Steve Schafer wrote: Rookeries are named after the Rook, a European corvid (not exactly a crow, but close), that nests in large colonies. So, strictly speaking, only Rooks nest in rookeries. But these days the term is applied more widely, to pretty much any large bird that nests in large arboreal colonies, including herons. Heron nesting colonies are also known as “heronries.” (I’ve never heard of “ibiseries” or “storkeries,” however.) Perhaps it’s best to just play it safe and call them “nesting colonies.”

My lesson for the week 🙂

Happy birding!

Finding a Great Horned Owl on the nest is one of the great quests each winter. Not only is it great fun to find one, but these magnificent birds can be very patient nest-sitters and provide wonderful photo opportunities. There’s nothing more fun on a cold day, when the other birds are absent, than to visit a Great Horned’s nest to see the female patiently staring with those yellow eyes.

My schedule this winter has been challenging with my dad’s hospitalization and a full workload so my birding buddy, Terri Underhill, and I just haven’t had much time to spend searching for an owl’s nest. There is no easy way to say this — my father passed away February 15th and I was more than ready this week to chase birds to lift my head and heart from the saddness. So Terri and I headed out on Thursday just to see what might be floating on the water or perching in a tree. It was one of those “just because” birding trips. And to our absolute delight we were heading home when we heard four crows sounding very upset and swooping around a tree at Lake Overholser in western Oklahoma City. A close look at the tree revealed a beautiful Great Horned Owl in a cavity — the first cavity nesting Great Horned Owl I’ve ever seen! Its mate created a diversion to lure the crows away from the nest and we were able to get a few photos of the bird “in the hole.” From the looks of this photo, the bird is really wedged in there. It appears her body is across the left side of the hole?

Great Horned Owls are early nesters, usually starting in January after finding an abandoned hawk or crow nest. They incubate the eggs (usually a pair) for four weeks which means this owl could have hatchlings very soon. In 2003, I found a discarded, empty egg under a Great Horned Owl’s nest on March 11th. That nest produced two owlets — one was later found dead, perhaps having been pushed from the nest, the other survived. I was able to photograph the young bird on one of its last fledgling days.

And so Terri and I have a project to keep us busy for the next 4-6 weeks — owl watching!! It will be fascinating to see how the owl family handles life in rather cramped quarters in the tree cavity. I’d enjoy hearing from others who have experienced the Great Horned Owl nesting experience! Is cavity nesting at all common? Does it influence the success of nesting? This expectant nest watcher would like to know!