Storms bring birds to the BackyardBirdCam feeders

Oklahoma has been in the news a bit lately, thanks to a three-day ice storm that moved through last weekend. Some parts of the state are still without power. I am ever so grateful that the precipitation that fell in Oklahoma City was in the form of sleet, not ice that coats trees and power lines. But it was a lot of sleet! Some places were 3″ deep with solid sleet that quickly became 3″ of solid ice. Winter weather is always a challenge for us in the southern Plains because cities don’t invest much in snow and ice removal. Until the sun came out today and the temperature finally rose above freezing (6 days after the sleet arrived), we’ve been driving on and coping with a whole lot of sheet ice. My BackyardBirdCam yard was no exception. I took a shovel to the ice as much as possible to uncover leaves and dirt for the ground-foraging birds. Thanks to an inexpensive aquarium heater in a Rubbermaid tub and the pump in my little pond, I was able to keep the birds supplied with fresh water and lots of bird seed.

My efforts were rewarded with the arrival of three Fox Sparrows. These large sparrows are common in Oklahoma during the winter but they favor habit with dense undergrowth and dense woodlands. Not exactly my backyard, although the yard does offer a lot of cover and an abundance of fallen leaves. This winter marks their first appearance in my yard. Birders across Oklahoma are reporting on the OKBirds listserv about sightings of this species at their feeders since the ice storm. Apparently the ice cover is making it hard for them to forage, even in wooded areas. Field guides describe the Fox Sparrow as “cautious” but those inhibitions were lost when they arrived at my feeders. They are active from early morning, joining the Harris’s Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and Northern Cardinals as the first birds in the yard, and they remain active until dark. They haven’t used the tube feeders but have been spotted on a platform feeder mounted 4′ above ground.

There are four main populations of Fox Sparrows and the Red (Taiga) is the one we see in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is on the western edge of its winter range. I’m interested to see if this sparrow will leave the yard when the ice clears or if it has found the ready supply of seed a desirable attraction. Snow is forecast for the next few days and I hope these three lively sparrows hang around at least until we return to our customary mild Oklahoma weather.