Okie Bird Cam Blog

Bobcat in the neighborhood

2006-11-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

There's nothing that will get me more excited to write than seeing wildlife in my own neighborhood. Last week I had a few errands so I traded vehicles with my husband. I always carry my camera and binoculars in my car so this was one of the rare times I’m without them. I’d just turned out of the driveway and wouldn't you know there sat the bobcat I photographed a few years ago in my backyard. I reached for my camera under the seat and realized I was in my husband’s truck.
It was exciting getting to see the bobcat again and I wasn't about to miss the opportunity to get a few pics. I threw the truck in reverse and drove backwards into my driveway. Within a minute I had my camera and was back to where I saw him. There he sat in the sun watching me. He had moved deeper into my neighbor’s yard but that didn't stop me from taking photos.
After staring at me for over a minute he headed under a cedar. The shadows were so deep I lost track of him. I went back home to get my binoculars and started my search again. After 15 minutes I decided there wasn't any way he could have got past the cedar without me seeing him.
I sat there intensely concentrating on every dark shadow trying to imagine every shape being him. After about three minutes of panning the tree line I got a glimpse of his yellow eyes. I took a few photos from the truck then decided to see how close he'd let me get I'd only walked about ten feet when I noticed his bobbed tail swishing. I decided to slowly lay down in the grass for a better angle. He laid there curiously watching my every move. He got up and for a split second I thought he was going to come up to me. My hands start to quiver but I never look at him with my naked eye, only the lens of the camera.

What an adrenalin rush seeing this awesome creature. Now my hands are beginning to sweat and I lay there wondering if I'd gone too far to get a photo of this awesome cat. And at that very second he decided to leave his good company and headed off. I continued to click away until he was out of sight. I jumped in the truck and relocated him a few feet off the road. I took a few more pics before he headed down towards the creek.
I have to say I haven’t had many unexpected experiences in my life that will top this adventure on the way to the feed store. But in the future I’ll welcome each and every one as if it were the first :)

Bald Eagles in Arkansas

2006-03-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

I took a trip to NW Arkansas to see the Bald Eagles again this winter. I'd hoped to see as many this year as I'd seen two years ago (400 in two days). My first day was disappointing with only saw a dozen or so. The next morning I got up early and arrived just in time to see a pair building their nest...I guess I always assumed all birds chose their nesting material from sticks and branches on the ground. So it startled me to see them breaking branches from nearby trees. I wonder how they knew which branches were dead with this being the dead of winter and all?
I photographed a few Eagles here and there and decided I'd head home since I had a three hour drive.I really hadn't taken any photos making made the trip worthwhile so when I saw an unexplored road someone had mentioned two years ago, I decided to do a little last minute exploring. I cut off on HWY 102 going towards Maysville AR and low and behold not far down the road I saw close to 200 Bald Eagles! They were peppering the trees, sky and ground...I had heard the Eagles came to this part of AR because of the vast amount of chicken houses but had never witnessed them hanging around one. Anyway,I took a few photos of the eagles in the distant trees and if I'd known I was shaking from extraordinary experience I'd set up my tripod.. In the photo I posted here I lightened the birds since the photo is small. The immature birds blend in and don't show up at all in the photo.I think I highlighted a total of 18 birds.
While I was photographing the Eagles a neighboring land owner pulled up. I asked for permission to enter his land to get closer shots. I told him I'd driven three hours to photograph the Eagles.I promised to send him a 8x10 for his kindness. So thanks to him I have this story and unforgetable memories.
I will be forever grateful to him for allowing me the rare opportunity to be close to the most majestic bird in the world.I regret now for not taking video.At the time I felt so powerless all I could do was watch these beautiful creatures. This was truly a humbling moment for me as I sat there in awe.And for that I probably missed the best shotsof my life.So I guess in my heart, my love for watching birds will always out shine photographing them. At least when it comes to the Bald Eagles I saw in the extraordinary numbers that day on a country road in Arkansas.

Florida lifer

2005-11-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone.. Between going on vacation,yard work and cleaning I haven't had time to look at any of my photos I've taken lately:)
My trip to Florida was great. Even though our friends we visited weren't birders I managed to do a bit of birding and get one lifer. This little guy (brown-headed nuthatch) was impossible to photograph. He wouldn't sit still and when he did pause for a second my camera wouldn't focus. I had about as much luck as I do photographing my two year old grand daughter. It's a shame I had to get this lifer in Florida when they winter in the south eastern part of my state:(
Well Christmas is around the corner and with Thanksgiving coming and family get togethers I'll be doing good to have my tree up before they all arrive....hopefully something exciting will happen and motivate me to write:)

Fall is on its way..

2005-10-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's coming to the end of bird migration here in Oklahoma...well at least for the birds that nested here this summer goes. I haven't seen a Ruby-throat Hummingbird in nearly a week and it makes me sad. Some of my prettiest hummer flowers are in full bloom for only me to enjoy.Now we will start to see birds that will winter in our area.

Leaves are beginning to turn and show signs of fall color.Hues of gold and orange cover the ground which once were splashes of green. For the next month or so my yard will be raining leaves. Birds I could easily see before are now hidden in leaves of their same color.

This time of year birds molt their bright colors and begin to show signs of winter plumage.These new fall colors for them will be their best protection from predators during the cold winter months. The musical sound of the birds I once heard in my yard are gone for now. I have always birded by ear so I can't help but feel a loss for what was music to my ears during the summer months. I'm always listening, the moment I step outside..listening for that single peep among the falling leaves.This time of year I probably listen even harder.My yard is so quiet it's almost eerie. I can't help but wonder if I'm being watched by something peering through the falling leaves.

The last of the Mississippi Kites

2005-10-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Well this is a bird that will be truly missed in my yard.This was the last Mississippi kite that hung out on the dead branches in my front yard. I love their oriental eyes...almost like black liner around the eye.

It wasn't uncommon to see as many as ten of these birds in the same tree. They wouldn't spook. They'd just peer down at me with an owlish look watching my every move. Of course most of the Kites were mature which have a look of their own.I'll look forward to seeing them next spring.

Red-shouldered Hawk

2005-10-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday I always look forward to my Mom coming over. We have a nice breakfast and Mom and Keith enjoy drinking their Bloody Marys while I casually watch the backyard birds and tidy the kitchen. All of a sudden a Red-shouldered Hawk swooped down to a pile of leaves by my bottom pond and snagged a small snake. By the time Keith and Mom could turn around he was history. I get so excited when I see nature at its finest.

Anyway,I'm sure the snake was on his way to my bottom pond when he was snatched up by the Hawk. It was a good thing the Hawk came by when he did cause Keith was heading outside to replace the pump after he finished visiting with my Mom.I'm not sure how eager Keith would have been about working on the pond if he'd found the snake in it:)

Birding at Hefner Lake

2005-10-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

While birding at Hefner Lake Saturday with Pat Velte, we spent at least twenty minutes trying to get a good photo of a Wood Duck. Of course he did his darndest to keep us from getting a good shot with the help from tall grass. After twenty minutes the little guy eluded us and we diligently searched another ten to no prevail.

What I found comical about the whole ordeal was if we hadn't lost sight of him, we both probably could have been content photographing him until either our camera battery ran down,we ran out of space on our memory cards or we ran out of sunlight:) Anyway,it was nice seeing a new duck in the company of the usual Mallards:)

Uncooperative Subjects

2005-10-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know what is more frustrating, trying to get a photo of an allusive bird or a photo of one of my high strung grandkids:) Of course none of the above give a flip weather I get their photo or not, they are busy doing their own thing while me and my camera go unnoticed. For reasons I'll never understand, I seem to have more tolerance photographing an unwilling wild bird than I ever would with any of my nine grandkids:)Now I truly wish I was more devoted to getting my grandkids photos...they are growing older and changing right before my eyes.. But the only time they seem to sit still is when they are buckled in/down so they can't move...Well, maybe once I master photographing birds in flight I'll do better with kids in motion photos:)

Life Birds (lifers)

2005-09-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

My friend Pat Velte has been asking me for over a year now to make a list of the birds I've seen in my yard. So after much procrastination, this weekend I finally printed off the Oklahoma Checklist showing my life birds and I underlined all the ones I'd seen in my yard.I was pleasingly surprised to have eighty eight thus far:) Anyway,as I was checking off the different species, I found out a yard bird I'd seen 9-24-05 was also a lifer for me:) I love getting lifers, especially when they are in my yard.

For some reason when I get a lifer in my yard it's more memorable. Of course if I hadn't got a photo of him I'd never been able to study and ID him later.I could have sworn I'd seen the Olive-sided Flycatcher on one of my many trips to Corpus to see the migrating warblers in the past years. And just a week ago Pat Velte and I were birding at Lake Hefner when we saw at least four Olive-sided Flycatchers and I told her it wasn't a lifer for me..So technically I guess it wasn't a lifer yard bird but I did just discover it wasn't on my life list.Guess it was one of those Flycatchers I've talked about so much, I assumed I'd seen it in Texas.

On my Oklahoma Checklist, it shows I have 452 total lifers. And of that total, I saw 215 birds for the first time in states other than Oklahoma.And out of the 215 sightings from out of state, I've since seen 111 of them in Oklahoma:) So I traveled out of state to see half the birds that were right here in my home state:) That's a pretty exciting discovery if you ask me:)

Well I haven't seen my Ovenbird since Sunday(9-25-05.) I sure enjoyed having him in my yard. He was so unwarbler like the way he would peck around on the ground. And he always stayed in the shadows...he would actually walk around any sun patches on the ground. And I never saw him go to any water. Not even the mist which is really enjoyed by most warblers.

I've really had lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Nashville Warblers this past week. I sure hope they stick around for a while.Boy, they sure blend in with the leaves that are beginning to fall in my yard..And as of this AM, I still have at least four female ruby hummers. I saw my last male Sunday.This morning I noticed the few hummers I have left are looking pretty beefed up. I think they're probably fit enough to endure their long journey south...I wish them a safe journey and hope when they return next spring, they will bring lots of their friends along with them:) When the hummers leave in the fall I go thru 'hummer withdrawal'. It's hard to not get attached to these little jewels..everything I do in my yard is for them and their feathered friends...guess it's understandable why I was penned okiebirdnerd:)..Hopefully this cool change in the weather will bring some new and exciting migrants my way:)

The one that got away

2005-09-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday after a storm blew over I had a mini fall-out in my yard..(A fall-out is the sudden arrival of large numbers of birds to a certain point. They can occur when migration is interrupted by the rapid onset of adverse weather and they involve mainly passerine birds)...anyway, once I saw the male Blue-headed Vireo I decided I better grab my camera. Of course by the time I got back, that one got away:(

Yes, birders have their stories just like fisherman about the one that got away:) But I don't give up quite so easy..I make it my mission,I know the bird is there (some where), I just haven't looking long and hard enough...and once I'm zoned in on this one bird,I develop tunnel vision.I totally ignore all other birds flying around me.I won't stop looking until I end up with what birders call 'Warbler neck.' Once I develop warbler neck I feel I'm worthy and can guiltlessly give up the search for what was my best yard bird as of yet..I know I've given it my all, this bird would never get by my 'hawk eyes.'

Now that I'm no longer zoned in on THAT bird I start pishing and realize I have a gazillion little birds flitting about my yard! I decided to try my patients a tad more to see if I could get a few photos...and no,I don't feel it's an unreasonable request wanting just ONE National Geographic photo of what could possibly be a rare bird in my yard:) ...come on, I have the usual things going for me...poor lighting,twenty MPH winds:) All I want is this one little miracle today and I won't ask for anything else:) And the whole time I'm trying to get a photo of this little bird that decided to playing hide-and-seek in the leaves, I'm telling him of all the things I will give him if he will just PLEASE sit still so my camera can focus:) ..(does he not realize I can make HIM famous:)

Anyway,in the end,I got so-so photos of a Red-eyed Vireo and what appeared to be an imm. Blue-headed Vireo.Guess National Geographic will have to wait on that one great one from me:( And me, I will always be sick about 'that one that got away':)

New yard birds

2005-09-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

This has been a real birdie month in my yard so far. Early on I had a male and female American Redstart. Friday for the first time I had a Roadrunner. And for the past two days I've had a very friendly Ovenbird visiting the deer feeder.He comes in for ten to fifteen minutes at a time and seems oblivious to the birds around him.I can't wait to see what the rest of the month has to bring:)

I still have quite a few hummers for this time of the year. I've seen three males together so I have at least three.I've seen at least four imm. or females. I haven't been able to tell for sure whether they are anything other than Ruby-throats. Id love to have a Rufous!

What I'm up to

2005-09-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess today is as good as any to tackle something new.. like blogging.For a first time blogger,I'll try to keep it short and sweet and not ramble on like I would if you were speaking to me in person:)

The weather here in OK has been unbearably hot. It's in the 90's and feels like 100's.The birds don't even show their selves in weather like this:)

Anyway, I've been trying to make good use of my time by "fine tuning" my pond I built in April.This is my fourth pond I've added and my first free form pond. I envisioned in my mind what I wanted this pond to look like.So I thought. My first mistake was not taking the time to venture out to different pond specialist to get a few ideas before starting.

My husband Keith started out helping dig the first pond. It was a 8x10,two feet deep. The following weekend we went to Houston where I decided to check out a few pond places and came up with my dream pond plan.My first day back to OK as soon as my husband left for work I started digging my 34 foot stream and filling in the 8x10 my husband had dug. By the time he got home that evening there was no evidence of my husbands hard work. I knew Keith wouldn't be mad,only thankful he didn't have to help:)

It has really been a challenge making this pond look natural since it has 12 tons of stone in and around it. I've added two gardens to soften the edges of the thirty-four foot stream and still have one more garden to be finished...finished, yeah right!

I really hate to admit my husband is ever right, but I think this pond might be a never ending project:) I'm already wanting to add more flagstone to enlarge the sitting area and since I don't want to wait for a tree to grow large enough for adequate shade, I'd like to build a arbor over the sitting area...

Pond project part 2

2005-09-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well I did it. I finally finished adding more flagstone by my pond. Every night I love to sit and watch my fish. Guess I'll need to add a night time photo... But in the mean time, here's a photo of what I just finished. Surely I'll find more time to keep up with this blogging by next week