Sometimes when I visit stillwater I head over to one of the hotspots for birds on my way back to the city as a sort of goodbye ritual before I leave. On my short walk around Boomer Lake, I was sitting on one of those benches at the end of one of a long peninsula, when on one of those fishing signs I see my very first tern! I was frantically taking pictures and trying to identify it when it flew away. I ended up having to talk to my sister who is much more familiar with ocean birds (and also "tern"ing to reddit which was very unhelpful) and after much debate as to if it was a common tern or forster's I positively ID'd it as forster's due to not only the location, but the hue of it's beak and other various factors that I could literally write an essay on because of the sheer volume of articles I read.

After it flew away I got a call from my boss wanting to touch base with me (read: interrogate me) because I had a patient fall over the weekend and he basically wanted to make sure I "understand what I could have done to prevent it" and "review ways to prevent further incidences" smh, some ppl just wanna fall. Earlier that day, I texted him he had to call me before 10am because I would be busy after (did not say I was birding) but of course he called me after, so I was on that bench when talking to him, the tern flew back - and I got so excited that I told him I had to go and asked if there was anything else he needed... and he said no so I hung up on him.

Well worth it because it allowed me to get this pic through my binos! Was gonna show my boss but he pissed me off the next time I saw him by making be stay an HOUR after a shift (when I had work the next day) because of "manditory education" (that they didn't give an option to do while off shift) and he don't do nights, so of course I'm the one who has to stay up. To end on a positive note, this really was one of my birding highlights this year so far, because these birds are so so uncommon in Oklahoma (especially this time of year) so it was really very special!

My expierence with Beavers Bend was so super fun that I took even more time off a week later and went kayaking AGAIN so that I could see more. This time, instead of 4 miles, I opted to go the full ten miles and didn't see any of the same birds I saw on the last trip. I actually saw the snowy egret when I was eating a fuck ass sandwich with a lot of mrs dash on it (I DON'T LIKE MRS DASH) and my friend turned me around to show me! The thing that surprised me the most about them was that they are so small! Like about the size of a football with a long neck. The one gripe I have with merlins app is when they pull up pictures of the possible birds in the area, you kind of just have to guess at the size of them. TIL that herons can be very smallie.

When researching about these birds on the drive back home, I saw that these were on the endangered list because they were hunted in the 1800's for their long silky feathers for hatmakers. Eventually I'll add the pic I took myself on the river, but the one I got don't show the shaggy "hair" of these guys as much as I'd like, but I wanted to include it cause it shows how close I got to this birdie. My one year sign on bonus is about to hit my bank account and im aboutta buy a really nice camera so that I can work on taking more pics :)

I feel like I have terrible luck with waterbirds, not that there are many where I'm from, but they should be a lot easier to find considering they're usually pretty big. The green heron has been on my hunting list for a while after I got a split second glimpse of one last fall at the folk festival. Now of course looking at any of my usual spots brought no luck, so when I realized I was going to beavers bend once more for a camping trip, I knew I was going to have to keep an eye out. The pressure was on because I couldn't keep my mouth shut and told everyone I knew that I was hoping to see this particular bird LOL.

Anyways, I was canoeing the river with my family and we left pretty early in the morning so it was plenty misty and overcast. In the first two miles we didn't talk much and just enjoyed the soundscape and scenery of quietly floating down a hazy river. I didn't bring my camera, but it would've made for a beautiful picture. What was amazing is I almost immediately saw green herons everywhere, about every quarter mile they would fly up from the reeds or perch on a low hanging branch.

I'm not sure why they are called green herons, because they are mostly grey and muddy red looking. They're also a very small heron - not to size shame - so I couldn't see them very well as I'd have liked to (see my post on belted kingfisher). Looking at a map it seems Oklahoma is on the very western edge of their range for the US, and they seem to enjoy the coasts, so perhaps they're not as common here as they are in the eastern half of America. I specifically chose a pic with its neck tucked because I think it's funny how they look like early ai pics in real life.

Reflecting on the journey of this blog, I think I became an official birder in 2021 when I first downloaded the Merlin app - and subsequently identified my very first bird (which if I remember correctly was a brown headed cowbird or a brown thrasher). The essence that makes one a birder, instead of just someone that likes birds, is the inherent need to discover and see for oneself. One of my favorite things to do on that app was to look at the "likely in your area" section and daydream about seeing the birds that - to this day - I think were significantly overestimated in prevalence. At the time I lived in Norman, and would always see the belted kingfisher as a glimmering novelty and tantalizing possibility. Often, I would go to the lake in search of this beast, but never ever came close to finding it. Even after moving, and regularly visiting three separate large bodies of water.

I would listen to recordings of its call so I could recognise it if ever I wasn't recording; it has a distinctive rattling call that is said to be unmistakeable. I recently was on a canoeing trip in Beavers Bend and made the informed decision (IYKYK) to leave behind my phone as well as my binoculars glasses. Note: If you want a more aesthetic description of this area, see my green heron entry. But anyways, as I paddle in the water, I hear it, and instantly I know what it is. Once I got a glimpse of the two birds flying across the river, I was surprised cause they were so much bigger than I expected (about the size of a small crow). It had these white wingbars that were pretty flashy when flying. Other than that, the call and the coloring, that was the best I could do to positively ID these birds without being able to see them closely.

It's strange to mark this bird off my list, having put concentrated effort into finding it for three years - in the least. But I feel strangely dissatisfied that I couldn't make out the telltale head crest or see its large beak even though we followed these two birds about a mile down the river. I'm going back to beavers bend in July, and this time I will bring my binos, not caring if I tip the canoe or not!

Twas a misty morning. I just came off a nightshift and was feeling good, so I decided to head to Lake Hefner and have myself a look around. This was in the end of September, so it was just a bit chilly and you couldnt see about 20 feet out. Naturally a good morning to go birding. I had a feeling that I would see a cool waterbird though, so continue on I did. For the longest time there wasnt anything good to see - only about 500 coots, a billion seagulls (reminder: make a post about the seagulls of Lake Hefner) and 5 million mallards. i always enjoy the couple of rareities you see there tho: sandpipers, killdeers, herons of all types... but as I was about to turn in LO! Behold the very thing i was hoping to see! a big beautiful pelican!

These things are so much bigger than I thought they were. like, I bet if it was standing next to me it would be able to come up to my chest easily. I looked it up and apparently these are the second largest birds (the condor being the first) in America measuring by wingspan. I think I saw one of the bigger ones cause it was like seeing a ginormous angel all in orange and white. Pelicans are only seen in Oklahoma during migration seasons - which just so happens to be September and some of November. I watched it for a while and even saw it fish (to which it was unsucessful LOL) before it swam to far out and was consumed by the mist, SIGH. I cannot wait for these birds to come back cause it was awesome.

I went to a little fall festival with my sister a couple days ago and we walked around the botanical gardens in the city. On the lake there waere plenty of species of ducks too look at, but we also happed to spot something that was NOT a duck! The american coot! I am not gunna lie, because it was in the water with other ducks, I thought it was also a duck. I looked it up anyway to see if it was a special species or something, and found this cool bird! I kind of wish that we were able to see its legs though. They look like nasty plant matter.

When I looked up its description, the merlin birding app called it "incredibly lobed" which I thought was funny. They also compare it to a chicken - perhaps the author was either especially fond of this species, or a hater. I want to cook and eat their legs.