Birding at Lake Leatherwood with Tulsa Couple

Brandon Scott and Margaret Lee from Tulsa met up with me Sunday morning and we birded for three and a half hours. We had met the day before and the combined list for thr two days was 38 species. They had seen a large flock of Cedar Waxwings on Saturday, absent Sunday. There's a pair of Pine Warblers that may be setting up a nesting territory in the cabin area. We found the first Killdeer of the year and the first Louisiana Waterthrush sang for us once, but we couldn't get a visual though it would have been a lifer for Brandon. They'll be back. The flock of Pied-bill Grebes has grown to around 25 (hard to count a bird that spends half its time under water), but the Buffleheads are fading, now less than ten. There are still some Kinglets of both kinds, and the usual large numbers of Common Grackles are arriving. Beautiful critters, but noisy. I had one pair of Wood Ducks on the creek near the Highway 62 bridge entrance, sothese may be breeding summer residents.

On the vegetation front, there were blooming Bloodroots and meadow micro-flowers. A few butterflies were out, but I don't have an ID yet.