Life at Boomer Lake with Deb, Sunday October 13, 2013

The Whooping Crane's Journey

The endangered Whooping Crane is beginning the 2,400 mile journey from Canada to Texas. Maybe you’ll get lucky and see one or two during fall migration. Read all about where they are expected:

eBird has a lot of valuable information that you just don’t want to miss regarding the Federal duck stamp, the Eurasian Sandwich Tern in North America, the best places for birding in the entire world, and more. Take a gander at the top information:

For our British readers, the House Sparrow decline is leveling off and rutting season begins in Scotland, two new property additions to the Brazilian Reserve help protect rare birds and an endangered monkey, and more at:

A migrating stork was arrested by an Egyptian citizen, as its tracking equipment was suspected of being a camera. Learn more about the case of the spying stork at:

On the Boomer Lakefront, out Double-crested Cormorants are returning for the cooler weather. They were abundant in Maine during the summer, and they have returned to me once again for the winter. No matter where they are, their behavior is the same. I enjoy them for the simple fact that they run across the water to get up enough momentum to fly, and I like to watch them spread their wings to dry them out. I have had numerous photos in the past where they appear to be laughing with their beaks held over their heads, and nipping at each other just for the fun of it. If anyone has watched them for any length of time, they are remarkable birds, and are the most common cormorant that visits most of the country.

Another visitor that I managed to capture this week, was the wonderful little Downy Woodpecker. These birds are often confused with the Hairy Woodpecker, which is larger with a larger bill. The downy is under seven inches, and the hairy is nine inches or a little better. You can easily invite these birds to your feeders if you can provide suet feeders and shade trees. You will often see these birds rapidly sidling up and down trees.

For you fisherfolk out there, I had a very interesting find. I know that many of you in the south enjoy catfish, but has anyone ever seen a channel catfish at four feet? This one had passed on, and I am guessing that it was due to old age. It was at the edge of the water, and I moved it around a bit to give you a good view, and it was heavy. If anyone out there happens to know what a record size for channel catfish might be, I’d be interested to know. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a tape measure on me, but when I returned the next day, it was gone, so someone surely retrieved it.

Even though it is cooler, there are still plenty of butterflies, but definitely more moths than during the heat of the summer. This is a good-sized orange sulphur. I have seen several, but this is the first one that I was able to photograph that was large enough to show some detail.

This spider was in a rather interesting position, so I couldn’t resist this shot. Perhaps some of you would have passed this by for obvious reasons, but I just can’t give up a closer look if I can get it. Can anyone identify this arachnid for me, just to sate my curiosity?

This is a shot of the acorns of the burr oak, a native Oklahoma tree. I find the cap of the acorn not only large, but very unusual. When I was growing up, I was used to the northern red oak tree, which was the most common tree in my area, and the smaller acorns. Trees like that are in this area, as well. Squirrels don’t seem to store these nuts here quite as often as they do the pecan, as they seem to be more discriminating and robust.

I’ll leave you with a few extra pictures this week, which I believe that you’ll enjoy. Keep your eyes to the ground and your head in the clouds. Happy birding and enjoy migration, which is still moving fast and furiously.