I haven't had a chance to bird at Deer Creek in over a month with a busy schedule and a trip out of state in March. I kept reading the reports from here hoping to to hear about what was happening at Deer Creek, but nothing.

Between the reservoir and wetlands, waterfowl are still present in the countless thousands in the Deer Creek area. Gulls are too, with several thousand Ring-billeds, several hundred Bonaparte's, and a dozen or so Herring Gulls. The Gull highlight today was an adult FRANKLIN'S GULL already in full breeding plumage, or close to it. It was near the dam wall putting on a show.

In the shallow mudflats in the SW corner of the reservoir were 108 Pectoral Sandpipers and several Lesser Yellowlegs. Killdeers and Great Yellowlegs were also in that area and were also seen in several other spots. A single Sandhill Crane was hanging out in that area too in the evening. Ospreys were back at their nesting platform.

Rusty Blackbirds were fairly widespread in the wetlands. One pure unmixed flock of them contained 76 birds. Others were seen in larger mixed blackbird flocks.

Several Red Fox Sparrows were singing in the wooded area along the path leading to the dike between the middle and southern wetland areas. It was nice to hear that beautiful rich and liquid sonorous song. I was in California earlier this month hearing various Sooty, Thick-billed, and Slate-colored songs. Going by voice alone it's difficult to believe that the Red Fox Sparrow is really the same species. When traveling around the country you see some darker or paler Song Sparrows, but when they sing you know immediately that you're hearing a Song Sparrow. That ain't so with Fox Sparrows. They certainly would have been split long ago if there was a clear dividing line, but lumping all those Fox Sparrows together doesn't seem quite right either.

In the northern part of the wildlife area in the sorghum or milo (not millet as I mistakenly reported before) plantings there are still swarms of sparrows, but numbers of Am Tree Sparrows are definitely much smaller than a month ago. Species noted in there today included Song, White-crowned, Savannah, Swamp, and Am. Tree with a few each of Field and Vesper.

Bob Royse

Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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