This morning, this Lincoln’s Sparrow was the unfortunate first victim of the season on the south side of the building. This individual was beautiful and fresh, with a fat score = 3.
Today I also found the scavenged remnants (two tail feathers and a few contour feathers) of the 42nd species I’ve been able to confirm as a casualty at the Noble Research Center since 2009: an Eastern Whip-poor-will.
The two rectrices (tail feathers) at left are diagnostic for an adult (AHY) female Whip-poor-will, a first for the study.
Whip-poor-will is a surprising find for the study – to say the least. In my time in Oklahoma, I’ve yet to hear a Whip-poor-will. We seem to be all Chuck-wills-widows around here, and Whips seem to be confined to our easternmost counties. Here’s an eBird map for Whip reports in the month of September for the past 10 years:
Bird-Window Collisions at OK State 