Haley Butler tipped me off to this Yellow-billed Cuckoo she found at the southeastern alcove of the Noble Research Center on the afternoon of 12 May. By the time I got there to check on the morning of the 13th, the cuckoo had been scavenged, evidently by a cat.
Today I found a SY Painted Bunting at the main north entrance and a Nashville Warbler at the northwestern alcove.
The Mourning Dove was still there this morning, but it has been disturbed a bit and is now on its back.
New this morning was an unfortunate Lincoln’s Sparrow at the main north entrance to the NRC. As is so often puzzling, this was a bird that had to have been traveling south to hit the glass there even though the net movement of Lincoln’s Sparrows in April in Oklahoma is north.
This bird had 0 fat, was of indeterminate sex, and looks to be a SY. Note trauma to the bill tip indicating the point of collision.
For the 3rd consecutive day I’ve found a SY Painted Bunting at the Noble Research Center. This one looks to be SY female with fat = 0, and was lying out in the open at the northwest alcove.
Also today there was a SY male Nashville Warbler at the main north entrance. This one was fat (2) and appeared to be in excellent shape, save for the impact marks on its bill that signal a violent, but perhaps mercilessly quick, end to its brief life.
The bright yellow-green rump on this bird suggests the western subspecies to me . . .
Nashville Warblers don’t mess with Painted Buntings.
Note impact marks on tip of bill.
Rufous crown coming in . . .
