This male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had visited our yard in December and we were happy to see it return on New Year's Day and days thereafter, poking holes in the pecan tree outside our back window.

On the afternoon of January 1, we drove around Lake Hefner and saw several Horned Grebes like this one.

Bonaparte's Gulls

One of our target birds for the day was this Black Scoter, though it didn't come close enough to get a good photo.

Pied-billed Grebe

American White Pelicans--there were more than 300 in various locations around the lake

American White Pelicans in the canal inlet

Male Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker on a small tree along the canal into Lake Hefner

Male Downy Woodpecker along the canal

One of at least three Northern Flickers

We were surprised to see a couple of male Wood Ducks in the canal.

Wood Duck drake

Wood Drake

Back view of one of at least three Northern Flickers

This female Belted Kingfisher was hiding in a small tree along the canal, not making photos easy.

We could either see the body or the bill of this Belted Kingfisher.

Female Belted Kingfisher

We saw these two gulls on the jetty at the lake; the one of the L appears to be an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull, while the one on the R, with pinkish legs, looks like an immature Herring Gull.

Immature gulls on the jetty at Lake Hefner

Possible Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls

A second immature Herring Gull?

The rest of the jetty was crowded with American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants.

Looking across the top of the jetty, it was crowded with pelicans and cormorants too.

The N side of the jetty looked like the Roman Senate with cormorants on one side and white pelicans on the other.

Adult Herring Gull on the N side of the jetty at Lake Hefner

Immature Herring Gulls

Gadwall

Song Sparrow

Female and male Hooded Mergansers

Fox Sparrow rooting around in the leaves along the road S of the boat storage area

Fox Sparrow

Three Carolina Chickadees were eating seeds along the road S of the boat storage area

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Chickadee with a seed

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Chickadee in flight

Acrobatic Carolina Chickadee

Male Common Goldeneye

Female and male Common Goldeneyes

Common Loon

Common Loon

Common Loon

Common Loon

On January 2, after considering a couple of other possibilities, we decided to start our birding day by going back to Lake Hefner to confirm some of the sightings we had had the day before and others had reported, like this Lesser Black-backed Gull on the E side of the lake, N of the restaurants.

Forster's Terns among the gulls on the E side of Lake Hefner

Forster's Terns, Ring-billed Gull, immature and mature Herring Gulls on the E side of Lake Hefner

We drove over to Stars and Stripes Park and found another Lesser Black-backed Gull. It took off just as Mary was about to take a photo and she got this nice look at the wings and tail.

Lesser Black-backed Gull on the water off Stars and Stripes Park

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Cooper's Hawk near Hobie Point, Lake Hefner

Female Bufflehead near the boat docks

Another Lesser Black-backed Gull with a fish on the N side of the boat docks, S of the golf course

Lesser Black-backed Gull with a fish

Lesser Black-backed Gull downing a fish

Double-crested Cormorants and American White Pelicans crowded the jetty again.

Male Belted Kingfisher on a pole next to the boat docks

American White Pelicans near the inlet at Lake Hefner

Black Scoter

We had heard the White-winged Scoter was hanging out with the Black Scoter and finally found it in the same area.

In the park N of the inlet, where we had seen the scoters, there were two Red-tailed Hawks flying.

While we were birding, we heard from other birders that a Yellow-billed Loon had been seen from the dam, so we headed that way. On the N side of the dam, we saw this American Kestrel hovering.

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

We found Jimmy W with his spotting scope and he had the Yellow-billed Loon in view, along with some Common Loons; this one had caught a fish (bream?).

Common Loon with a fish off the dam at Lake Hefner

We finally got close enough to get a good photo of the Yellow-billed Loon.

Yellow-billed Loon

The Common Loons seemed to be better fishers than the Yellow-billed Loon.

Two Common Loons that were 'hanging out' with the Yellow-billed Loon

Common Loon

The yellow bill, as well as the overall size, of the Yellow-billed Loon was bigger than that of the Common Loon.

This looks like a black-and-white photo, but it was just that gray a day and the Common Loons were black and white themselves.

Yellow-billed Loon was lighter, browner and, of course, the bill was yellow(ish).

Comparative size and color of the Common and Yellow-billed Loons

Yellow-billed Loons

Male and female Bufflehead

Red-breasted Mergansers

On the far NE end of the dam road, we saw a couple of large rafts of Red-breasted Mergansers to close out our excursion for the day.

On January 3, it rained, sleeted, then snowed and we did not leave the house. But this Red-tailed Hawk visited us in the Bois d'Arc tree.

On January 4, I went out to the Rose Lake area. On Yukon Parkway N of 50th, I saw this dark immature Red-tailed Hawk.

There were 1000s of European Starlings in trees and flying around in big groups in the area.

A tree filled with starlings and a few Great-tailed Grackles at the corner of Yukon Parkway and Foreman Road/NW 63rd

There were 8 Eastern Bluebirds along Foreman Road.

Dark-eyed Junco along Foreman Road

Where Foreman Road ends, this Red-shouldered Hawk sat on a fence post and ate what appeared to be a crawfish after diving into the bar ditch to grab it.

Back side of the Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk on Foreman Road, Yukon, OK

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk taking flight

Red-tailed Hawk

Brown-headed Cowbirds

Male and female Great-tailed Grackles on the fence on the W side of Yukon Parkway

Male Great-tailed Grackle preening and flaring its tail

Great-tailed Grackle

I saw this Greater Roadrunner at the back of a farm yard on the W side of Sara Road near Rose Lake.