GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT 2009
|
|
NEW YORK, NY AND ITHACA, NY— Bird and nature fans throughout North America are invited to join tens
of thousands of everyday bird watchers for the 12th annual GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT (GBBC),
February 13-16, 2009. A joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon
Society, this free event is an opportunity for families, students, and people of all ages to discover the
wonders of nature in backyards, schoolyards, and local parks, and, at the same time, make an important
contribution to conservation. Participants count birds and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.
org.
“The Great Backyard Bird Count benefits both birds and people. It’s a great example of citizen science:
Anyone who can identify even a few species can contribute to the body of knowledge that is used to
inform conservation efforts to protect birds and biodiversity,” said Audubon Education VP, Judy Braus.
“Families, teachers, children and all those who take part in GBBC get a chance to improve their
observation skills, enjoy nature, and have a great time counting for fun, counting for the future.”
Anyone can take part, from novice bird watchers to experts, by counting birds for as little as 15 minutes
(or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and reporting their sightings online at www.
birdcount. org. Participants can also explore what birds others are finding in their backyards—whether in
their own neighborhood or thousands of miles away. Additional online resources include tips to help
identify birds, a photo gallery, and special materials for educators.
The data you “citizen scientists” collect help researchers understand bird population trends, information
that is critical for effective conservation. Your efforts enable everyone to see what would otherwise be
impossible: a comprehensive picture of where birds are in late winter and how their numbers and
distribution compare with previous years. In 2008, participants submitted more than 85,000 checklists.
“The GBBC has become a vital link in the arsenal of continent-wide bird-monitoring projects,” said Cornell
Lab of Ornithology director, John Fitzpatrick. “With more than a decade of data now in hand, including
some truly striking changes just over the past decade, the GBBC has documented the fine-grained
details of late-winter bird distributions better than any project in history.”
Stillwater was a 2008 “Checklist Champ” turning in more checklists than any other city in the state. Let’s
wow them again this year!
|
|
We had fantastic attendance at our Oct 5 Nature Day, with over 500 adults and children ooohing over
the soft fur of the animal pelts, aahing over the iguana, and buzzing about honey bees. Not to mention
those who cruised Sanborn Lake in canoes, draped snakes around their necks, made seed
tube-bracelets and pinecone & peanut butter feeders, and learned about minerals & gems, recycling,
water, composting with worms, insects, trees, plants, fish, birds, turtles, snakes and other reptiles. A
BIG thank-you to Crystal Cork and to all attendees, volunteers, and exhibitors
|
PROJECT FEEDER WATCH BENEFITS BIRDS & PEOPLE
|
|
Connection with nature promotes wellness
ITHACA, NY-More than 100 studies have shown that getting closer to nature reduces stress and
promotes a feeling of well-being in children and adults. So, filling feeders and counting the birds that
visit may be just what the doctor ordered! For more than 20 years, that’s what participants in the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project FeederWatch have been doing—benefitting themselves and the
birds.
"It is a great winter time activity for the whole family," says Alaska FeederWatcher Nancy Darnell. "If you
have children, they will come to love watching birds. All of this is fun and a chance to contribute to
scientific studies, too!"
The 2008-09 season of Project FeederWatch got underway November 8 and runs through April 3.
Participants count the numbers and kinds of birds at their feeders each week and send the information
to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Participants submitted more than 115,000 checklists during the 2007-
08 FeederWatch season, documenting unusual bird sightings, winter movements, and shifting ranges—a
treasure-trove of information that scientists use to monitor the health of the birds and of the
environment.
Project FeederWatch welcomes participants of all ages and skill levels, from scout troops and retirees to
classrooms and nature center visitors. To learn more and to sign up, visit www.feederwatch.org or call
the Lab toll-free at (800) 843-2473. In return for the $15 fee ($12 for Lab members) participants receive
the FeederWatcher’s Handbook, an identification poster of the most common feeder birds in their area, a
calendar, complete instructions, and the FeederWatch annual report, Winter Bird Highlights.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the
earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Visit the
Lab’s web site at www.birds.cornell.edu.
|
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK by Susan S. Walker
|
|
My husband, Jeff, and I and our two daughters, Lucy, 4, and Jessica, 7, moved, to Stillwater from
Southern California in 1979 so that Jeff could take a tenure track position in OSU’s English Department.
We’d been to Oklahoma only once before . . . on our drive through the state on the way from
Pennsylvania to California three years earlier.
So we said goodbye to Steller’s jays, mountain chickadees, and Anna’s, calliope, and Costa’s
hummingbirds; and said hello to blue jays, Carolina chickadees, and ruby-throated hummingbirds. We
said goodbye to the beautiful western tanager, and hello to the summer tanager. Goodbye red-
breasted sapsucker; hello yellow-bellied sapsucker. California quail were replaced by bobwhite, ravens
by crows, and the list goes on.
I remember sipping date shakes and stocking up on dried fruits at Hadley’s Fruit Orchards in Cabazon,
CA, and then going to the Morongo Preserve—sadly now wedged between a casino and an outlet mall—
to spot a vermillion flycatcher. On that same day, we spotted a hooded oriole and LeConte’s thrasher.
The old Twenty-Nine Palms Oasis—now called the Oasis of Mara—was another favorite birding locale,
usually serving up phainopepla, cactus wrens, and Gambel’s quail among others. I remember seeing my
first yellow-headed blackbird there.
Very soon after we moved to Stillwater, I saw an American bittern in the then English Dept. chair’s front
yard. I called the PCAS and reported it. Many of us “old timers” can remember driving by to view this bird
so out of its natural element.
Shortly after our move, I began to take an active part in the Payne County Audubon Society. I calculate
that I have served under five of the last six presidents, serving over the years as VP, Birdseed Sales
Coordinator, Program & Field Trip Director, Refreshments Chair, Feathers Editor, Brochure Developer,
Webmistress, and always on the Board of Directors.
As your new president, I will continue in the roles of historian, webmistress and Feathers & Pinfeathers
editor. But I am asking that someone please step forward and chair Birdathon. Particularly since we
have lost Ed Glover, our premiere Birdathon fund raiser, we need a live wire in this position to rev up the
troops and stir up the competition among Birdathoners. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy,
please let me know at bzzyb03@yahoo.com.
Jeff and I attended our first PCAS Audubon meeting in 1979 in a room of Liberty Federal Savings Bank.
All I can remember now is that it was a slideshow of bird photos from an exotic locale. Our programs
since have taken place at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church, the Isaac Walton League, the Oklahoma
Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, and are presently held the first Thursday of each month in room 214
of the Stillwater Public Library.
Please come join us for wonderful slide shows and interesting and informative talks on birdlife and
wildlife from all corners of the world. And join us in December for our annual Christmas bird counts.
Programs are free and open to the public. One does not need to be an Audubon member to attend.
|
IN MY YARD by Joyce Konigmacher
|
|
In some ways, it was a LONG weekend. However, it seemed to pass quickly. I had several days in a row,
of actual daylight hours to re-acquaint myself with the winter visitors at my birdfeeders. But, the next
thing I knew, it was a cold and windy Sunday, and I would have to go back to work the next day.
On Thanksgiving Day, a flock of cedar waxwings moved in . . . long enough to feast on the hard, maroon-
colored berries of the Chinese pistache. Then they moved to the small cedar tree, and denuded that
entire tree of it’s berries.
At the suet feeder, a male yellow-bellied sapsucker cautiously circled the trunk of the Chinese pistache.
He had to see if the coast was clear before hitching his way down to the suet dough.
Further up the tree, a line is forming. Red-bellied woodpecker is waiting for his turn at the feeder. In the
adjacent river birch, the downy woodpecker awaits its turn at the suet. In the meantime, Downy
inspects all of the peeled bark crevices on the river birch, searching for insects.
The Carolina chickadee is too polite to butt in line for its turn, so waits for all of the woodpecker-types to
get their fill, before heading to the suet. The chickadee then pecks off a little morsel and flies back to the
river birch to cache its future meal into one of the hidey-holes formed by the peeling bark.
Unbeknownst to Chickadee, Downy has discovered that the river-birch bark contains a hidden wealth of
previously stashed food bits . . . black-oil sunflower seeds are wedged into places all up and down the
multi-trunked tree.
One bird stores the food, and another one finds it and eats it. That way everyone gets to share with
their neighbors. What a great way to celebrate the holiday season.
|
BIRDS, BURGERS, BOTANY, & BAIT by Susan S. Walker
|
|
Considering that it was OSU Homecoming Weekend, the Birds & Burgers event planned by Les Imboden,
PCAS, and Adrienne Holmes, Sierra Club, did very well, hosting 15 birders, botanizers, and fishers.
Too, though Ed Glover’s funeral also coincided with the event, we decided that he would have wanted
us out and birding. We did stop at 11 to pay silent tribute to this man whose life so enriched the lives of
others and whose phenomenal Birdathon fundraising has for years helped PCAS fund its yearly nature
programs.
Present at the Imboden’s homestead—Pecan Springs Quail Preserve east of Stillwater—were Angela &
Brady Allred and children Josie & Brynn; Ann Bornholdt, Nancy Condit, Les & Patty Imboden, Doug
Hill, Adrianne Holmes, Lynn Malley, Pat Miracle, Tim O’Connell, Wallace Pratt, Andy & Kathy
Scurlock, and Susan Walker.
Since I live less than a half mile as the crow flies from the Imboden’s, I cycled over. Tim led a very
informative and fun morning bird walk during which he managed to call in two curious barred owls, teach
us about prairie grasses, Osage oranges, and poke; and identify several high-flying hawks.
Here are the birds we saw on the walk with Tim’s help: Chipping sparrow, Carolina chickadee, tufted
titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, brown creeper, blue jay, dark-eyed junco, ruby-crowned kinglet, red-
bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, white-crowned sparrow, American crow, eastern phoebe,
Cooper’s hawk, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, barred owl, turkey vulture, red-headed
woodpecker, American robin, yellow rumped warbler, mourning dove, eastern bluebird, eastern
meadowlark, Carolina wren, barn swallow, northern flicker, northern cardinal, and orange-crowned
warbler.
After the bird walk, we enjoyed burgers and then some of the group went on a plant walk, led by Patty
Imboden, and others tried their hand at fishing with Andy Scurlock. Though I love plants and also fly
fishing—I have a lovely rod—I had “other fish to fry,” so to speak, so pedaled home
after lunch.
Go to the website gallery to view more photos of the event.
|
|
Compiled from Wikipedia and Time magazine articles
The publication in 1934 of the first modern field guide by Roger Tory Peterson revolutionized birding.
However, in that era, most birders did not travel widely. The earliest known continent-wide, big year
record was compiled by Guy Emerson, a traveling businessman, who timed his business trips to coincide
with the best birding seasons for different areas in the North America. His best year was in 1939 when
he saw 497 species. In 1952, Emerson's record was broken by Bob Smart, who saw 510 species.
In 1953, Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, took a 30,000 mile road trip visiting the wild places of
North America. In 1955, they told the story of their travels in a book and a documentary film, both called
Wild America. In one of the footnotes to the book Peterson said: "My year's list at the end of 1953 was
572 species." In 1956 the bar was raised when a 25-five- year old Englishman named Stuart Keith,
following Peterson and Fisher's route, listed 598 species.
Keith's record stood for 15 years. In 1971 eighteen-year-old Ted Parker, in his last semester of high
school in Pennsylvania, birded the eastern seaboard of North America extensively. That September,
Parker enrolled in the University of Arizona in Tucson and found dozens of Southwestern U.S. and Pacific
coast specialties. He ended the year with a list of 626 species. (Before his death in 1993, Parker went
on to become one of the world's most renowned field ornithologists, and the leading expert on the
birds of the American tropics.)
Another notable record was set in 1979 by James M. Vardaman. Vardaman saw 699 species that year
and travelled 161,332 miles (137,145 by airplane; 20,305 by car; 3,337 by boat; 160 by bicycle; and 385
by foot).
The big year of 1998 was the subject of a book called The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl
Obsession by Mark Obmascik. In that year, three different birders—Sandy Komito, Al Levantin and Greg
Miller—chased the record of 721 birds, held by Komito. In the end, Komito kept his record, listing an
astonishing 745 birds, a record many believe may never be broken. They believe this because during
that year— one of the strongest El Niño years on record—caused many lost rare birds to come to North
America. North America itself has only about 675 native species.
Birders have a rough rule of thumb for distinguishing between normal and obsessed watchers: the
obsessives dream of going to Attu, a bleak Aleutian island 100 miles from Soviet waters and about 1,500
miles from Anchorage. Attu vaguely resembles a penal colony, but it is paradise to birders pining for a
flyby of the Siberian rubythroat or other Asian rarities.
Even the most driven birders seem to harbor a few doubts about the chasing game. "It's ridiculous. It
costs more money than booze and takes more time," says Thompson Marsh, a professor at the
University of Denver College of Law. Marsh, 84, who began listing birds in 1918, still hunts with the pack
and is ranked fifth on the North American list.
If someone wants to start a Birdwatchers Anonymous, says Marsh, he is ready to join. "I experience
recurring intervals of lucidity," he says. "When a chaffinch turned up in New Brunswick, I stayed right
here, and I felt fine. Maybe there's hope for me yet."
PUBLISHED BIG YEAR BOOKS
Wild America (1955) by Roger Tory Peterson
Call Collect, Ask for Birdman (1980) by James M. Vardaman
Kingbird Highway: The Story of a Natural Obsession That Got a Little Out of Hand (1997) by Kenn Kaufman
I Came, I Saw, I Counted (1999) by Sandy Komito
Chasing Birds Across Texas: A Birding Big Year (2003) by Mark T. Adams
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession (2004) by Mark Obmascik
Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul (2005) by Scott Weidensaul
The Big Twitch (2005) by Sean Dooley (an Australian "Big Year")
|
BOY WONDER BIRDS & BIKES by Michael mcCoy
|
|
From Adventure Cyclist “Waypoints,” by Michael McCoy, Sept/Oct 2008
In a “bird year” serious birders see who can identify the most species of birds in a 12-month period. Last
June, 16-year old Malkolm Boothroyd marked a year during which he had identified 548 species—a
couple of hundred short of the north American record, but not bad considering that he and his parents,
Wendy Boothroyd and Ken Madsen did it all by bicycle.
Beginning from home in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, the trio pedaled to Big Bend National Park in Texas
via the West Coast, raising more than $20,000 for bird conservation as they went.
In Texas, Malkolm told Victoria Advocate reporter Tara Bozick that his fascination with birds began at age
eight when he would read bird books in the back seat while traveling with his father, who was working
to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling.
“Malkolm realized that trying to break a bird-year record would pollute the air with emissions if he used
a vehicle,” Bozick wrote in a May 8 story, “so he decided to set a different record, only walking and
bicycling to discover the birds.”
Malkolm estimates that the family flock saved nearly four tons of greenhouse gases by doing it their
way. Go to www.birdyear.com to learn more about their adventure.
|
SHOREBIRDS & PEEPS AT THE WEST HENNESSEY SEEPS by Susan S. Walker
|
|
'Twas a beautiful September day for a birding outing to the seeps west of Hennessey. Foggy and cool in
the am and then sunny and mild mid-morning.
Leslie Elmore led our group of eight to these fields that were familiar to her from shorebird field work
she had done earlier. Also along were Leslie’s husband Dwayne Elmore, Andy Crosby, Andy George,
Michael Harvey, Adrian Monroe, Tim O’Connell, and me.
My biggest thrill was seeing a snipe, a life bird for me. Dwayne stirred up three of them, and I got a
good look at one in flight. We were also pleased to find a white-faced ibis and pectoral sandpiper among
the other birds listed below.
At one site there were hundreds of small bullfrogs on a muddy bank. This, of course, caught Andy
George’s attention. We also saw many cattle egrets, and twice saw them standing on the backs of
cattle. At one spot we saw a steer lying down surrounded with egrets, with two or three standing on it.
The oddest sight was when Tim turned and said, “Look at that! A pied billed grebe crossing the road.”
Sure enough, the young bird had decided to hoof it rather than fly. We all gasped when it lay down in
the middle of the lane to rest its legs, which are definitely not made for walking. Tim tried to chase it
down and nearly did, but it lost itself in the high grass near the seep.
Since we were stopped at roadside, several pickup trucks and people stopped, three to report “white
sand cranes” at the Cimarron River further down the road. White sand cranes? Of course, we had to go
the extra four miles to see what they were talking about . . . and came upon a sandbar full of white
pelicans.
It was a good morning. Here is the list of the birds we saw: Killdeer, stilt sandpiper, least sandpiper,
pectoral sandpiper, Wilson’s snipe, lesser yellowlegs, American avocet, long-billed dowitcher, belted kingfisher,
great egret, cattle egret, great blue heron, blue-winged teal, white pelican, ibis sp., meadowlark sp., mourning
dove, rock dove, house sparrow, American crow, scissortail flycatcher, red-winged blackbird, European
starling, great-tailed grackle, northern cardinal, barn swallow, loggerhead shrike?, red-headed woodpecker,
northern bobwhite, American kestrel, red-tailed hawk, and turkey vulture.
|
GREAT SALT PLAINS OVERNIGHT FIELD TRIP
|
We were blessed again with super weather and had a great turnout for our Fall OFT (overnight field
trip). Vince Cavalieri, Paul van Els, Michael Harvey, Ryan Helmer, Adrianne Holmes, Les Imboden,
Patty Imboden, Dusty Lynch, Nikki Smith, Ron Stroh, Lucy Walker, and I (Susan Walker) pitched our
tents on the south side of the dam. Ryan’s tent was most compact and quickly erected. At the opposite
end of the scale was Vince and Nikki’s tent—a two-room mansion that took some time to erect for the
first time.
Andy George, Lynn Malley, Tim O’Connell, and Marla Steele made up Saturday’s day-trippers. This
group kept in touch with us via cell phone. Tim was hoping to see a whooping crane and thus his 500th
North American life bird . . . but neither he nor we saw a whooper. We did see many groups of white
pelicans and hundreds of sandhill cranes, however.
It was thrilling to watch and hear the sandhill cranes pass over, both in the evening and early morning.
They are very noisy and one can hear them from a great distance. Skein after skein flew across the salt
flats on their way south, as did large flocks of Canada geese with a few snow geese mixed in. See
Michael Harvey’s photo of a string of sandhills caught against the rising sun on the PCAS website photo
gallery.
One highlight of the trip was a field of 25 ring-necked pheasants. Six of them were near the road and
quite close to us. While we were counting and looking, a northern harrier swooped in for a meal,
scattering the males and then diving at the female pheasants. It did not catch a meal, but Michael
caught it with his camera. See his action shot of this incident below and in color on the website.
This was the time of year for hawks. We saw probably 100 all told, and since Ryan, a falconer, was with
us, we had instant identification also. We saw several on the ground or on posts tearing at and gulping
down their prey, or picking it up in their talons when they saw us and moving off to a quieter dining area.
Besides birds, our walk on the wildlife trail netted two armadillos, several diamond-backed water
snakes, numerous red-eared turtles, a couple of bullfrogs, a couple of leopard frogs, a glimpse of a
horny toad, and even a spider eating a grasshopper. We saw several white-tailed deer, and two
coyotes, one in a field and one way out on the salt flats trying to snag a bird meal.
Speaking of meals, I had prepared a large kettle of beef stew/chili for all, plus a tossed salad, garlic
bread, and tortilla chips for our evening meal. Adrianne brought the fixings for s’mores and also two
boxes of wine, so our evening meal was a great treat. And, though we’d grabbed a Subway sandwich
on our way to the park, we were all famished after our day on the road and birding.
After dinner, we made our s’mores and enjoyed the brilliantly starry sky with its scrap of moon. Some
stayed up late around the camp fire. The rest of us tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags around 9:30
PM and enjoyed a cozy sleep in temps in the mid 40s.
I was awakened at 5:15 AM the next morning by the calls of the great horned owl. Les Imboden raised
the rest of the group at 6 AM with his car alarm (there was no one else in the campground), and then
worked his wizardry on breakfast: scrambled eggs and sausage rolled into tortillas, orange juice, and
coffee. We were off for a morning of birding by 7.
Paul van Els, an excellent birder, led both the Saturday and Sunday field trips. Here is his list of the 84
species we saw or heard over the two days:
Pied-billed grebe, American white pelican, double-crested cormorant, snowy egret, great blue heron, great
egret, white-faced/glossy ibis, Canada goose, greater white-fronted goose, snow goose, mallard, gadwall,
American wigeon, northern shoveler, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, canvasback, red-breasted
merganser, Turkey vulture, northern harrier, sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper’s hawk, red-shouldered hawk,
Swainson’s hawk, red-tailed hawk (incl. 6x Harlan’s hawk!) rough-legged hawk, merlin, American kestrel,
northern bobwhite, ring-necked pheasant, American coot, sandhill crane, killdeer, American avocet, greater
yellowlegs, unidentified Calidris sandpiper, Franklin’s gull, ring-billed gull, mourning dove, Eurasian collared-
dove, rock dove, greater roadrunner, great horned owl, barred owl, eastern screech-owl, belted kingfisher, red-
bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, northern flicker (both red- and yellow-shafted), scissor-tailed flycatcher,
loggerhead shrike, blue jay, American crow, horned lark, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, Bewick’s wren,
winter wren, ruby-crowned kinglet, eastern bluebird, American robin, northern mockingbird, European
starling, American pipit, orange-crowned warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, northern cardinal, savannah
sparrow, vesper sparrow, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, dark-eyed (slate-colored) junco, western
meadowlark, eastern meadowlark, brown-headed cowbird (together with Brewer’s in large flocks), red-winged
blackbird, Brewer’s blackbird, common grackle, great-tailed grackle, house finch, pine siskin, house sparrow.
|
FLIGHTS OF FANCY: SUSAN & LUCY'S GREAT BIRD & BIKE ADVENTURE
|
Sometime in mid September I read the following in Adventure Cycling’s Bike Bits online newsletter:
FOR THE BIRDS
If you're anywhere near Quivira National Wildlife Refuge (that would be in the vicinity of Stafford,
Kansas), you might consider taking part in the Bike & Hike with the Birds on Saturday, September 27.
Route options up to forty-five miles will take participants along the gravel roads of the refuge, where
they'll get up close and personal with the abundant migrating and resident bird life. . . .
Now, Stillwater is not “near” Quivera and nowhere in “the vicinity” of Stafford, Kansas, 218 miles to the
northwest, but I decided that I’d enjoy this event, bicyclist and bird lover that I am. Thus I forwarded the
announcement to both my biking and my birding friends, hoping to find someone else who shared these
dual passions and wanted to spend the weekend in Kansas.
My younger daughter, Lucy, was the only respondent, so we faxed our registrations, and late Friday
afternoon, Sept. 26, she and I left Stillwater for Stafford Kansas—total area 0.94 square miles;
population 1,043—and our motel for the night, the Migrate Inn, which I’d found and reserved through
the Internet.
We were in a bit of a hurry. We wanted to reach Stafford in time to get a nice takeout meal to eat in our
room while we watched the presidential debates at 8 PM.
The car was packed with bird books and harness binocs, all manner of snacks and drinks, our overnight
bags, our cycling clothes, and two bikes: Lucy’s hybrid (not quite a mountain bike and not quite a road
bike) and another hybrid bike for me, borrowed from a neighbor. My skinny-tire road bike would never
do on the dirt/gravel roads of the reserve.
We easily found our motel, a sad affair that had changed hands. The couple running it now didn’t seem
to get the play on words in Migrate Inn so had renamed the inn the “Mi Grate Motel.” It was a cement
block abomination but nominally clean, only $40, and—more to the point—the only motel for miles, so we
stayed. We opted not to eat in the dreary room however, so shared a pizza at Elroy’s Pizza—the only
place to eat in town, aside from two very suspect cafes and a C-store.
Next morning we were up early. We drove to the Senior Center to pay (benefits to Stafford County
Hospital), and to get our goodie bags. At the Center we found that we were celebrities. We were
welcomed and fussed over. How had we found out about the event? How long had it taken us to drive
all the way from OK? We had our photos taken. We were interviewed for the St John newspaper. Those
who knew we’d stayed at the Mi Grate, apologized; told us that there were three fine B&B’s in the area .
. . if they’d only known . . . and so on.
Our goodie bags contained our Quivira Bike & Bird tee shirt (free to the first 60 riders and there were
only 28 registered), a map of the refuge and the bike routes, a bottle of water, an energy bar, and a $5
certificate to be spent anywhere in Stafford.
At the QNWR, we biked the 15-mile route to Headquarters and back. It was a wonderful, quiet way to
see birds and wildlife—no loud engine to turn off each time we stopped.
Here are the birds we saw: White pelican (hundreds), long-billed dowitcher (dozens), American avocet
(dozens), lesser yellowlegs, greater yellowlegs, blue-winged teal (many), sandpiper sp., American coot,
mallard, eastern phoebe, sora, double-crested cormorant (large, airborne flocks), northern harrier (F),
night hawk, turkey vulture, wild turkey (13), great blue heron, black-crowned night heron, snowy egret,
cattle egret, great egret, Franklin’s gull, ring-billed gull, Canada goose, cardinal, scissor-tailed flycatcher,
green-winged teal, cliff swallow, bank swallow, pied-billed grebe, American bittern, red-tailed hawk,
mourning dove, meadow lark, American kestrel, red-winged blackbird (hundreds), European starling,
great-tailed grackle.
We also saw six snakes: Young yellowbelly racer, two western plains garter snakes, two Kansas glossy
snakes (both dead so affording good looks), one checkered garter snake—all id’d as best we could from
a poster of refuge snakes at headquarters.
The mosquitoes were fierce so we were glad when the organizers provided insect spray at the rest
stops. We spent a good bit of time on the observation tower and in the photo blinds.
As we were leaving the refuge, our car came to look like spun candy. It was time for a spider species
with a very tough glossy web to disperse its young on long silvery strands of web that “shrink wrapped”
the car as we drove through them.
We spent our combined certificates ($10) on gas, and then ended our adventure at 4PM with a
companionable drive home.
|
A LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME
|
Animals Save the Planet
Kids and adults will love this url forwarded to me by Joyce Konigmacher: www.animalssavetheplanet.
com. It is a series of mini video cartoons in which animals give us good, green, advice, and a touch of
humor.
Sooper Dooper Whoopers
In late October, John Couch and I traveled to Sue Selman’s ranch in the OK panhandle to work with Sue,
John & Sharon Kennington, (Audubon Council), Adrianne Holmes (ASCO), and Michele Hale (Woodward
Tourism Department) on planning the April 17-22 Woodward Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival. We
reviewed the festival agenda in detail, then visited the Selman Living Lab, had lunch at the Cedar
Canyon Lodge near Freedom, drove through Freedom, visited the Sage & Saddle B&B, visited the
Woodward Cultural Center, and looked with the group at the Northwest Inn, which will be Festival Hdq.
Sharon & John K. then finished the day in Shattuck to see the Windmill Museum.
One big benefit of John Couch’s and my long drive to the meeting was stopping on the way in the
GSP salt flats where we saw thousands of sandhill cranes, snow geese and Canada geese . . . as well
as six WHOOPERS! One for both my life list and John’s. Zippity doo dah . . .
Glover Memorial . . . Call for Donations
Hello all of you readers! We’re calling for donations for a memorial to Ed Glover, our premiere Birdathon
fundraiser, who died Tuesday, October 14th at the age of 86. Our ideas so far are a bench donated in
his name in the Oklahoma Botanical Gardens or a tree planted at Boomer with a memorial plaque. If you
have other good ideas, please let us know. Please send your contributions to: Ed Glover Memorial Fund,
c/o Les Imboden, P.O. Box 82, Stillwater, OK 74076.
She’s baack . . .
Nona Wilhm’s back and looking good. Attended our November program sans scarf for the first time. Her
hair (and health) are coming back just fine. Life is good.
Birding in Kansas
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, along with Cheyenne Bottoms, was recently named one of the Eight
Wonders of Kansas. Both are worth the trip. Quivira offers salt marshes, and adjoining Cheyenne
Bottoms offers freshwater marshes. Whoopers stop in Quivera each October, and sandhill cranes nest
there. Well worth the drive.
|
PONCA'S BIRD BUDDIES HONE SKILLS FOR GBBC by Lu Skillern
|
In July of 2007, Ponca City Library started Bird Buddies, a way for young bird enthusiasts to practice
their birding skills by going on field trips. The Bird Buddies use their bird watching skills each February to
enter the Library's Great Backyard Bird Count Contest, which it conducts in conjunction with Cornell Lab
of Ornithology [See page 1]. Most of the group of about 10 regulars, are home schooled. They are great
kids and eager learners who never have given any of us mentors a moment of trouble.
International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) had some bracelets with “Bird Buddies” stamped on them, and
we encourage the children to wear their bracelet on outings.
Nearly every month we take a field trip on the third Saturday, except for assisting with Eagle Watch at
Kaw City in January and, of course, the Great Backyard Bird Count.
We have been working on bird identification skills since the summer of 2007 and some of these little
guys will give anyone a run for their money in the Great Backyard Bird Count Contest at the Library
February 13-16 this year.
The Ponca City Library holds a bird identification contest and a bird photo contest. The contest
categories cover children through adults; and offer a $25 cash prize for the best list submitted to
Cornell, and the best bird photograph taken during these four days.
There is also a $50 cash prize for the best list submitted on behalf of a school library. The rules are very
simple: count birds, submit list online, and bring a copy of that online submission to the Library for
possible prizes.
Our Bird Buddies have birded Great Salt Plains, Camp McFadden (also a co-sponsor), Kaw Lake, Lake
Ponca, a local yard that has 99 Purple Martin nests after we had a discussion of Migration, Cann
Gardens in Ponca, and Chaplin Nature Center in Arkansas City. We went on a hay ride to prowl owls
after a talk by one of the members about a mounted great horned owl they have. These members are
home schoolers, found the owl, and Fish & Wildlife allowed them to keep it.
We had a sleep over in a co-leader’s cabin in Silverdale, KS, before leaving to go to the Massey's at
Dexter, KS, for greater prairie-chicken booming. We all assisted in planting a food patch for wildlife at
Camp McFadden, too. We had a class on owl pellets . . . but found no bird heads.
Our group also works a booth for a Nature Trail at Fall Festival on Camp McFadden. The trail is laid out
by one of the co-leaders. It is not bird related: 10 different plants have a number attached to them and
the participants must match the numbers correctly with the 10 descriptive paragraph choices on the
sheet we supply them. Everyone gets some prize but those with 8 or better get a choice of some really
nice prizes.
Last month [October] we had an Awards Party. This month we took a field trip to identify the ducks that
have been staying on a small pond at the edge of town for about three weeks, the only ducks we could
find after checking numerous lakes and ponds as far away as Fairfax. Maybe these cold fronts will bring
them down.
We hope that the children learn and appreciate the volunteer spirit. We are really proud of our kids and
their enthusiasm. It is a great pleasure to work with these kids, to plan unusual activities for them, and
to see them mature.
|
OCTOBER PROGRAM ON PRAIRIE-CHICKENS
|
On October 2, Dwayne Elmore gave an excellent presentation on the plight of lesser and greater prairie-
chickens, explaining why prairie-chicken numbers—particularly lesser prairie-chicken numbers—are
plummeting.
According to Elmore, these grouse are experiencing reduced abundance and smaller, more fragmented
distributions due to lack of suitable nesting and brood-rearing habitat caused by human encroachment.
(In Oklahoma, lesser prairie chickens inhabit primarily shinnery oak- and sand sagebrush-dominated
rangelands.)
The main threats to lesser prairie-chicken populations are conversion of native prairie for crop
production, loss of habitat quality through herbicide use, improper prescribed burning regimes, and
livestock grazing, coupled with fence mortality (lesser prairie-chickens often fly into barbed wire fences
while escaping predators or looking for a nesting site), and the birds’ inborn aversion to tall objects
(they will not settle within one mile of a tall object such as a tree or windmill). Also affecting numbers,
but in a negligible way, according to Elmore, are hunting and, in other states, ring-necked pheasants,
which can be aggressive to lesser prairie chickens in areas where the range of these two birds overlap.
Present for this informative program were Vince Cavalieri, Jena Donnell, Leslie Elmore, Andy George,
Les Imboden, David Lewis, Josh Mathias, Freddy Miller, Helen Miller, Adrian Monroe, Tim O’Connell,
Thea Pratt, Lu Skillern, Nikki Smith, and Susan Walker.
|
NOVEMBER PROGRAM: BIRDS OF MALAYSIA & BORNEO
|
On November 6, we joined Iris McPherson for her program about her 5-week May and June 2007 birding
and snorkeling adventure in peninsular Malaysia and the island of Borneo with her Australian friends
Dave & Roma Bell. The foursome traveled with a driver and sometimes a birding guide during the first 3½
weeks, and then spent the remaining 1½ weeks on their own snorkeling (fish watching) on two small
islands off of Borneo. Iris showed photos of the many birds they got to see, and talked about the birding
infrastructure they found in the area. They also encountered an effort by the Malaysian government to
find out what would make the parks more appealing to international birders.
Iris’s program was attended by Vince Cavalieri, John R. Couch, Damona Doye, Dwayne & Leslie
Elmore, Paul van Els, Andy George, Pat Jaynes, Lelia Heading, Iris McPherson, Helen Jordan, Freddy
Miller, Helen Miller, Tim O’Connell, Thea Pratt, Lu Skillern, Nikki Smith, Elaine Stebler, Susan
Walker, and Jerry & Nona Wilhm.
Our thanks go to Iris for her interesting program and the lemonade, to Jerry & Nona for the delicious
chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, and to Elaine Stebler for rounding up a computer projector
and laptop.
|
SOONER LAKE FIELD TRIP
|
On Saturday, November 15, John Couch, field trip leader, met Les Imboden, Jim Ownby, and Susan
Walker in the parking lot across from the Municipal Building. The four climbed into John’s van and drove
to Sooner Lake to bird.
Temps were in the low 30s at trip start and rose into the 40s by mid-day. Winds were fierce and cold out
of the north.
The majority of our birding was done on the grounds of the Sooner Power Plant, which now has some
restrictions as to where we can go in this complex. We were allowed along the evaporation pond and at
the dam but nowhere else.
This was a day for hawks and eagles. We saw one golden eagle, and about 10 or 12 bald eagles, most
immature, and several sitting on the breakwater fishing. In the raptor family we saw a Krider’s hawk,
many red-tailed hawks, kestrel, merlin, northern harriers,
On the water we saw common mergansers, buffleheads, redheads, ring-necked ducks, canvasbacks,
mallards, scaup, blue-winged teal, gadwall, coots, pied-billed grebes, gulls, and double-crested
cormorants. We also saw Canada geese in the air and a solitary great blue heron. One group of
mergansers were synchronized, swimming and diving in unison. None of us had seen that behavior
before. The largest group of cormorants was tucked behind a spit of land in the pond to the east of the
dam.
We didn’t see many tweeters, as John calls them, but then we did not get out of the van much to track
them down. It was too piercingly cold and windy. Nonetheless, we had a fine morning of birding.
|
FOR THE BIRDING ENTHUSIAST: EIGHT GREAT WINTER READS
|
- A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and their Quest to See it All, Luke Dempsey
- Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson, Elizabeth J. Rosenthal
- The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature, Jonathan Rosen
- Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding, Scott Weidensaul
- Return to Warden’s Grove: Science, Desire and the Lives of Sparrows, Christopher Norment
- The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird,
Bruce Barcott
- Flights Against the Sunset: Stories that Reunited a Mother and Son, Kenn Kaufman
- Fifty Places to Go Birding before You Die, Chris Santella
Submitted by Jay Criswell, Stillwater Public Library
|
|