| BioBlitz! Beaver's Bend State Park and Red Slough Wetland McCurtain Co., OK (September 14, 2002) |
| BioBlitz! |
| (c) copyrighted by Cyndie Browning 2002 |
| On Saturday morning (9/14) after our usual hearty breakfast, Phil Floyd and I headed up to the Beaver's Bend State Park to participate in Oklahoma's 2nd annual BioBlitz! (April 2001 was the first, at the George Sutton Urban Wilderness Area in Norman.) For those of you who don't know, the BioBlitz! is described as "a rapid inventory of biological diversity hosted by the OK Biological Survey and conducted by volunteers from around the state and the region. As many plants and animals in a designated area of public land as can be identified in 24 consecutive hours are tallied." This year's BioBlitz! began at 3:00pm Friday, scheduled to close at 3:00pm Saturday. Phil arrived on Friday afternoon (I had to work that day) and birded around the state park with Berlin Heck, Dan Reinking, Mia Revels, and others (at least, I think there were others; I wasn't there). On Saturday morning after I'd registered as a BioBlitz! volunteer, Phil and I headed over to the Nature Center area to see what a bit of morning birding might add to the previous afternoon's haul of 28 species. We found Gr. Egret, Gr. Blue Heron, and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons in approximately the same places where Phil et al. had seen them the day before. Pileated Woodpeckers seemed to be everywhere!! I've never heard or seen them in such abundance before. Summer Tanagers and "black-eyed" White-eyed Vireos (the immatures have black eyes) were also plentiful. We found a young E. Phoebe perched on a powerline by the road, which proved to be the first (and perhaps only?) Eastern Phoebe reported for the BioBlitz! along with the House Sparrows I'd seen on our drive into the park that morning. (Y'know you're havin' a good day when House Sparrows count.) So we proudly contributed _2_ species to the final tally for the BioBlitz! even if they were only as common as E. Phoebe and House Sparrow. Dragonflies and butterflies were also everywhere we looked, and even tho' we didn't study them too closely, I added Carolina and Gemmed Satyrs and Little Yellow butterflies to my butterfly lifelist. After wandering through the woods adjacent to the Nature Center, we got back in the car and drove on eastward to the low dam area where we found several fly-fishers and bank-side fishermen (and children, too) enjoying the shade of the cool morning. We also found another Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and watched with amusement as he chased off two immature Yellow-crowns from his "special spot." I don't know that I've ever had a good look at immature Yellow-crowns before; they're identical to the mature adults in profile and sport the same red eyes, but their feathers are entirely brown-and-white streaks... and, to tell you the truth, I think the immatures are far more attractive than the adults. I always think that yellow pate on the adult birds looks downright silly! We hiked along the river for some distance, enjoying the sight of many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds wrestling for territory above a huge stand of Cardinal Flowers, and we flushed Belted Kingfishers up and down the river as we walked. On our way back to the car, we watched a Spotted Sandpiper fly in and land at the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron's "special spot," but the adult Yellow-crown had apparently moved on already. The immature Yellow-crowns were still there, tho', and I enjoyed a really up-close-and-personal look at the one nearest our path. We found one immature Red-headed and several Downy Woodpeckers, too, a couple of Wood Ducks in the river, and one Red-shouldered Hawk. Phil told me that Berlin and the others had found a low-growing flowering plant near the low dam where the closed blossoms were bright yellow pods about an inch long (and the open flowers looked something like yellow orchids to me), the name of which plant had apparently eluded them all altho' Mia was pretty sure it had 3 names. Phil and I studied that flower for a bit and then when we got back to the car, we checked our wildflower field guides and identified it as Large-flowered False Foxglove (sure enough, 3 names!). We also found many Slender Dayflowers, Monkey Flowers, Venus's Looking Glass, and Tick Trefoil. It was a beautiful morning to be out among the flowers and birds, even if we weren't seeing anything new and exciting. As the morning progressed, it warmed considerably and by about 1:00, we declared a lunch break and ran into Berlin and Dan at the Stephens Gap Restaurant. (Excellent food!! Wait until you try the chocolate cake with the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup crumbs sprinkled on top!) Then we headed back to the BioBlitz! HQ to see how things were developing. |
| Finally, at 3:00pm, the BioBlitz! count was declared closed and after several announcements and awards of appreciation to the park authorities and event organizers, they announced the final tally for this year: 1,021 species of plants, animals, and fungi!! (WOW!! last year at Norman they only counted 485 species!!) including 68 species of birds, 16 mammals (not included humans ~:-), 37 fish, 24 "herps" (I'm gathering this included snakes, reptiles, and possibly frogs), 77 aquatic and 335 terrestrial invertebrates, 375 plants, 4 algae, 6 fungi, and 79 bryophytes ("any of a division of nonflowering plants comprising the mosses and liverworts"---hey, I looked it up! ~:-). Boy, was I proud to be there and be a part of it all. After leaving the Park, Phil and I drove down to the Broken Bow City Park where, Berlin had assured me, we would find Brown-headed Nuthatches. I lived in NE Texas for 3 years before moving to Tulsa and used to enjoy Brownies at my backyard birdfeeders, but it had now been 2 years since I'd seen one or heard their "squeegee-squeegee" calls. Well, we found several of 'em as soon as we got out of the car so now I know I can stop there at least once-a-year and pick up Brownies for a yearbird from now on. It was late afternoon but we were still full from lunch so decided to head on down to Red Slough (which may or may not have been our real destination when we decided to participate in the BioBlitz! ...hey, we'll never tell!). More Rough-winged Swallows than I've ever seen at one time perched along the powerlines between Hwy. 87 and the Getty Oil sign on Mudline Road, and we flushed a Loggerhead Shrike as we drove up Mudline. We hiked out to the observation tower east of the Push Creek bridge. Several young White Ibis flew in to roost at Unit 38 as we walked along, and then 5-6 Wood Storks flew by. Yearbird for both of us! One young stork flew right over our heads!! so I pointed to the bird and, turning to Phil, said, "THIS is a Wood Stork!" It was about 5:30 when we reached the tower and the sun was still high in the sky but we had a good vantage point from the tower since the sun was too far west to cause much glare on the water. Not nearly as much water in Unit 44 as there was the LAST time I was there (June, I think), but sizable numbers of peeps, Yellowlegs, Killdeer, and Blue-winged Teal. We also gleaned a few Long-billed Dowitchers from among the waterbirds. I got tickled at the snake-like heads of Little Blue Herons popping up here and there among the greenery as they "grazed"; must be lots of frogs, lizards, and bugs in there that they're fond of. We were soon joined by David and Margretta Griffith of Texas and learned they're friends of Bill Horn and had, in fact, been bitten by the photography bug thanks to one of Bill's photography seminars. In short order, David had hauled up their cameras, tripods, and massive telephoto lens and was quickly clicking pictures of the 5-6 Black-necked Stilts we'd found nearby. I was glad he'd brought out that monster lens since Phil and I hadn't thought to haul his new scope with us to the tower; too tired or addle-brained from the BioBlitz! I guess. Anyway, we all chatted together amiably and admired the birds and were getting along famously when I noticed a _large_ duck-shaped bird on the shore of the grassy island opposite the tower. We watched the bird until it disappeared back into the greenery, then stayed around a little longer, hoping it would reappear, and sure enough it did: this time making its way into the water and settling down for a good ol'-fashioned egg-beater bird bath. I called it "Virginia Rail" because I've seen them before and thought I recognized it, and I was pretty pleased with myself at the call.... until we got back to the car, when I checked Sibley's Guide and realized I'd finally found one of the King Rails that had eluded Phil and me the last time we'd been to Red Slough. A lifer for both of us!! and I was thrilled to my sox. When the rail disappeared again, Phil and I said our good-nights to the Griffiths and headed back to the motel. Sunday morning, we drove back down to the Slough for a while and this time, we hauled the scope out to the same tower with us. Unfortunately, the sun was high overhead and caused quite a bit of glare on the water, but we looked anyway. Phil happened to be looking up when all the peeps suddenly scattered, and that's when he noticed a young or female No. Harrier skimming low over the water. The hawk landed on one of the tiny grassy islands and then just stood there, lookin' around. I couldn't tell if it had caught something or not but it sure had stirred up the birds! With the help of Phil's scope and Sibley's guide, we were able to positively identify Least, Western, and Semipalmated Sandpipers to our own satisfaction---in the past, y'know, we've just walked away from "peeps," knowing full well they're probably out there but unable to distinguish one species from the other. This was more fun. By now, Phil was sneezin' his head off (fall allergy season, y'know) until finally I suggested that we just pack it up and head for home. But as we drove north on Mudline into the pine forests beyond the Slough proper, Phil noticed a flurry of birds in the trees on both sides of the road so we stopped the car in the shade and got out to look. Pine Warblers were calling from virtually every tree and eventually we even got to see one. Also, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, White-eyed Vireos, the ubiquitous Chickadees.... y'know, the usual suspects, but we also found a male Baltimore Oriole scarfin' up berries as fast as he could, and heard a Yellow-throated Vireo (yearbird!!), a Summer Tanager picky-tucking, and both of us saw at least one Wilson's Warbler. For a minute there, we were birdin' fast and furious, and then the flurry settled down, we got back in the car, and drove home. It was a terrific weekend. Together, we found 60 species of birds at Beaver's Bend State Park and Red Slough (combined), and we're already lookin' forward to next year's BioBlitz! in September 2003 at Woodward, OK. Mark your calendar's now! and don't miss the fun!! |
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| A group of students was bent over bunches of twigs and branches, studying leaves and seed pods under micro-scopes, racing the clock (cut-off time: 3:00pm) to ID everything they'd found. Another lady was pinning beetles, moths, wasps, and other bugs to a styrofoam "board." There were bunches of small round tubular bottles containing spiders and all kinds of living critters. Several people wondered where the "herpies" were, the kids who'd gone out to find snakes and reptiles, worried they were havin' such a good time out there, they'd forget to come back in time to report what they'd found. |
| Several tables displayed spiders and snakes, including a Black Rat Snake about 18-24" long and a baby Speckled King Snake. Smaller around than a pencil, the baby snake seemed harmless enough and I've seen and admired Speckled King Snakes in the wild before, so I accepted the offer to hold this baby snake in my own two hands. It was a funny feeling since the snake was SO light, I could really only feel it if/when it flexed a coil of muscle against my hands as it moved. Boy, was it pretty! First snake I've ever held on my own, altho' I'll grant you I outweigh it by a ton so I felt reasonably safe. But one kid was walking around the area with that big Black Rat Snake in his hands, showing it to his friends, the web between his thumb and fingers bleeding where the darn thing had bitten him at least once! He kept telling it, "hey, quit bitin' me!!" (like the snake was payin' him any mind) and I knew I'd been wise to "make do" with holding the baby king snake instead of the other. |
| Kristi Silvey, one of the Park Naturalists, had a red Eastern Screech-Owl on display in one tent, only the second Screech-Owl I've ever _seen_ (I've heard 'em, of course, but only seen them one other time that I recall) and needless to say, this one was right there at less-than-arm's length. I took many pictures of the little guy (some of which are displayed on this page) and petted him for quite a while, wonderin' how I could spirit him away from the tent and keep him forever before Kristi caught on who'd taken him. (By the way, all birds are male to me until proven otherwise.) Damn, he was cute!! I named him Precious because he was, and I like to think he began to recognize the cooing tones of my voice as I whispered sweet-nothings in his ears while standing beside him and stroking his head and back; each time I approached and began petting Precious, he closed his eyes and slipped into a Zen-like state of relaxation. I enjoyed being SO close to this wild little creature (altho' granted, he's somewhat human-habituated since he's an injured bird who now resides at the Nature Center) and answering the many questions of "what kind of owl is that?" as other visitors to the BioBlitz! came by to admire Precious. |
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| "Precious" |