BIRD STUDY GROUP
Subject: Red Slough Nature Festival - Oklahoma 9-12 May 2015
Friends,
Had a great time over the past several days at the Idabel, OK centered Red
Slough Nature Festival. Was invited to talk about working wetlands and my 2012
big year. Was fortunate to bird with David Arbour, one of the area's foremost
naturalists, at Red Slough where he works weekly. Also got to go to the
Wilderness Area on the west side of Broken Bow Reservoir where the northern
most/western most Red-cockaded Woodpecker colonies are located. And had a few
hours at Little River NWR just north of Idabel. I drove into Idabel in heavy
rain on the 9th and we dodged the bullet in terms of rain on the 10th. The 11th
was a good day all around. And return today was uneventful in terms of weather.
We were fortunate to be in an area which had no tornados. But the water was
literally everywhere. The impoundment that had been lowered for shorebirds for
the festival was refilled by the rains. There were fallouts of warblers and
orioles pretty much everywhere one took the time to look. And, Bobolinks were
found just north of the Red River.
How wet was it? We found a couple of Solitary Sandpipers in a small flooded
area on top of what most folks from south Louisiana would call a mountain near
Broken Bow Reservoir.
The venue for the events was the Museum of the Red River which features a huge
raptor dinosaur skeleton which was excavated near Idabel. It was as big as a T.
rex but wasn't a T. rex. Name escapes me now.
The festival was as well run as any with which I've been associated. The
organizers really had to scramble to address the weather conditions especially
the flooding.
A non-birder from Baton Rouge came with a friend. She REALLY wanted to see a
male Painted Bunting. David called in one to within about 15' of her the first
morning! She was really thrilled.
My bird list follows. The overall list exceeded 150 which is pretty darned good
for habitat that was very similar to what you'd find in the Shreveport area.
Did barely break 100 - 104 - and added at least 60-70 new Oklahoma life birds
on my second birding trip to the Sooner State.
Jay Huner
[Late additions: Canada Goose, Snowy Egret, Purple Gallinule, Common Gallinule,
Trail's Flycatcher and Warbling Vireo.]
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Bell's Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Pine Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Sparrow
