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March/April 2002
Household Pollutants Collection Need a Great Spring Birding Trip? Great Sales Events at March and April Meetings Widely Known As 'Wild Canaries' - Nyla Bryant Woody Field Trip to Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge April 19-21 From the President - Tomye Ann Mainer 2002 Least Tern Breeding Survey - Bob Harwood Tulsa Community College Classes by Russell Studebaker Notes About a Dear TAS Friend, Lois Rodgers - Laurel Upshaw 2001 Christmas Bird Count - Jo Loyd, Recorder's Report - Amy Lambert
HOUSEHOLD
POLLUTANTS COLLECTION
|
| Common Loon, 5 Pied-billed Grebe, 22 Horned Grebe, 1 Double-crested Cormorant, 55 Great Blue Heron, 55 Canada Goose, 973 Wood Duck, 5 Gadwall, 544 American Wigeon, 6 Mallard, 857 Blue-winged Teal, 3 Northern Shoveler, 191 Green-winged Teal, 208 Canvasback, 1 Redhead, 2 Ring-necked Duck, 139 Greater, Scaup, 2 Lesser Scaup, 30 Black Scoter, 1 Bufflehead, 193 Hooded Merganser, 49 Red-breasted Merganser, 55 Ruddy Duck, 1 DUCK SPECIES, 35 Osprey, 1 Bald Eagle, 4 Northern Harrier, 8 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 3 Cooper's Hawk, 3 Red-shouldered Hawk, 45 Red-tailed Hawk, 64 ACCIPITER SPECIES, 1 HAWK SPECIES, 2 American Kestrel, 61 |
Prairie Falcon, 1 Killdeer, 68 Least Sandpiper, 50 Common Snipe, 2 Bonaparte's Gull, 394 Ring-billed Gull, 455 Rock Dove, 472 Mourning Dove, 135 Great Horned Owl, 6 Barred Owl, 4 Belted Kingfisher, 5 Red-headed Woodpecker, 135 Red-bellied Woodpecker, 56 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 6 Downy Woodpecker, 108 Hairy Woodpecker, 10 Northern Flicker, 88 Pileated Woodpecker, 8 Eastern Phoebe, 1 Loggerhead Shrike, 13 Blue Jay 453 American Crow, 850 Horned Lark, 23 Carolina Chickadee, 277 Tufted Titmouse, 153 White-breasted Nuthatch, 26 Brown Creeper, 6 Carolina Wren, 24 Winter Wren, 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 8 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 19 Eastern Bluebird, 144 Hermit Thrush,. 2 American Robin, 410 |
Northern Mockingbird, 131 Brown Thrasher, 6 European Starling, 4953 American Pipit, 37 Cedar Waxwing, 333 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 56 Spotted Towhee, 12 Eastern Towhee, 6 American Tree Sparrow, 3 Shipping Sparrow, 14 Field Sparrow, 19 Savannah, Sparrow, 22 Fox Sparrow, 10 Song Sparrow, 109 Lincoln's Sparrow, 15 Swamp Sparrow, 10 White-throated Sparrow, 203 Harris's Sparrow, 199 White-crowned Sparrow, 87 Dark-eyed Junco, 1058 Smith's Longspur, 95 Northern Cardinal, 312 Red-winged Blackbird, 4234 Eastern Meadowlark, 218 Western Meadowlark, 1 Rusty Blackbird, 21 Brewer's Blackbird, 78 Common Grackle, 942 Great-tailed Grackle, 318 Brown-headed Cowbird, 370 BLACKBIRD SPECIES, 35 House Finch, 253 American Goldfinch, 203 House Sparrow, 1041 |
RECORDER'S
REPORT BIRDS OF INTEREST SINCE DEC 15
Amy Lambert, Recorder
|
FLAG |
SPECIES |
NOTES |
DATE |
COUNT |
LOCATION |
OBSERVER |
|
Rare |
Black Vulture |
|
1/8/2002 |
1 |
Keystone Area |
TMB Leader: B. Germany |
|
Rare |
Lesser Black-backed Gull |
First winter bird |
12/28/2001 |
1 |
Lynn Lane Reservoir |
Jim Arterburn |
|
Rare |
Inca Dove |
|
12/16/2001 |
1 |
Residence |
Bill Carrell |
|
OOD |
Swainson's Thrush |
Normal date range 9/11 - 30 to 4/16 - 4 |
1/21/2002 |
1 |
Oxley Nature Center (trailhead of Thrush Trail) |
Gail Storey |
|
|
Smith's Longspur |
|
12/18/2001 |
90 |
North Tulsa County |
TMB Leader: J. Loyd |
|
Rare |
Shiny Cowbird |
|
1/13/2002 |
1 |
51st and Harvard area |
Colin Davy |
|
|
Purple Finch |
|
1/13/2002 |
1 |
Residence |
Colin Davy |
|
|
Pine Siskin |
|
12/26/2001 |
1 |
Residence |
Lane Hammock |
|
|
Pine Siskin |
|
1/1/2002 |
1 |
Oxley/NW Tulsa County |
TMB Leader: A. Romero |
Please do not use the the <info@tulsaaudubon.org.> e-mail address. E-mail reports directly to me at oncewasamy@aol.com or call 272-4794 or Pat Seibert at 747-4202.
I will keep track of the records for Tulsa County Listers, but you need to let me know if you want to participate. How about a competition for yard bird listers? You will have to work hard to beat Elaine Renning, She reported 77 species last year! If you want to participate, contact me, and let me know the area of town you live in and REPORT! (In this case, you only report the highest number of a species seen at any one time during a day. Report the day with the highest number for each species during the month.)
Bill Carrell has reported 44 Species since 1/01/02. Tuesday Morning Birders, with leader Aline Romero, had 70 species on New Years Day. We have had reports from 12 individuals or groups since the first of the year, 301 total records.
This report covers 12/15/01 to 2/1/02. Remember, I need all of your sightings. Amy Lambert, Recorder
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED JUST WHAT HAPPENS ON A "BREEDING BIRD SURVEY?
Deep Fork National
Wildlife Refuge Breeding Bird Survey May 10th and 24th, 2001
Gail
Storey
In August, Tulsa Audubon Society received a check from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for $1500 for conducting a May Breeding Bird survey and the Winter Count the previous season. In our capacity as an Audubon Refuge Keeper, the TAS Board of Directors agreed to use this money to help with projects at the refuge as needed.
Members of the Tulsa Audubon Society agreed to conduct a breeding bird survey for the Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge in Okmulgee, Oklahoma in May of 2001. Refuge staff members Darrin Unruh (Acting Manager) and Ron Price coordinated the count. Ric Kotarsky was contracted by the Refuge to set up the points and compile the data. Ric had worked on the refuge before as an intern and in other capacities. For this survey, a specific protocol was followed. Ric designated 52 points on the refuge and marked them with sticks. The sticks were painted orange on top and were numbered. At each point we were to note every bird seen or heard during a 10-minute time period. For each point, we were given a bulls-eye chart to record our results. The center of the bulls-eye was to represent the stick and the birds were to be marked in the appropriate directions from the center. We were given a list of abbreviations for the various species of birds. Sounds easy enough!
Our first day of the survey was May 10. At 6:30 that morning Bill Foster, Tommye Mainer, and David Edwards arrived at my house. We traveled together to the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Okmulgee. There we met Ric Kotarsky and Ron Price. Pat Seibert and Jo Loyd joined us there also. It was a beautiful morning. Ric gave us copies of the protocol, timers, and a bulls-eye chart for each point. We divided into two groups. Pat, Tommye, and Bill went with Ric. David, Jo, and I went with Ron. We had to travel in refuge vehicles because the roads are too bad for regular cars and because Ron and Ric were the only ones who could find the points.
My group easily reached our first point in a lovely forest clearing. Thanks to Jo's expert ear, we were able to record several species, most by sound. We drove deeper into the refuge, parked, and began walking to our next three points. We quickly realized just how thorough Ric had been in placing the points so as to cover the ENTIRE refuge. We also learned from Ron that Ric had been riding on an all-terrain vehicle when he placed the points! We walked for what seemed like miles, but eventually reached all three points in that area and recorded our data. Ron decided to take us on a short-cut back to the truck. Unfortunately, the short cut was through a forest consisting entirely of poison ivy-the trees were poison ivy, the shrubs were poison ivy, and the ground cover was poison ivy. After passing through the Poison Forest we entered a more open woods and picked up speed. Unfortunately, hidden in the leaf litter, was a strand of barbed wire from an old fence. Jo tripped over it and fell down. She was very brave and did not complain a bit. We arrived back at the truck. Later, Ron admitted that he had been just a little bit lost. We covered seven more points and returned to Wal-Mart about 1:00 where we met the other group.
They had their own little tale of woe. As they were traveling along, the truck got stuck in the mud. Fortunately, the truck is equipped with a winch for just such occasions. However, at that particular spot, there were no trees to attach the cable to. Bill had to wrap it around a big shrub that was covered with thorns. This procedure took about thirty minutes during which the truck would tilt precariously to one side or the other. But this intrepid band still managed to cover twelve points. Bill was admirably stoical about the cuts and dribbles of blood on his arms.
We headed back to Tulsa having covered almost one half of the points. In spite of a few problems, we had all enjoyed the beauty and seclusion of the refuge.
On May 24 we gathered again to complete the survey. Suzie Tramel, Bill Foster, Pat Seibert, Tommye Mainer, and Bob Germany arrived at my house at 6:30 a.m. Bob and Bill rode together and the 'girls' followed in my vehicle. Darrin Unruh, Ron Price, and Ric Kotarsky met us at Wal-Mart in Okmulgee. Jim Harman from Fort Gibson joined us. Jim does a lot to help at the Deep Fork and knows the refuge very well. Darrin told us that he is starting a Friends group for the refuge and would like interested members of Audubon to be a part of it.
It was a beautiful morning, surprisingly cool. After a little discussion, we divided into three groups. Bob, Tommye, and Pat went with Ric. Suzie went with Jim in his truck and Bill and I went with Ron. We divided the remaining posts. About mid-morning, my group walked to a post that was in pretty deep mud. Bill and I kept hearing a call that we couldn't identify. We followed it and the mud got deeper and deeper. Finally we were in water that came over the tops of our boots. After that we didn't worry about wet feet any more. We sorely missed Jo's good ear for sounds and we missed a lot of birds just because we couldn't identify the calls. I ran out of bulls-eye charts and had to draw my own, which were rather sad looking. Ron decided that we had better skip our last post because to reach it we would have to walk a short distance on the adjoining private property. The owner is pretty mean and is not above taking pot shots at trespassers. We finished a little early and decided to look for our fellow birders. At Post 31, we found Ric's group. They had been stuck in the mud again and had to winch out. We enjoyed a pretty view of the Deep Fork River and then went looking for Jim and Suzie. We found them near an old cemetery. We all joined together to cover their last point. We passed a very impressive beaver dam on the way. We returned to our cars, compared notes, and gave our data to Ric. Then it was time to head back to Tulsa. In spite of the mud and the poison ivy, we all loved our time at the Deep Fork. It has a wonderful variety of habitat. We are looking forward to the time when the roads and trails will be improved and maybe someday a visitors' center will provide a welcome. Gail Storey