Date: 4/8/25 6:48 am From: Sandy Berger <sndbrgr...> Subject: Birding in and Around Fort Smith/Sequoyah NWR
After Covid I saw from other Facebook pages that there were a number of
people in this area that had taken up birding during the pandemic,
including people in eastern Oklahoma. So I started the Facebook page
Birding In and Around Fort Smith which covers parts of Easter OK.
If there are any eastern Oklahoma people interested please check out the
page or email me for info on field trips. This Saturday we will be heading
to Alma, AR to visit the new wet units that the Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission has built. We will meet at the Alma McDonald’s at 7:00 a.m.
The page is designed for people to post photos from birds within 50 miles
of Fort Smith. So that would include Sequoyah NWR and the lower half of
Lake Tenkiller. New birders can ask questions. Advice on birding is
sometimes posted. But anyone, no matter where they live, is invited.
Please check it out.
Yesterday I visited Sequoyah NWR. I came away with 55 species. Newly
arrived birds included Yellow-throated Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher,
Northern Parula and a single Warbling Vireo that Ebird said was too early.
Even with all the flooded fields though, there was not a single shorebird
on site. Also found a Barred Owl nest and watched a young bobcat catch a
coot.
Sadly all the trees in Miner’s cove are dead and have crashed to the
ground. We all believe it had to do with the 2019 flood.
Also, sadly, two of Sequoyah’s employees are having to take early
retirement because of government cuts.
