Enjoyed Sandy’s report. I do wish that I could hear them as well as Sandy. I use Merlin daily due to my loss of high range hearing. I hear and see about 70% of the current species in Mitch Park Edmond. Merlin helps me “know what else is the there” and usually I can find those birds as they move about in the tree and shrubs.
Since moving to Edmond 27 years ago my hearing loss continues slowly. Back around 2000 I could easily hear both Painted and Indigo bunting at least 75-100 yards away. Today I need to be 20-30 feet from the tree they are perched on.
Sadly there are a few birds I have NEVER heard ( Brown Creeper and most warblers)! I did hear a Blue-gray this year at about 5 feet!
Merlin is a great help to my birding now at age 83! Still my best hobby! I started at age 15 in the central PA woodlands and fields.
Hal Yocum
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jun 20, 2025, at 6:19 PM, Sandy Berger <sndbrgr...> wrote:
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> I spent a few hours at the refuge this morning. It was terribly humid. They’ve had a lot of rain and there are lots of wet fields and the areas they usually drain have not been. The Arkansas River is extremely high and it may get higher because of the heavy rain that has caused flooding in Kansas and northern Oklahoma. It all drains into the Arkansas River eventually.
> But the refuge was quite birdy. I had 57 species on the refuge plus two more at the Stony Point fishing access. There were a pair of Least Terns at the sand barat Stony Point. Years ago the Army Corps of Engineers built a huge sand bar by dredging the river bottom. Hopefully the terns will have a successful nesting season.
> Most of my birding was done by ear (not Merlin). Birds mostly stay hidden, singing from the shadow of the trees. But they were quite vocal. Of course there were cardinals and indigos at every stop, as well as quite a number of Red-headed Woodpeckers throughout the refuge. Since the 2019 flood most of the cottonwood trees have died and fallen. The woodpeckers love those dead trees.
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> Sandy B.
> Sequoyah County
