Date: 3/9/23 5:15 am From: Melinda Droege <oklagranny26...> Subject: Re: OKCAS field trip
Larry, sounds like a fun day of birding...
On Thu, Mar 9, 2023 at 7:09 AM John Sterling <
<000001b97c310015-dmarc-request...> wrote:
> Sounds excellent!
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Mar 8, 2023, at 6:59 PM, Larry Mays <larrymays1949...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Monday, March 6, I had the honor of escorting 12 intrepid birders;
> including a couple, Susan and Warden Jernagin, from New Jersey, to the
> Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge north of Lawton in Comanche County.
> > We rallied the troops at the local (for me) Newcastle WalMart at 7:00,
> and we began birding at Robison Crossing (Lawtonka Acres) around 8:30 or
> so. There is a nice little bottomland area near there, and I had hoped to
> scrounge up some woodpeckers, but they just weren't cooperating. There were
> plenty Cardinals to go around though. We then proceeded into the little
> resort village there to check the several feeders. I had hopes for an Inca
> Dove, as they've been fairly cooperative in recent years. No incas, but we
> got Mourning Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove and White-winged Dove there as
> well as a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and a single Red-breasted Nuthatch.
> > It was here, alongside the lake that we managed to see a few Harris's
> Sparrows, towhees , and a possible Audubon's race individual of
> Yellow-rumped Warbler.
> > From there we began to work our way around Lake Lawtonka, and had
> several nice birds including Horned and Eared Grebes and an early Osprey.
> > We stopped briefly at the Lake Elmer Thomas dam hoping for a Rock
> Wren and getting one, along with a couple of very cooperative
> Rufous-crowned Sparrows. One other thing of note: today Cindy McIntire, of
> Lawton, who was with the group, sent me a couple of photos of a very
> interesting flyover bird which she couldn't quite identify. She took the
> shot at the dam while the rest of us were looking at the wren and the
> sparrow. I posted the pics on the "What's This Bird" page on Facebook,
> because it is obviously a loon, but I can't say for certain which. Maybe
> some of you could have a look and give it your two cents.
> > My plan was to then hit a spot where I'd hoped to maybe get a
> LeConte's Sparrow, but the damage to that grassland by feral hogs put a
> stop to that.
> > Our next stop was just past the Meer's Turnoff at the little prairie
> dog town. Everyone got out and we began walking the grass there in hopes of
> possible longspurs or maybe a ...LeConte's Sparrow. We jumped at least
> one, and finally managed to surround the same or another bird, and slowly
> began tightening the circle. We finally got the bird to move up into the
> branches of some sand plums there and a lot of folks got great looks and
> photos of this elusive little bird.
> > Lunch was at the Holy City where they've installed some nice new, very
> clean picnic tables. We did a quick check of the dog town, but didn't turn
> up much, though we now had both species of meadowlark calling.
> > I then led everyone to the west side of the refuge where we circled a
> few gravel roads in hopes of maybe seeing Mountain Bluebirds or Ladderback
> Woodpeckers, but dipped on both species. We did get a Loggerhead Shrike
> there, but the birds were scarce.
> > From there we went back onto the refuge and made stops at Sunset, the
> trail to the Narrows and Lost Lake. Passerines everywhere were few and far
> between. At the Narrows trailhead we managed to get everyone onto a
> Townsend"s Solitaire.
> > At Lost Lake we finally got onto some woodpeckers--three Red-headeds, a
> Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Northern Flicker or two. Did we get a
> downy? Can't recall.
> > I think the final tally was 46 species plus the loon.
> > ---Larry Mays
> > Newcastle
> >
>
