About Us      Field Trips     Patti's Chirpings    Road Trip Reports     Join      Resources
 

Oklahoma City Audubon Society
1947 - 2009
 

Upcoming Events

June 15, 2009
Meeting


Recorder's Report

 

 

 

 

 

BIRDERS' RESOURCES

Birding Hot Spots
A guide to birding locations
in Central Oklahoma.

Central Oklahoma
Bird Checklist
 Search for records
 Download and print the
updated checklist (pdf format)
Legal size  |  Letter size
 

June 15: Jack Curran's World of Birds

Jack Curran, painter, sculptor, photographer and author, will be the featured presenter at the June 15 meeting of the Oklahoma City Audubon Society. Jack will be presenting beautiful and exciting photographs of Sandhill Cranes from a recent trip to the cranes’ staging area on Nebraska’s Platte River.

Curran began his career as a display designer and sign painter, then advanced to technical illustrator, advertising manager, art director, director of special projects and finally, free-lance sculptor and photographer. All the while, nearly forty-seven years, he developed a true love for knowing birds and bird watching. Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1935, he now resides in Bella Vista, Arkansas.

He will also be offering his book "Jack Curran's World of Birds" for sale at a significant discount, and donating a portion of the book sales to Oklahoma City Audubon.

Our meetings are held September through June on the third Monday of each month.  They begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Will Rogers Garden Center, I-44 and NW 36th Street. Visitors are always welcome.

Adopt-A-Park at Prairie Dog Point

The members of the Oklahoma City Audubon Society have adopted Prairie Dog Point at Oklahoma City's Lake Hefner by participating in Oklahoma City Beautiful's Adopt-A-Park program. Our commitment to the program is for assistance in litter management. The Parks department has responded to our request to have additional trash cans placed around the area to help keep the area clean.  

Prairie Dog Point is located at the southwest corner of Lake Hefner. It attracts diverse species of birds throughout the seasons and is especially popular with birders during the spring and fall shorebird migrations. In addition to contributing to the beautification of our community, our participation in the program allows us to promote the area as a location of interest to birders, perhaps helping to avoid further habitat loss. Everyone is invited to participate in our Adopt-A-Park project by picking up litter during birding trips to the Point.

2008 Christmas Bird Count numbers
Winter weather didn't stop the observers who contributed to a record Christmas Bird Count in 2008.  To find out how many birds were spotted, click here. 

May 18: Plains Apache Ethnobotony

Julia A. Jordan was the speaker for our May 18, 2009 meeting. Ms. Jordan holds a masters degree in anthropology from the University of Oklahoma where she studied the Plains Apache and their use of plants for medicinal and ceremonial purposes. From her research in the 1960s to her recent follow-up work, she has maintained a half-century interest in the Plains Apache culture and their prairie environment. Her recently published book by the University of Oklahoma Press, “Plains Apache Ethnobotany,” was the focus of her presentation.

April 20: Spring Warblers

Dr. Chris Butler was the featured speaker at the April 20, 2009 meeting of the Oklahoma City Audubon Society. Dr. Butler is Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Central Oklahoma. He first became interested in birds when he was five years old and saw his first American Goldfinches. His interest in birds stayed with him as he grew and he decided to attend Cornell to study ornithology as an undergraduate. He received his B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University in 2000 and then traveled to the University of Oxford for a Ph.D in zoology. After receiving his Ph.D in 2004 for his research on Rose-ringed Parakeets, he taught for a couple years at Sewanee: University of the South (a small, private, liberal-arts college in Tennessee) before moving to the University of Central Oklahoma. He’s currently an assistant professor at UCO where he teaches classes in Animal Biology, Ornithology and GIS & Ecology.

November 2008: Snakes

The program for the November 17 meeting of the OKC Audubon Society was presented by Don Shepard from the University of Oklahoma. SNAKES! Yes, Don talked about snakes in general, showed photos of the diverse groups of snakes including a lot of species found in Oklahoma. SNAKES!


October: Alaska 2008

OKC Audubon members Jimmy Woodard and Jerry Vanbebber (shown left with Esther Key) shared the highlights of their incredible Spring 2008 trip to one of the most beautiful and unique areas of our world.  This multi-talented duo is blessed with enviable birding skills and the ability to enlighten and entertain with  their great sense of humor and photography skills. 

 

September: Rick Fry, "Birds in Art"

"Birds In Art" by Norman bird artist Rick Fry was the topic of the September meeting. Fry, born in Shawnee and now based just a few miles down the road in Norman, Rick loves his home state’s prairies, trees, and rolling hills, especially the open hills of Southwest Oklahoma. He is an amateur ornithologist, and has spent a good portion of his life painting wildlife and its habitats with a particular interest in birds.