Oklahoma City Audubon Society
1947 - 2008
Upcoming Events
November 17
Membership meeting
November 1
Field Trip: Ketchum Ranch
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BIRDERS' RESOURCES
Birding Hot Spots
Central
Oklahoma |
November 2008: Oklahoma City
Audubon Society meeting
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.
Tuesday Morning Field Trips
Birders of all skill levels should plan to attend these half-day fieldtrips. The main focus is to introduce folks to new places, improve bird ID skills and enjoy a leisure morning with friends. These weekly outings are much more than just looking for birds, even though that is the main goal. We have such a nice diverse group with a vast array of knowledge including photography, flowers, mammals, reptiles and butterflies that it's a great opportunity to learn about all of the critters, feathered or not.
Contact Nancy Vicars (nancy.vicars@sbcglobal.net ) for more information. Information will be posted here each week.
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.
2007 Christmas Bird Count
numbers
Winter weather didn't stop the
33 observers who contributed to a successful Christmas Bird Count in
2007. To find out how many birds were spotted during more than 77
combined hours, click here.
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.
June:
Jenifer Hargrave -- A Tale of Two Lakes
Jennifer Hargrave, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oklahoma, was the featured speaker at the June 16 meeting. She received a B.S. in geology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and a M.S. in vertebrate paleontology from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. She has conducted field work in western US, as well as Australia and Antarctica. She will talk about her research using lake deposits in Oregon and Australia, where numerous bird fossils have been found, to study records of geological change.
May:
James Walden -- Mississippi Kites
Veteran commercial photographer James Walden was the featured presenter at the May 19, 2008 meeting of the Oklahoma City Audubon Society. James described how a chance encounter with two Mississippi Kites introduced him to the joys of birding and reenergized his passion for photography. He also shared many of his images that provided close-up views of Mississippi Kites flying, nesting and raising their young, along with his personal observations and research on the social behavior and migratory habits of these amazing birds.
April: Bill & Susan Schmidt
We enjoyed a “two-fer” at our April 21st meeting when Bill Schmidt shared a video by Dan and Diane True of Clovis, New Mexico, along with bird photos taken by the Schmidt family. The 20-minute video captures a female Black Chinned Hummingbird building her nest and raising chicks in an RV storage barn in Del Rio, Texas. We saw a mother building her nest with sticky spider webbing spun the night before and see another mother steal food from her baby! This was truly amazing video footage.
March:
Victor Roubidoux
Victor Roubidoux,
wildlife manager for the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma was
the featured speaker at the March 17 meeting of the
Oklahoma City Audubon Society. His presentation focused on his work with the tribe's aviary near Perkins
and its eagle rehabilitation program.
In a recent Tulsa World
interview, Victor explained that part of the Iowa's
beliefs is that eagles were the only ones to see the
face of the Creator. This is why it is important to the
tribe to take care of them, he said.
February: Churchill with the Vicars
On
Monday, February 18, 2008, the Dynamic Duo of Jim and
Nancy Vicars shared their “trip-of-a-lifetime” journey
to Churchill, Canada, via a collection of beautiful
slides and entertaining narratives that you will not
want to miss.
Nancy became a birder in November 1986 on her first fieldtrip to the Washita Wildlife Refuge. Always a "nature nut" by her definition, one who enjoys the great outdoors and all of the creatures contained therein. Since retirement in 1995, in addition to birding, she has devoted much of her time to enjoying grandchildren, traveling and genealogy research. Jim doesn't consider himself a "birder," but is an excellent photographer. So as a team, if Nancy can "spot it" Jim has the ability and skills to capture it on film.
January:
The 700th Bird!The January 28 speaker was Jimmy Woodard recounting events leading to his successful quest of acquiring 700 species on his North American list, a feat few accomplish. Jimmy is regarded as one of the premier birders on the North American continent. He has motivated and aided many people to become excellent birders and continues to influence others and aid our knowledge of the natural world through his committed field study and leading field trips for others to enjoy.
November:
Wintertime- A Good Time for Birding in Central Oklahoma
Our
very own vice president, John Shackford, will be a guest
speaker at the November 19th meeting. John is a highly
experienced birder and accomplished field researcher. John
plans to show slides of winter birds in central Oklahoma,
and explain why there are more species in winter than in
summer. In addition, John will discuss the upcoming
Christmas Bird Count. The information will be of interest to
all birders, including feeder watchers, not just CBC
counters.