Road Trip Reports

BBS in Western Oklahoma
by Patti Muzny

After working in the political arena from January through the end of May, and missing out on most of the 2005 spring migration birding, I was longing for our annual bird surveys on Black Kettle National Grasslands near Cheyenne, Oklahoma. Last year I was unable to do them, since my time and Nancy’s was absorbed by campaigning.  This year I was more than ready to head west.  

On the afternoon of June 7, Nancy, Bobbi (my sister) and I arrived at Cheyenne and   checked into the Ivy Rose B&B, which was to be our temporary home for the next five nights.  We were delighted with our spacious and lovely home, which we basically had to ourselves.  Actually it was a “B,” because our congenial host was not expected to fix breakfast at 4:00 a.m. !  (If anyone is planning a trip to Cheyenne we highly recommend the Ivy Rose as a wonderful place in which to hang your binoculars.)  

Along with the Black Kettle properties, which are scattered around the northwestern quarter of Roger Mills County, Nancy and I have done BBS Routes in Beckham and Roger Mills counties for the past 10 years.  BBS routes in western OK mean starting each route at 5:52 a.m.   Our “Grimes” route begins about 15 miles south of Cheyenne, so we didn’t have to leave the B&B until about 5:25 .  

Some years we have worn jackets, used the heater, and wished for gloves and stocking hats, and some years we’ve started out 30 minutes prior to sunrise, being quite comfortable in t-shirts.  Other years we’ve been turned back by violent storms and/or washed out with torrential rain.  Standing outside a vehicle trying to see and hear birds in between thunderclaps and lightening bolts doesn’t appeal to either or us.  And neither does slipping and sliding on clay-based county roads from one ditch to the other.  

The deer were still out and about and I think we managed to avoid smacking about a half-dozen before we made it to our first stop.  Knowing the terrain and it’s high population of deer, we start out early and drive slowly to avoid an unpleasant incident in which the deer would surely loose.  

We were hoping for a day of diminished wind, but found that the BBS folks didn’t have a category for wind above their “5!”  According to their codes, a “5” wind was described as “twigs and branches in constant motion.”  Well, I’m here to tell you that twigs and branches and humans who didn’t shelter downwind beside my large SUV were also in “constant motion!!”  It was windy.  Instructions do allow for higher winds in western states, otherwise it would be almost impossible to find a morning with light winds and no storms when the humans could participate.  

Our first stop this day did began with a stiff wind, but not exactly gale force.  It was cool and beautiful with storm clouds east of us.  We watched dawn break with no other human beings in sight and cloud formations that nearly distracted us from the work at hand.   

Scissortails must fuss all night, because they were already calling when we arrived at about 5:45 in the morning.  Then we heard the expected Chuck-wills Widows call.  Soon the Lark Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissels and Cardinals and Bobwhites chime in.  

Along this survey route we saw Mississippi Kites that were eating on the wing, Bobwhites in fields, Bobwhites on fence posts, and Bobwhites running down and across the road.  At nearly every stop we had Bobwhites and Lark Sparrows!  Lark Sparrows are everywhere in western Oklahoma.  They were mating, singing, feeding young, chasing each other, and flying across and beside us.  

Mockingbirds are also very prominent in rural western Beckham County.  We would stop to listen and Nancy would have to sort out other birdsong from a jubilant Mockingbird. At several stops I heard, “Mockingbird, give it a rest!”  

And we saw turkeys.  Did we ever “saw” turkeys!  In previous years, we could really get excited when we found a turkey.  Let me tell you…that has changed!  We found one flock of 41 adult turkeys at one of our stops.  

Oil & gas exploration has increased dramatically in western Oklahoma and we had a few more vehicles to contend with, but for most of our stops, the solitude and unique beauty of this area was able to revive us quite nicely.   

At stop 46, there is a tall metal tank with a ladder on one side.  This stop is perhaps our most anticipated.  Due to inside information that was passed on to us by one of my Sweetwater, Oklahoma, friends, whose grandfather once owned this farm, we knew that this tank was often the home to Barn Owls.  Every year Nancy and I take turns climbing the side of this tank to peek inside.  This year we forgot whose turn it was, so we voted for Nancy to do it.   

She climbed to the top and peeked in and we got the “thumbs-up” sign.  Bobbi had never seen Barn Owls, so she climbed up.  I couldn’t miss anything, so I climbed up, too.  When I peeked over the edge, there were seven nearly adult and adult Barn Owls leaning against the sides at the bottom of the tank.  When we invade their privacy, they never take flight, but squat down and try to make themselves as invisible as possible.  Should they ever decide to exit their sanctuary at about the same time one of us sticks our nose over the edge, somebody might hurt themselves, and it probably won’t be the owls!!  

What kind of a story could we make up in the emergency room as to the cause of the accident?  You grannies are HOW old? You were doing WHAT?  

What can I say?  It was a marvelous morning to be out in one of my favorite places.