I woke to the alarm on a 36ยบ partly cloudy morning – and
calm for a change. The motel serves a
pretty darned good breakfast. Today, I
joined a group of birders for a trip with the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival
to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in north-central Oklahoma, about 1¾ hours east of Woodward. At
10,000 acres the refuge includes the largest saline flat in the central
lowlands of North America, with another 32,000 acres of open water, wetlands,
prairies, woodlands and farm fields. This diversity of habitat accounts for an
abundance and variety of birds including American White Pelican, White-faced
Ibis, American Avocet, Tricolored Heron, Franklin’s Gulls, Forster’s Tern,
numerous plovers, sandpipers and waterbirds.
We were graced with the presence
of author, conservationist, and artist Kenn Kaufman, who joined our group for
the day’s birding.
We arrived at the Salt Plains
NWR’s Eagle Roost Nature Trail, where the weather was sunny, 38-46° F, with a light
northwest breeze, and walked out to the Eagle Roost Pond. At the Sand Creek Bay observation deck, we
scoped through the White Pelicans and other waterfowl and water birds.
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| Indeed, their beaks can hold more than their bellies can . . . |
Then, one of the birders focused
on a half-dozen large white birds on the far side of the pond, and we realized
that we were looking at 6 Whooping Cranes!
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| Whoopers! |
This species’ population was
down to a low ebb of only 15 birds in the wild by 1941, and seemed destined for
extinction. Through conservation
efforts, the population is slowly recovering.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology reported that, for the first time since
the late 1800s, there are more than 500 Whooping Cranes in the population that
wintered in south Texas. U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service aerial surveys counted 505 cranes in and around the Aransas
National Wildlife Refuge in 2018 as a part of their annual winter survey, a 17
percent increase from the previous year.
To see some of these birds on their northward migration is truly a
blessing.
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| Not a great photo, but a great sighting! |
We spent a couple of hours on
this Refuge trail, watching birds and the other wildland denizens.
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| Terry Mitchell, leading the pack . . . |
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| Lots and Lots of White Pelicans |
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| Really Good Birding with Really Good People |
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| Red-eared Slider - Trachemys scripta elegans |
When we returned to the
trailhead, a USFWS Refuge employee was there, who told us about the Selenite deposits. Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is the
only known site in the world where unique selenite crystals with hourglass
inclusions are found. Because these crystals form in wet soil, sand and clay,
particles are included within the crystal.
Selenite is a crystallized form of gypsum.
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| Selenite Crystals |
Chemically, it is a hydrous calcium sulfate. Gypsum is a common mineral that takes on a variety
of crystal forms and shapes. Crystals
take on the characteristics of their environment; the finer the soil, the
clearer the crystals. Iron oxide in the
soil gives the crystals their chocolate brown color. On the Salt Plains, the crystals
are formed just below the salt encrusted surface. They are seldom found deeper
than two feet below the surface. The
salt was formed by the repeated flooding of seawater millions of years ago. The seawater was eventually cut off and
evaporated, depositing thick layers of salt and subsequently covered by erosion
from surrounding mountain ranges. For
millions of years, the groundwater has traveled through the salt-saturated sand. The saturated water rises to the surface and
evaporates, leaving a thin crust of salt. It is this concentrated saline solution
combining with the gypsum that promotes the selenite crystal growth in a portion
of the salt flats.
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| The salt flats on Salt Plains NWR |
For lunch, we went over to the
Great Salt Plains State Park.
Scanning
the banks of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River below the dam, we were amazed
to see a Great Blue Heron catch and subdue a large cyprinid fish, and walk
downstream with it. There was a lot of
speculation as to whether the bird would be able to swallow a fish of that
size!
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| Trophy catch . . . |
The area below the dam also hosted
a number of Avocets and Egrets.
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| Snowy Egret |
We went up to the top of the dam
to see what might be in the reservoir. A
Killdeer hunkered down on her nest.
After lunch, we returned to the
Refuge at the Sandpiper Trail. The
afternoon was clouding over, and the wind had turned around, coming from the
southeast, and it had warmed up to 54° F.
Our target here were shorebirds,
especially the Snowy Plover, which were evident as soon as we started on the
trail out to the observation deck,
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| The Plovers are the same colour as the salt flats . . . |
giving the birders great views.
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| The egrets gave good views, as well . . . |
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| . . . and so did the Baird's Sandpipers |
The salt flats had lots of shorebirds, but most were 'way out at the edge of the spotting-scope views.
We returned to the motel at 4
p.m., and left almost immediately for the Selman Living Lab for a Botany Walk
led by Dr. Gloria Caddell from the University of Central Oklahoma at
Edmond. The Selman Living Lab is a field
station for the UCO, because Mrs. Betty Selman wanted a cave system on her
ranch preserved as an education and research site.
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| Dr. Gloria Caddell - Unabashed Botanist |
Dr. Caddell had co-authored a Flora of the Laboratory, and she provided us with that plant list and a pictorial sheet
as we were walked around the Lab to view the early spring wildflowers.
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| Pictures are really good . . . |
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| Gloria getting close to the subjects at hand |
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| The cactus aren't blooming, yet. Pincushion Cactus - Escobaria missouriensis |
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| Hedgehog Cactus - Echinocereus reichenbachii |
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| The locoweed was blooming - Missouri milkvetch Astragalus missouriensis |
The botany walk was followed by
supper in the SLL classroom of BBQ beef brisket and all the fixings. After supper, trip leader Josh Smith took us
over to the Alabaster Caves State Park where we hoped to find some night birds
as the sun set.
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| Josh Smith, trip leader |
We first walked out to
some gypsum outcroppings and listened for Poorwills, but heard none, although
Spotted Towhees were fussing and Lark Sparrows were sounding their night
notes.
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| Quiet at sunset. Where are the Poorwills? |
Then we walked over to the steps
down to the mouth of the cave, which has been fenced-off from public use to
protect the bats from people bringing in white nose disease.
The bats were flying, even
though the temperature had dropped a bit, and we hoped that perhaps an owl
might be present to prey on the little Fledermaus. No owls were evident, but from the canyon
lip, we heard two poorwills calling from across the chasm.
It was an enjoyable, though
long, day and evening as we returned to Woodward. I went pretty much straight to bed, as I was getting
on the 4:30 bus tomorrow morning to watch the chickens dance.
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| Tree Cholla - Cylindropuntia imbricata |
Salt Plains NWR – Eagle Roost Nature
Trail eBird Checklist is Here
Great Salt Plains State Park
eBird Checklist is Here
Salt
Plains NWR – Sandpiper Trail eBird Checklist is Here
Alabaster
Caverns State Park eBird Checklist is Here
As the sky was lightening, we
heard the ‘bubble’ vocalization of the Lesser Prairie Chickens in the morning
twilight. This is the bird I came to Oklahoma to see and hear!
