Up again at 5 a.m., I packed and went
down to the motel breakfast, where the cook made me an omelet to go with my
coffee. I checked out, and a group of a
dozen of us assembled at 7 a.m. to leave for the Black Mesa Birding Trek in the
Oklahoma Panhandle. This is a
“Post-Festival” excursion following the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival. Jimmy Woodard was our fearless leader, and
passed out walkie-talkies so that the eight carloads of us could keep in touch.
We began the day by stopping at the
Fort Supply reservoir just west of town to see if we could relocate a couple of
bird species that had been seen the last day or two, including Willets and the
Solitaire, but didn’t see them in a drive-through of the area. We continued west on Hwy 412 to the
metropolis of Slapout (Pop. 8 and a dog) where we made a rest stop, and checked
out a playa just east of the crossroads.
There were some shorebirds there, as well as a Say’s Phoebe and a
Yellow-headed Blackbird, which several of the Eastern birders enjoyed.
We continued west, and stopped at Optima Lake Dam, which was completed in 1978 by the United States Army Corps of
Engineers. The earthen dam is 120 feet
in height, and its length at the crest is 16,875 feet. The dam was designed to contain a maximum of
618,500 acre-feet of water, but - the lake never reached more than 5 percent of
its capacity, and remains pretty much empty. The reason it never filled is due to rapid
declines in stream flow related to large-scale pumping from the Aquifer, which coincided
with the construction of the $48.1 million dam.
The failed “lake” is a testament to unanticipated environmental impacts.
 |
| Not Filled To Capacity . . . |
The Corps abandoned the campground below the
dam, which provides some habitat, and we birded there for a while.
No local entity thought it was worth maintaining, so the assets slowly
return to “nature”.
 |
| $48 Million Picnic Table |
Going off the highway in a number of
places, we checked out Black-tailed Prairie Dog “towns” for Burrowing Owls, and
searched for fields with different birds than the abundant Western Meadowlarks
and Horned Larks.
 |
| One of the prairie dog towns |
Along the way, we got
scopes on a nesting Ferruginous Hawk.
 |
| Nesting in the only tree for miles . . . |
Jimmy had permission to stop at a few
empty homesteads, and at one of them we found a pair of Barn Owls in an old
barn.
 |
| Barn Owl habitat |
 |
| The birds came out to see what all the fuss was about, then returned to the quiet of their home |
Later, one of the birders in the
caravan spotted a bird in a roadside field with white patches in the wings, and
we stopped to get scope views of several Lark Buntings.
 |
| The "Caravan" |
Then, Jimmy took us to the farmstead of
Dan Robinson, as he had had a call from the landowner who just this morning had
found a Long-eared Owl in the cedars planted as a windbreak around the
house. We got out of the cars and scoped
the trees until one of the group found the bird tucked up against the trunk out
of the wind.
 |
| Photo by landowner D. Robinson |
We all got good scope views
of this bird, which was a “Lifer” for several folks.
 |
| Birders watching the owl . . . |
 |
| Jack Rabbit watching the birders . . . |
We birded our way west to the far
northwestern tip of the Panhandle, where we saw our first Ravens of the trip,
and saw much open space and wildlife.
 |
| Two different construction techniques . . . |
 |
| Pronghorns |
Our final destination was the town of Kenton, where we
stopped at the Hitching Post Bed and Breakfast and met Miss Jane Apple,
who greeted us and who will be feeding us over the next couple of days. I’m staying at her B&B, and she sent me
“out of town” to her son’s place just west, off the highway.
LeRoss and his friend were very
gracious, and welcomed me in, showed me my room, then offered me a prickly pear
margarita, which was pretty good. I
showered and went over to the ‘main house’ for supper of baked chicken,
carrots, kale salad, rolls, and apple cobbler dessert. After supper, a half-dozen of us went up to
the State Park and listened for Poorwills and Screech Owls, but heard
none. Back at the house, LeRoss was
watching Dallas hockey, and I chatted with him a bit before going to bed.
Some of the many eBird Checklists for the day:
Slapout eBird Checklist is Here
Optima Reservoir eBird
Checklist is Here
Optima ‘Campground’
eBird Checklist is Here
Hardesty Prairie Dog Town eBird Checklist is Here
Guymon’s Thompson Park eBird Checklist is Here
Private Property eBird Checklist is Here
No local entity thought it was worth maintaining, so the assets slowly
return to “nature”.
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