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This was not a birding trip, but a celebration of Jean's retirement, a visit to Dick's brother in Tulsa to see his new house before he moved in and to see Jean's father in Carlsbad on the occasion of his 94th birthday. We also wanted to take the time to visit two locations just to see them: Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas panhandle and the Dog Canyon area of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas which is so close to New Mexico locations we have frequented. But we did do some birding in all three states and have combined our observations in one page. There were a total of 139 species and a few unidentified forms and a few exotics like the peacock along the highway near Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. We found interesting and informative birding, a new state bird in each state, the highlight bird at the end of the trip in Oklahoma: a Pomarine Jaeger at Lake Oolagah.
Jump to Oklahoma - Texas - New Mexico |
Oklahoma: Sept. 9 - 13 and Sept. 21 - 22.
Casual birding, a day around Keystone Lake and an evening at Lake Oolagah..
Sept. 9 we drove into Tulsa on the Will Rogers Expressway and saw Cattle Egrets and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers along the way. In the evening the Chimney Swifts and Common Nighthawks were quite evident at dusk. Yard birds at Jim's new house the next few days included Carolina Wren, House Finch (we remember the time before they arrived in eastern Oklahoma), Northern Flicker, Ruby-throated Hummingbird at a neighbor's feeder and Common Grackles passing through the trees in the evening about the time more swifts and nighthawks came by. The extreme heat had broken for us and the days were pleasant.
On Sept. 12 we spent the day checking the birds at various locations around Keystone Lake, a reservoir on the Arkansas River just west of Tulsa. We saw small numbers of some of the earlier migrants, vireos, warblers, tanagers, etc. American White Pelicans seemed to be just arriving in good numbers (about 1,000) and we had an early Bald Eagle. One noticeable movement was of Eastern Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, counting 42 and 8, respectively and also 7 Red-headed Woodpeckers. We were surprised to learn that Western Kingbirds were already gone. We had very few ducks, gulls or shorebirds. It was a satisfying day for comparing our Ohio expectations to the slightly western flavor of the Tulsa area birding.
That night the drought also broke and it continued raining that night and the next day until we had driven west of Oklahoma City where it was the first measurable rain since JUNE 13. Despite the rain we counted 12 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers along the highway to OK City and 25 more to the west before they were replaced on the fence wires by Mourning Doves.
The evening of Sept. 21 at Lake Oolagah,
From the causeway we watched the water birds feeding and coming in to roost in the late afternoon. As always we hoped for something unusual, maybe a jaeger? And then, looking south into the sun, Dick said, "There's a jaeger!", but Jim & Jean only had good looks when we watched it with scopes from the Sunnyside boat ramp as it worked the southern portions of the lake harassing Franklin's Gulls. We identified it as a Pomarine Jaeger based on the size relative to the gulls, wing shape, flight and the pale rump with darker nape. It was at a considerable distance, but we watched it a long time getting to see lots of chases and dives. There were other birds present, not quite neglected after finding the jaeger. Impressive were 12 Osprey coming in to roost at the south end of the lake, a count along the roads of 54 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and there were: Franklin's Gull 200, Black Tern 10, Caspian Tern 1 and, Forster's Tern 4. We saw one Common Nighthawk, 2 Great Horned Owl, one leaving Sunnyside and another in the dusk along the road. The only ducks were around 200 Blue-winged Teal.
We headed back toward Ohio on Sept. 22 on the Will Rogers Expressway where we only counted 10 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, but about 50 Cattle Egrets. Our final count for Oklahoma was only 77 species, but it was a great trip.
Texas: Sept. 13 - 14 and Sept. 19 - 20.
Sept. 13 we continued from Oklahoma under clearing skies to Amarillo. Along the highway we saw the first Swainson's Hawk of the trip. We had passed through the Texas panhandle a few times before, but never had time to explore Palo Duro Canyon, a major attraction close to town, known for its historical, geological and scenic attributes. Newly retired, Jean was determined to take the time to finally check it out the next morning.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park the morning of Sept. 14.
| The canyon is truly handsome and the park pleasant with varied habitat and many spots from which to enjoy it. Be sure to stop at the visitor center for their displays on the many natural and political features of the area. The contrast to the nearly level rangeland provides the canyon with some of its impact as it is hidden from distant observation. The birds here were decidedly more western than near Tulsa with Greater Roadrunner, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and we did find one Western Kingbird as well as one Eastern Kingbird outside the park (surprisingly a state bird for Jean.) There were numerous Wild Turkeys and both Scaled Quail and Northern Bobwhite. An Osprey perched along the stream (really the Prairie Dog Fork of the Red River that becomes the Texas/Oklahoma border) was a bit of a surprise, but we've nearly gotten used to seeing them in what would appear to be arid land. But our only warbler was one Wilson's Warbler. | 
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We only spent a few hours in the canyon and then went south along IH 27 to Lubbock and then cut over toward Hobbs, NM. About 20 miles north of Lubbock we stopped along the highway to look at water birds in some casual water in a field. There we found Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs and Yellow-headed Blackbird. It was only much, much later that Jean finally realized that the blackbirds were something she had previously missed in Texas and nudged her state list to 300, nearly half-way!
The panhandle to Lubbock and southwest to New Mexico came as a shock to us. We had read of the Ogallala Aquifer, but the impact of its use in irrigation here is so immense that it was hard to take in. In fact, the abrupt change at the state line as we returned from New Mexico really made us notice that this part of Texas was green, wet and completely in irrigated cropland. The casual water above was one of the many signs of how different this area was from the natural vegetation where cattle, oil and potash reign in nearby New Mexico. The severe drought in west Texas this year could have been a myth from what we saw here. One can read many points of view on this topic, including here on the web. It appears that irrigation methods have improved and that less water is lost, but we cannot believe there isn't a heavy price to be paid somewhere along the line for such a wholesale alteration of this environment.
Dog Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
We began at 6:25 AM on Sept. 19 with a 66 mile drive over the Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico to reach the Dog Canyon area where we had never been before in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. It was cold when we arrived at 8:05 AM, but the sun quickly cleared the mountains and it warmed up. We walked the meadow nature trail and ate lunch in the campground area, but didn't go up the more strenuous trails that required a mile or more to reach interesting terrain. The area suffered quite a bit in the May 1993 fire and the vegetation is still coming back. The thick grass along the road and the park area itself were absolutely thick with Chipping Sparrows, but we didn't find a lot of species diversity. An adult Cooper's Hawk cruised the area, two White-throated Swifts were seen against the rocky cliffs, up to five Rufous Hummingbirds were staking territory around the meadow. There were Say's Phoebes, Western Scrub-Jays, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Wilson's Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee and 20-30 each Pine Siskin and Lesser Goldfinch. Mammals for the day were Mule Deer (was deer season and we saw a NICE buck in the mountains) and Rock Squirrel. Butterflies were Monarchs, Red Admiral, California Sister, fritillary, satyr type and sulphurs. We left the park at 11:35 after our lunch.
- For more info: Guadalupe Mountains National Park Website Visitor Center
On the 20th we drove straight through to Tulsa from Carlsbad, going quickly across the Texas panhandle and saw only the common roadside birds.
Casual birding, Lakes Avalon and Brantley and Rattlesnake Springs..
We arrived in Carlsbad by way of Hobbs on the afternoon of the 14th and saw a few of the common birds in town and two Common Nighthawks flying by the house before dark, but none later that night or on the following days.
Sept. 15 our only birding was in the afternoon at Lake Avalon where we saw 8 Cattle Egret, our first in Eddy Co. The only ducks were 5 Ruddy and we heard a Greater Yellowlegs. There were Yellow-rumped (Audubon's) Warblers and Chipping Sparrows in the salt cedars and a bird that had us quite confused for a while, but which we determined was a Dickcissel. We see so few in Ohio and never this late in the year, so it was a new plumage for us. It was larger than the sparrows and sat right up in a salt cedar for a while showing a clear white throat, bright yellow breast, black moustacial marks and face pattern. What confused us was the absence of black on the breast. At the house were the usuals including White-winged, Mourning and Inca Doves, Western Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Great-tailed Grackle and roosting Turkey Vultures down the street. A surprise was a Common Grackle at the feeder at the house, the first we've seen actually stop in the yard but on the 17th there were about 20 in a nearby yard.
Sept. 18 we made the obligatory trip to Rattlesnake Springs (a picnic area belonging to Carlsbad Caverns NP), arriving at the turnoff from the highway at 7:40 AM. We always check out the birds along the road and at the stream crossing and this day also took the opportunity to walk along the new paved path along the water there that must be part of the Washington Ranch. It was a typical sunny day with only a light breeze and to us quite warm. Birds there included Bell's Vireo, Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped and numerous Wilson's Warblers, both Northern Cardinal and Pyrrhuloxia, small numbers of Chipping, Clay-colored and Brewer's Sparrows, the Clay-colored all bright juveniles that were easy to identify, Cave Swallows and a surprising lone Rock Dove back by the spring. We later read of the missing homing pigeons and wondered if it were one of them. Butterflies and dragonflies were very evident, especially Monarchs and Green Darners. Back in Carlsbad there were even Wilson's Warblers in the yard and we were surprised about 6:20 PM at the twittering of 2 passing Chimney Swifts which were soon followed by 2 more silent swifts, Jean's first for New Mexico.
Sept. 19 we crossed over the Guadalupe Mountains and through El Paso Gap to reach the Dog Canyon area of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park (see above in the Texas account) and on our return stopped at Brantley Lake and Avalon. The most impressive feature of the drive was the abundance of Chipping Sparrows in the lush grass along the edge of the road, several hundred at least. We saw and heard Eastern Meadowlark (lilianae) and saw a Phainopepla in scrubby trees on the west side of the mountains. White-faced Ibis were moving, a flock of 14 spiraling over Brantley, then 27 coming in to Avalon, one of them remaining. At Brantley we also had a Green Heron, 4 Ring-billed Gulls, 5 Forster's Terns and 2 Osprey. Lake Avalon was still not very lively, but did have 5 Eared Grebes, the ibis, 4 Gadwall, 15 Ruddy Ducks and 12 American Coots
Sept. 20 we left as we came on the Hobbs Highway with 2 Harris's Hawks on nearby poles just outside of Carlsbad plus Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Swainson's Hawks, Chihuahuan Ravens and other common roadside birds. In all we encountered 71 species in New Mexico while visiting Jean's father in Carlsbad.
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Send comments to: Dick and Jean Hoffman at djhoff@ix.netcom.com
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