Wichita Mountains NWR, Lawton, OK 4 November 2007
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There’s Wichita, KS; Wichita Falls, TX; and the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma, not to be confused with either the Ouachita Mountains or the Washita Mountains in Oklahoma . . .
Well last weekend, I attended the fall meeting of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society, which was held at Cameron University in Lawton, OK and included a field trip to the Wichita Mountains NWR. I love the refuge because it’s huge (> 59,000 acres) and its grassy expanses are broken up by some pretty nice canyon country at a couple of legitimate mountains. The stars here are bison, elk, Texas longhorns, prairie dogs, and some specialty birds in this part of the world, notably black-capped vireo, rufous-crowned sparrow, and canyon wren.
On Oct. 28, I spent several satisfying hours scouring patches of prairie three-awn grass with three grad student colleagues as we attempted to track down the elusive Sprague’s pipit. Alas, we had no luck with pipits (or longspurs), but we enjoyed the many Savannah sparrows we flushed, and got some great looks at LeConte’s Sparrow. I heard my very first elk bugle on this trip, and in one canyon, we were entertained by multiple rock and canyon wrens. And any chance I get to see bison running free, I’m there.
the only diagnostic elk photo I obtained:
grasshoppers get a little cozy out here sometimes:
