Gayla and I flew to Oklahoma City this past Friday to see our newest grandchild for the first time—grandbaby number eight! For the last several years, we’ve combined visits to our son and his family in Oklahoma while attending a trade show in Missouri, which always takes place in October.
In contrast to our visits in the fall, where I only see non-migratory, permanent resident wild bird species, this time I got to see the bird species that breed and summer in Oklahoma. The last time I was in Oklahoma in summer was in July of 1975.
You might be wondering how on earth I would remember that. Fortunately, I have my hand-written notes of my bird watching exploits when I was younger. In 1975, my father took a job with the Singer corporation in Rochester, NY, so we found ourselves moving from Tucson to New York.
Two of my older sisters and I drove from Tucson to Rochester and our route on I-40 took us through the Texas panhandle and then into Oklahoma. It was on that trip that I had my first ever look at Mississippi kites and scissor-tailed flycatchers. To this day, I am still in awe of these species.
I’m happy to report that forty-nine years later, these species seem to be thriving in Oklahoma. I saw an abundance of many other species as well, such as purple martins, barn swallows, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadees, tufted titmouse and painted buntings.
It is interesting to look at range maps for bird species that summer in North America and winter in the tropics. There is a well-defined line running right through the middle of Oklahoma. To the east of this imaginary line there is a great deal of bird species diversity. To the left (west) of this line there are far fewer species.
I suspect the urbanization of Oklahoma has favored some species while the loss of the original grassland habitat has had a serious deleterious effect on many of the species that occurred there originally. We were in Oklahoma City and Edmond, and this whole area is characterized by vast forests consisting of a variety of oak species, hackberry, and many other kinds of deciduous trees.
Again, I suspect this was not the case when this area was settled by homesteaders well over a hundred years ago. The original habitat has been transformed from grassland to a forested area, favoring species such as wrens, titmice, chickadees, orioles, jays, and so many more.
We see the same thing right here in our area. If you were to go back in time and look at the habitat in Prescott Valley, it was originally a high desert grassland. There were no trees. It was hundreds of square miles of grassland from Dewey all the way up to Paulden and beyond.
Now that this area has been turned into a municipality, it has been landscaped with a variety of tree species that favor songbirds which prefer a habitat with trees instead of grassland. Our impact on the distribution of bird species is readily apparent when you look at what species originally inhabited an area compared to what species are now found there.
One final reminder—the Sedona Hummingbird Festival is this week, from Friday, July 26th through Sunday, July 28th. I hope you will consider attending. Also, remember that the following week is the Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival in Sierra Vista. I’ll be there. You should go!
Oh, and by the way, our new grandson Kimball is awfully cute! Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
