Owls dine on cicadas

Mark Dreiling of Bartlesville shares some unusual owl feeding habits with us.  He reports  two Great Horned Owls have been dining on emerging cicadas in his back yard for the past six years.  They show up at dusk when the cicadas begin their annual emergence.  Usually around 01 June and remain through August.  Mark pays attention and notes that their appearance happens more precisely when the soil temperature reaches 70 degrees and that was this past week.

The owls arrive about dark and walk around on the lawn dining on the emerging cicadas.  Mark has left a six-foot tree stump at the rear of his property because it is one of the owls favorite perching places.  He says “They always come from the same direction out of the woods and at about 15 minutes before dusk (8:45 PM, typically).  Over the summer, I think the error in timing is +/- 5 minutes.  There are outliers to 30 minutes.”  What a show of nature to have in your back yard!

Apparently Mark has prime cicada habitat which draws the owls.  He mows beyond his property line and the mowed area must provide ‘easy pickins’ for the owls underneath  pecan, ash, hackberry and cottonwood trees. Last year a juvenile accompanied them and Mark has pics of him as well.  While we don’t normally think of owls eating cicadas, I’ve found that most carnivores are not picky about what they eat and will readily pick any ‘low-hanging fruit’ nature provides.  (That thought was in my mind last week when I had a 500-pound black bear approach within 20 meters while I was photographing him.)

Dreiling adds “I sometimes clip the wings of cicadas and distribute them about the yard (to impress kids who want to see the owls) and they will find all of them – right up to the window where we are watching…

They become used to my presence and will go about their activities while I am sitting in plain sight on the patio or upper yard. The  camera flash  has no effect on them.  They are clearly aware of my presence since I get many pictures of them looking directly at the camera.”

Thank you, Mark for sharing this wonderful experience with your fellow Oklahoma nature devotees.  You can see more of Dreiling’s dramatic owl action shots at http://www.pbase.com/m3ling/owls  .

Don’t forget to check out our Oklahoma Nature Pics flickrstream at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1941297@N20/ .  Upload some of your favorite nature pics and share them.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Butterfly rarity- Zebra Swallowtail

Jerry Owens from Van Buren, AR,  captured this stunning beauty at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge south of Vian using a Pentax K-5 at 260 mm.  The range of Zebra Swallowtails (Protographium marcellus) just barely includes the eastern fringe of Oklahoma, so it’s not a butterfly that a lot of Okies get to see routinely.  Thanks to Jerry for sharing this beauty. Click on photos to enlarge.

Zebra Swallowtails are easily identified in the Sooner state because there is no other species that resembles them.  They are closely associated with pawpaw trees and are seldom seen far from them.  If you are in the far eastern part of the state and can find some pawpaw trees, odds are good you can find these butterflies.

The green and black caterpillars of this butterfly feed on the leaves various pawpaw species and are also cannibalistic.  The adults feed on flower nectar and minerals from damp soil.  Looks like that is what the one in the pic is doing on the ground.  You can see more of  Jerry’s nature photography on his flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerrysphotographs/with/7262655144/ . For more information on Seqoyah National Wildlife Refuge visit http://www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=21640 .

I hope everyone is enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend and also taking time to smell the roses.  To share unusual or interesting things in the Oklahoma landscape email them to us at oknatureblog@gmail.com .

Odd Oklahoma sun

I was working in the yard in Norman yesterday morning just after 9:00 a.m. when I noticed this really odd, but beautiful sun.  It was cloudy, but I think the muted view was due to smoke from the New Mexico wildfires.  If that’s the case, there will likely be some good photo opps on Oklahoma sunrise/sunsets over the holiday weekend. Enjoy the holiday, remember those who gave all, and spend some time in Oklahoma’s bountiful nature.

If you see an unusual, particularly beautiful, or interesting glimpse of Oklahoma nature, please share it with us here on the Oklahoma Nature Blog.

Click photos to enlarge.

New Oklahoma flickr group

Patience has never been one of my virtues.  I couldn’t wait to get a flickr group started for Oklahoma nature photos.  The more I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that it’s likley hundreds of quality nature pics are taken daily in our state and that’s way too many to feature here.  It’s also faster and easier for folks to upload their photos.  flickr is the largest and easiest to use photo sharing site on the web.  If you don’t have an account, it takes less than a minute to set up one.

Cover photo by L. Dillon depicts a group of Trumpeter Swans that wintered in Norman in 2010 and 2011.

Other than common decency, the only rules in the group are that the photos should depict something natural and be taken in Oklahoma.  Spread the word that Oklahoma nature lovers now have a flickr group to share photos and their love of nature.  It’s located at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1941297@N20/

Rare for Oklahoma– Great Kiskadee sightings

The Great Kiskadee may be common  in the Rio Grande Valley, but he’s a rare bird in Oklahoma.  David Arbour, ODWC biologist at Red Slough in McCurtain County reports possible sightings of  two birds there.  This would be only the third documented record for the Sooner state.  The first sighting was on 05 May by Richard Stanton at Otter Lake.  It was relocated the following day in Unit 31.  David and Robert Bastarache located a kiskadee on Mudline Road on 21 May, but are unsure if it is the same one.  It is behaving differently, so it could be a second bird.  Photos can be seen on David’s pbase at http://www.pbase.com/red_slough_wma/great_kiskadee .  He has a lot of other neat birds, herps, alligators, bugs and other unusual critters as well.  Browse through his album, you’ll enjoy it.  Red Slough is unique habitat for Oklahoma, one of the few places you can see alligators and tropical wading birds.  Plan a visit to Red Slough if you can, you won’t be disappointed. Carolyn and I accompanied David on a bird survey last fall and were treated to our first view of alligators in Oklahoma.

Cover photo of Great Kiskadee in Rio Grande Valley by L. Dillon.  Click photos to enlarge.

Solar eclipse seen in Woodward

A big Oklahoma thanks to Jessica Eitzen of Woodward for submitting a photo of yesterday’s solar eclipse.  Millions of people from Asia to the western U.S. watched the eclipse that was dubbed ‘the ring of fire’.   The sun went down before the moon centered on it in Oklahoma so we didn’t get the ring, but Jessica still captured an awesome natural phenomenon.  She said she didn’t realize we would be able to see it in Oklahoma, but came out of WalMart and there it was.  Fortunately she had her camera with her and started shooting.  You can see more beautiful photos of the eclipse on Jessica’s flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdawn82/7239028844/  .  Click on photo to enlarge.

If you see an unusual, particularly beautiful, or interesting glimpse of Oklahoma nature, please share it with us here on the Oklahoma Nature Blog.

Hello Oklahoma nature lovers

A Variegated Fritillary on coreopsis in the back yard. Click photo to enlarge.

Welcome to my brand new blog about Oklahoma nature.  I’ve been thinking about this blog for awhile.  There are a lot of good sites on the web about birding, wildlife, fishing, native plants, travel, Oklahoma nature events and festivals.  My goal is to create a meeting place for kindred spirits with an interest in Oklahoma nature.  I hope to get enough participation that my role will be more moderator than author.  Sure, I’ll feature my ramblings around the state and photography, but I really want feedback and photographs from nature lovers from Kenton to Idabel.  Our state is one of the most diverse ecologically and we are blessed with a great variety of flora and fauna to enjoy.  If you see or record something interesting or unusual, send it to me at  oknatureblog@gmail.com .  I’m a great believer in the old saw that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’  By all means submit great Oklahoma nature pics. If we get more pics that I can effectively feature here, I’ll start an Oklahoma Nature group on flickr so folks can post their photos directly and share. A flickr group also allows discussion which could serve as a forum.

You don’t have to be on a field trip to observe nature.  It’s all around us if we make the effort to simply open our eyes, ears and noses.  I live in a villa with a postage-stamp sized yard, yet I’ve been able to attract bluebirds to a nest box and have four bird nests in the yard this spring.  I’ve recorded 142 bird species in my neighborhood.  Although my yard is small, my neighborhood has a good common area that features three ponds, some good riverine habitat along a creek and a prairie type field behind my house.

To get the ball rolling, I’ll introduce you to my backyard bluebirds with a link my blog The Bluebird Diary that chronicles the lives of a pair of Eastern Bluebirds that cohabit the red dirt hill I live on. I’m afraid that we have lost our female, but rather than go into it here read about it at http://bluebirddiary.wordpress.com/

This blog is a work in progress and I’ll be adding more bells and whistles.  If you love Oklahoma nature, I hope you will share your experiences.