Date: 4/28/25 4:05 pm From: Landon Neumann <landonneumann25...> Subject: Southern OK Big Day
Hi all,
Last Saturday Mike Yough, Neil Gilbert, and I conducted an OK big day for
Payne County Audubon's Birdlam competition. The route consisted of southern
McCurtain Co including Red Slough to Hackberry. This is a similar route
that a couple Texas birders broke the state all time big day record several
years ago hitting 195. While we didn't expect to break the record (about a
week early imo) we had a fantastic day hitting 187 species. This shatters
the previously OK April Big Day record by 40 species. Basically had all
expected birds for the date plus 14 waterfowl species and many lingering
winter songbirds pushing our total up. Best birds were probably Northern
Waterthrush, Black-throated Green Warbler (both warblers 3rd Tillman Co
records), and Black-headed Grosbeak in the mesquite trees at Hackberry by
the abandoned buildings. Also had 24 Buff-breasted Sandpipers at a p-dog
down near Ryan OK. Attached is an ebird trip report if you're curious for
more info - https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ebird.org/tripreport/358283__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!7ryWjgoiJnsnNJZqllkYfYGQS87edzlWFGrGpo9fqo0dDA9spQLlUSLzIEMYGfdErhX5T-2-5LCFzTsGWaDw1ZUIYVHq$ [ebird[.]org]. The route was approx 650
miles.
Overall, I do think you could get 200 species in a day in OK from late
April to mid May. I've run this route twice now. First time was the first
week of May and had 165 species. I made some slight changes to the route
this time by fine tuning the route and adding Crosstimbers WMA for a couple
species. However, I think the key to 200 species in a day in OK is
Hackberry being great (it was good on Saturday but the excessive rain
reduced the amount of mud it appeared so we missed some easy peeps) and
having great weather (cloudy, no wind, and cold front, which we had on
Saturday), plus some luck. You could easily run this route next weekend
when theoretically there are more potential species and get less than 187
if you get a hot windy day.
