I found a rare gem this week, thanks to my friend Jan, who learned of a bird study done in Caddo in the early 1800s. She was trying to locate a copy and asked for my help. Well, it turns out that Mr. Wells W. Cooke was here in 1883 and studied the birds in the area for seven months. He also made some wonderful comments about the climate and happenings. I've copied a bit of it here and you can read the other twenty pages at Some Winter Birds of Oklahoma.
LESS has been published about the birds of Oklahoma than about
those of any other state in the Union. It seems advisable therefore
that a record should be made of the notes made during a seven
month’s' residence there the winter of 1883-4. The center of
observation was the town of Caddo, on the M. K. and T. Ry.,
twenty miles north of Denison, Texas. The country at that time
-- the Choctaw Nation- - was devoted principally to the grazing of
beef cattle. Right in the town of Caddo there were a few small
cotton and corn fields, but a half mile in any direction brought one
to the open range, never as yet overstocked and scarcely changed
from its condition before it was trod by the white man's foot. Much
the same could be said about the timber. There were no forests
anywhere and no evergreens. The country as a whole was well
grassed prairie, but every little 'branch' was fringed with brush,
and when enough of these had united to make a permanently
flowing stream its banks were lined with a thin fringe of trees, which
widened as the stream enlarged until it became a bottomland of
tall fine hardwood timber. Such a bottomland existed six miles
south of Caddo along the Blue River and many of the observations
here recorded were made in this timbered area. It had never been
lumbered and the few enormous black walnut logs that had been
marketed- logs so large that twelve yoke of oxen were required
to haul a single log- had made no impression on the tract as a
whole. In fact the conditions so far as land birds were concerned,
were the same as though the country had never been settled making it
all the more desirable that bird notes made at that time
should be published for comparison with conditions as they exist
today.
The writer reached Caddo August 27, 1883 and left there April 8,
1884. Although bird observations were a side issue, yet close
watch was kept of the ever shifting bird population, several hundred
birds were collected for purposes of identification, while a bird
diary extending over more than eighty foolscap pages serves as the
basis for the following notes...
The trees had shed about half their leaves by November 9, the
first norther of the season November 13 froze water slightly and
stripped off many more, while a real norther November 26 tore off
most of the remainder.
The first hard rain of the season, December 3, marked the beginning
of the wet season; the 'tanks' were filled for the first time
since July, and December 13, the lowlands were half-flooded by a
down pour. A norther and everything frozen December 19; a
temperature of 74 degrees on December 23 and freezing the next day;
real winter from December 24 to January 27, with zero weather on January 5 and +4 degrees on January 24...
17. Tympanuchus americanus americanus. PRAIRIE CHiCKEN.-
The open country around Caddo was especially adapted to the needs of the
prairie chicken and they were one of the common birds. Some 18-20
covies were reared within a radius of a mile of the town and by September
24, these had begun to unite into larger flocks. At least a hundred were
seen in one small field November 6. In the early fall while they were in the
original covies they would lie well to a dog and gave good sport. As the
flocks became larger the birds became much more wary until by early
December it was difficult to get within even rifle shot. Each flock had
sentinels posted on commanding elevations, and when these gave the
alarm the whole flock was off and seldom flew less than half a mile before
alighting.
20. Cathartes aura septentrionalis. TURKEY VULTURE.-- An
abundant summer resident and equally common throughout the winter.
In fact this species and the Black Vulture were so numerous that in the fall
and early winter when cattle feed was good and dead animals were few,
these two species had hard work to get a living. They could be seen sailing
overhead in great flocks seeking for food, or sitting in long lines on the fences.
An animal killed in the morning would be picked clean by night and there
was great quarreling with some fighting over the carcass. After the snows
and freezing rains came cattle began to die by the hundred, and before
spring more than 15,000 died within 30 miles of Caddo. Then, particularly
in March, scarcely a Vulture was ever seen in the air. They became
so particular that they would not touch a carcass on the prairie but selecting
those that had fallen in or near timber, would gorge themselves, fly
heavily to the nearest tree and stay there until there was room in their
bodies for more of their disgusting food.
There seemed to be considerable increase in the numbers of the Turkey
Vulture during October, especially October1 8-20, and probably this is the
time that migrants from the north arrived.
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