December 2017 - January 2018 The Internet Site for Environmental Information in Oklahoma Vol. 6, No. 3.

Birdist Rule #74: Watch Some Movies About Birding

“Stuck indoors for the holidays? Scrutinize these

birding movies instead of real-life field marks.”

From the Audubon Society, read the whole article at this URL:

http://www.audubon.org/news/birdist-rule-74-watch-some-movies-about-birding

We, at the EnvironMentor, will hunt

for the other 73 Birdist Rules and

According to the article, this is a great romp,

with, as you can see, a stellar cast, but be-

ware, the ornithology is not always accurate.

This movie is based on Mark Obmascik’s

book of the same name, with the tag line, A

Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession and

Unlike The Big Year, this film is celebrated for

its accuracy. You will see a Black-throated

Green and Canadian Warblers. This is a com-

ing-of-age film which is sweet and low key. Just

the kind of antidote you may need from all the

There are 8 more movies listed in the article.

Happy Holidays!

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An environmental education newsletter for the citizens of Oklahoma sponsored by the Department of Biology at Oklahoma City University. Items appearing in this newslet-ter do not necessarily reflect the opinions or endorsement of the sponsoring organization. Editor: Beth Landon blandon@okcu.edu

Please send any submissions to The EnvironMentor Newsletter or The Calendar to: Environmentor@okcu.edu Published bimonthly each year. The next deadline is January 20, 2018. If you wish to receive an email announcing when a new issue has been uploaded, please send an email to Environmentor@okcu.edu.

Download your EnvironMentor Newsletter in pdf form from: http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor

Visit The EnvironMentor Calendar at http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor/ Scroll down from The Newsletters. Regularly updated as information becomes available.

In this issue ...

Not an Endorsement , but ...

Birdist Rule #74 Cover

Editorial Page 2

Not an Endorsement, but ... 2

Quiz!! Quiz!! Quiz!! 2

2018 Oklahoma Environmental Education Expo 3

118th Christmas Bird Count 4 - 5

2017-2018 Bald Eagle Watch Dates 6

Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival 7

M.e.t. 2018 Recycling Directory 8

Envirothon Save-the-Date 8

Project WILD Workshops 8

Crow Creek Community Recognition and Activity 8

“How We (and You) Collect and Process

Milkweed Seeds” 9

Free Milkweeds for Restoration Projects 10

Partners in Flight Award 10

The “Smart Nest Box” 11

OK Invasives 11

Destination: Horse Thief Canyon 12

Destination: Curl Creek 12

2017 Texas Horned Lizards Results 13

Playing Dead: Foxes and Winter Trees 14 - 15

The EnvironMentor on Facebook 16

QuikLIST 16

Calendar Form 17

Quiz!! Quiz!! Quiz!!

“We are fusing massive data analysis with knowledge from the crowd and professional reporting to build a new kind of journalism that better serves the public.

We’re just getting started and we’re glad you stopped by. Check out our stories, discover what we’re doing and join us in building a new kind of journalism.”

https://orbmedia.org/

Using citizen science and crowd sourcing, Orb Media has produced an article concerning microscopic plastic particles in water. Repre-sentatives talked about this on NPR’s 1A Program on November 1, 2017. Stream the show through your computer from this website:

https://the1a.org/shows/2017-11-01/plastics-are-forever

Who…who…who is this handsome fellow?

See Page 11 for the answer and much

more information.

3

The 21st Oklahoma Environmental Education Expo will be held at Oklahoma City University’s Sarkeys Science & Math Center on Friday, February 2, 2018. The theme for this year’s EE Expo is “Natural Connections Across Our State”. The opening session will feature a keynote address from Claire Willis on using clay in the classroom.

Concurrent sessions will have separate tracks for Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary and Mixed ages. Topics include:

Soil Painting

Weaving

Monarch Initiative

Investigating the Spread of the Emerald Ash Borer

High School Envirothon Competition

High School Wind Energy Competition – Oklahoma Kid Wind Challenge

Early Childhood Water Curricula – Getting Little Feet WET

Soil Health

Leopold Education Project

Environmental Education Field Trip Opportunities in Oklahoma – lunch panel

Click on the link below to register.

The deadline to register is January 26, 2018 at 5:00 P.M..

Onsite registration (without lunch) will be available at event.

https://okaee.com/expo/2018-ee-expo/

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# Location Contact Email

1 Kenton (Black Mesa) Max Thompson maxt@cox.net

2 Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge Glen Hensley glen_hensley@fws.gov

3 Arnett Eddie Stegall ok_forbs@zoho.com

4 Washita National Wildlife Refuge Levi Feltman levi_feltman@fws.gov

5 Sooner Lake John Couch jrcouch60@yahoo.com

6 Stillwater Timothy O’Connell paynecountyaudubonsocie-

ty@gmail.com

7 Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Don Wolfe dwolfe@suttoncenter.org

8 Hulah Reservoir Don Wolfe dwolfe@suttoncenter.org

9 Tulsa Jeff Cox jeffacox54@gmail.com

10 Rogers County Richard Stuart mb21010@aol.com

11 Spavinaw Frank Houck fhhouck@yahoo.com

12 Fort Gibson Reservoir Nadine Varner gallinuleofpurple@yahoo.com

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Audubon's 118th Christmas Bird Count will take place this fall between the inclusive

dates of Thursday, December 14th, 2017 through Friday, January 5th, 2018.

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# Location Contact Email

13 Sequoyah Chad Ford chad_ford@fws.gov

14 Broken Bow Reservoir Mia Revels revels@nsuok.edu

15 Red Slough Leif Anderson leanderson@fs.fed.us

16 Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge Charles Brown charles-brown@utulsa.edu

17 Oklahoma City John Shackford Johnshackford@gmail.com

18 Norman Mark Howery mkhowery@juno.com

19 Chickasaw NRA Ron Parker ron_parker@nps.gov

20 Stephens County Roma Lenehan rlenehan@charter.net

21 Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Michael Husak michaelh@cameron.edu

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

15 16

(9) Tulsa

(19) Chickasaw

17

(11) Spavinaw

(16) Tishomingo

18 19 20

(12) Fort Gibson

(21) Wichita Mts

21

(4) Washita NWR

(15) Red Slough

22

(14) Broken Bow

23

24 25 26 27 28

(20) Stephens Co

29 30

(2) Salt Plains

(6) Stillwater

31

(1) Kenton

Below is a short December calendar listing by number the date of the Christmas Bird Count at those

locations. If your location is not listed, they haven’t published a definite date.

For more information you can email the event organizer or go the following URL:

https://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?

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Registration is now open for the 2018 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival!

April 11-18, 2018 Featuring keynote speaker Al Blatt

Join us in Woodward, Oklahoma, in northwest Oklahoma April 11-

18 for the 2018 Lesser Prairie-Chicken Festival. Besides seeing the

Lesser Prairie-Chickens (and so far 99% of participants have had

close looks!) and birding around northwest Oklahoma, we are again

offering these special features for 2017:

An opportunity to view Greater Prairie-Chickens from blinds in Osage County, Oklahoma!

Packages designed specifically for photographers!

If you have any question, feel free to contact John Kennington at 918-809-6325 or johnkennington@gmail.com

http://lektreks.org/lek-treks-2018.pdf

Al Blatt of Hartland, Minnesota is a writer, speaker, storytell-

er and humorist. Al writes humor and nature columns for

many newspapers and does regular radio shows about na-

ture. He writes a number of popular cartoon strips that are

syndicated nationally and is author of the book, "A Life Gone

to the Birds." He is a columnist for Bird Watcher’s Digest and

writes for a number of magazines and books. He is a trustee

of the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, Alaska. Al

has hosted TV shows, speaks around the country, and has re-

ceived numerous awards. Al speaks to anyone who will listen.

His mother thinks he is special.

To access the registration pdf click on this URL:

OkIPC is organizing an invasive species symposium to high-light exceptional work, both research and management, on

invasive species in the state. We will also be awarding student presentation

prizes for both oral and poster entries.

Register now for the annual gathering of state natural resource

professionals and students! February 21-24, 2018 will be the

4th annual Oklahoma Natural Resources Conference in Tulsa.

at the Hyatt Regency Tulsa 100 East 2nd Street, Tulsa, OK 74103

http://www.oknrc.com/

At the Conference

For more information and registration

form click on the URL below.

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Thursday,

March 29, 2018

http://www.oklaenvirothon.org/

High Schools!! High Schoolers!!

Assemble Your Teams Now!!

Build your expertise in Aquatics, Forestry, Soils,

Wildlife, and Western Rangeland Management

The First Place Team from the Oklahoma

Envirothon will go to the international

competition this year to be held in Idaho.

Oklahoma State Butterfly

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Sponsored by:

The M.e.t.’s Recycling Directory is the ency-

clopedia of recycling for the Tulsa Metro-

politan Area. In our directory, you will find

up-to-date information on the best places to

locally dispose of various items. Click here

to access the full PDF version of the direc-

tory. For a printed booklet, call our office at

918-584-0584.

“The Crow Creek Community was a finalist for the Team Builder award given by Keep Oklahoma Beautiful this year. We didn't win, but it was a great honor to be nominated!”

http://ktul.com/news/local/crow-creek-community-

spends-saturday-morning-in-the-water

Read more about

Crow Creek and

their Clean-Up

Day in the article

in the Tulsa news

at the URL below:

Get WILD in February ...

Talk with Lisa at the EEExpo

on February 2, 2018. See Page

Project WILD

About Reading!

February 3, 2018

Project WILD Workshop

February 10, 2018

February 24, 2018

9

https://medium.com/conservation-service-in-action/how-we-collect-and-

process-milkweed-seeds-for-monarchs-f6b5e899d878

“How We Collect and Process Milkweed Seeds for Monarchs”

— and you can too! “Step 1: Gather the milkweed pods

Wearing gloves, they gather the browning milkweed pods. If you squeeze the pod and it pops open, it is ready to pick!”

“Step 2: Dry the milkweed pods

They load the milkweed pods into large, custom-built wooden boxes with circulating air to ensure thorough drying.”

Step 3: Separate the milkweed seeds from their pods

After thorough drying, they load the milkweed into a hammermill that crushes the pod and separates it from the hundreds of seeds it contains inside.

Step 4: Separate the seeds from the white fluff

They use a grain tumbler (a.k.a. white fluff separator) to separate the seeds from the milkweed silk — the white feathery fluff inside the milkweed pod to which the seeds are attached.

Step 5: Sweep up the seeds and you have milkweed ready to be planted and shared

The seeds fall out through the small holes in the grain tumbler and the white fluff gets blown off and out!

MonarchWatch wants you to know:

from: http://

www.ediblewildfood.com/

milkweed.aspx

https://garden.org/ideas/view/

Sharon/103/All-About-Milkweed/

At the URL below you will find easier in-

structions for collecting Milkweed seeds

from “How to Harvest Milkweed sees: All

the Facts, None of the Fluff!”. You will not

need fancy equipment.

https://monarchbutterflygarden.net/

harvest-milkweed-seeds-no-fluff/

You may donate your seeds to

Monarch Watch at the URL below.

They ask that no seeds that have

been purchased , nor those from

plants that have been purchased

be donated.

http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back

-the-monarchs/milkweed/seed-

collecting-processing/

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“The Spring 2018 application is now open for habitat restoration pro-

jects located in the Monarch Milkweed Corridor. This includes most

of the eastern half of the United States. South Carolina, Florida, Ala-

bama, Mississippi, and Louisiana are not included in the grant at

this time. As of 1 October 2017, Monarch Watch has secured fund-

ing for 100,000 milkweeds for Spring 2018. We are actively seeking

more funding sources. If funding and seed become available for

more areas, the application will be updated accordingly.”

“To ... restore

habitats for monarchs, pollinators, and other wildlife, Monarch

Watch is initiating a nationwide landscape restoration program

called “Bring Back The Monarchs.” The goals of this program

are to restore 20 milkweed species, used by monarch caterpil-

lars as food, to their native ranges throughout the United

States and to encourage the planting of nectar-producing na-

tive flowers that support adult monarchs and other pollinators.”

Free Milkweeds for Restoration Projects

For more information and to

apply click here:

http://monarchwatch.org/

bring-back-the-monarchs/

milkweed/free-milkweeds-for

-restoration-projects/

“Free milkweeds are for large-scale (two acres or more) native

habitat restoration only. Habitat restoration is defined as the prac-

tice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed

ecosystems and habitats. Gardens or landscaped areas do not

qualify as restoration. The portion of property where milkweed will

be planted must be a minimum of two acres in area. Roadsides

and Trails are acceptable areas.”

Partners in Flight awards recognize exceptional contributions to

the field of land-bird conservation. Nominees who have furthered the goal of protecting migratory and resident land-birds and their habitats will be evaluated for their effective public awareness activities, innova-tive leadership, insightful ecological investigation, or sound land stew-ardship. The Partners in Flight Awards Committee will review the ac-

complishments presented in this nomination form only. Please send in one application for each cate-gory in which you nominate a person or group. If you nominate one person or group in more than one category please send in separate forms and explain what your nominee has accomplished in each category.

Please submit your nomination no later than January 12, 2018. If you prefer to submit via e-mail,

please submit to Carol Beidleman at cbeidleman@environmentamericas.org

To submit online:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DLJNQKK

11

This poster has been out for a few years, but

you may not have known where to obtain a

free one. Contact the Oklahoma Invasive

Plant Council at www.okinvasives.org (scroll to

the bottom of the page.

The Council also has an opportunity for you to

become a citizen science. Check out the

Watch List at https://www.okinvasives.org/

watch-list-1 for information and photos. If you

see any of these inhabitants, there is a form

on the website to report the location.

“The 'Smart Nest Box' Provides a Peek Into the

Secret Lives of Birds”

“Zárybnická’s team wants to debut the Smart Nest Box in the United States by 2018. They also plan to use it

for more research: to compare Boreal Owl behavior in different habitats and analyze how light pollution af-

fects songbird routines. One thing’s for sure . . . with the camera constantly rolling, there will always be fresh

enigmas to explore.” To read the article from which this quote was taken, click on the URL below:

http://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2017/

the-smart-nest-box-provides-peek-secret-lives

The range of the Boreal Owl does not include Oklahoma;

however, this technology can be of interest.

https://home.czu.cz/zarybnicka/project---smart-nest-box/

To see the schema, photos of

actual Boreal Owls in their nests,

and read an extensive article on

the Smart Nest Box click on the

URL below:

Answer to Quiz! Quiz! Quiz! is the Northern Saw-whet Owl. For an article

on this engaging little owl click on: http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/news/local_news/birds-of-a-

feather/article_c732d99c-e1c5-5ed7-961d-6d12c75cd681.html

12

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/ever-heard-of-curl-creek-it-s-one-of-dozens/

article_4432189c-0053-523b-983a-51eb4548c26d.html

“The latitude and longitude coordinates of Curl Creek are 36.5903691, -95.8574853 and the approximate elevation is 610 feet (186 meters) above sea level.”

See a topo map and more information at:

https://www.topozone.com/oklahoma/

washington-ok/stream/curl-creek-4/

Curl and Fourmile creeks

in the Caney River Basin

“Ever heard of Curl Creek? … Little-known creek is a

conservation success story” “The 17.27-mile stream flows south through

Nowata and Washington counties southeast of

Bartlesville, pretty close to the county line on ei-

ther side, until it enters the Caney River — a tribu-

tary that flows into the Verdigris River between

Collinsville and Claremore.”

Read the entire

article at:

For more information visit this Facebook page: https://

www.facebook.com/pg/Horse-Thief-Canyon-

152140381467640/about/

For another topo map: https://prd-

tnm.s3.amazonaws.com/

StagedProducts/Maps/

USTopo/1/21365/7342727.pdf

Destination:

Horse Thief Canyon

Cimarron River

Horse Thief Canyon

An article from the

Oklahoma Historical

Society can be found at:

http://www.okhistory.org/

publications/enc/

entry.php?entry=ho034

13

From Jena Donnell, Wildlife Diversity Specialist: “We wanted to know where Texas Horned Lizards were spotted this summer and with your help, were able to confirm that lizards are still present - at least at the county level - across nearly 70 per-cent of their historic range! We were only able to shade in areas where lizards were reported to our online citizen science project…help us fill in the blanks by reporting your sightings!” We know that Texas Horned Lizards are not out and about at this time, but we wanted to let you know about this project so you can keep a lookout as the weather gets warmer. If, by chance, you have a sighting, here is the link to report it. We will repeat this link in later issues. Find the data sheet where you can report your sighting at:

https://wildlifedepartment.com/wildlife/wildlife-diversity/report-texas-horned-lizard-sightings/form

Also keep a lookout in future issues of

The EnvironMentor Newsletter

for information about the

Oklahoma Nest Box Trails Project -- another Citizen Science Opportunity.

This is the Eastern Bluebird,

the mascot for this project.

14

Friday, June 16, 2017

Buzzard

and

From The Earthteller,

Fran Stallings

Playing dead: foxes and winter trees Possum is not the only critter who can pretend to be dead, at least in folktales...

There was once a man returning home from a very good day of fishing. He had caught so many fist that

they covered the bed of his wagon! He was looking forward to a big fish dinner, and then smoking fish to last

the winter.

But a hungry fox, looking down from a hilltop, spotted his delicious load and quickly made a plan. She

dashed ahead and lay down flat in the road, careful to hold absolutely still.

When the man drove up with his wagon, he saw the fox. "Oho, poor dead foxie. But what beautiful fur

-- not a mark on her! There are no flies buzzing around: she must have dropped dead just a few minutes ago."

The man stopped his wagon. "That fur could make me a hat and mittens." So he picked up the apparently dead

fox, threw her into the bed of his wagon, and drove on.

But Fox was not dead. Silently she got up and began throwing fishes out of the wagon! With the last

one in her mouth, she leaped down and escaped into the tall grass. After a good snack, she went back along the

road and picked up more fishes.

Meanwhile, the man arrived home and called out to his wife, "See what good luck I had today! A wag-

on-load of fish and a fox fur too!"

But when they looked, the wagon was empty.

Facttale:

In winter, trees certainly appear to be dead. Like Fox, they hold still and don't do anything. A leafless

forest looks like a wasteland. How depressing!

But it is just pretending to be dead. The trees are really dormant ("sleeping"), hunkering down until re-

liable mild weather returns.

They don't just doze off. To go dormant, they have to work through a process called "hardening."

from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Alaska (T. Callaway)

(Continued on Page 14)

15

(Continued from Page 15)

The lethal thing about freezing temperatures is the ice crystals that can form inside cells. Daggers of ice can

pierce membranes, breaching subcellular compartments and leaking precious cell fluids to the outside. Not on-

ly are the cells' innards scrambled, but also any tissues whose structural support depended on sacs filled with

water ("vacuoles") will sag and flop over -- permanently. How to prevent this?

In the trunks and branches, the living cells under the bark get rid of as much water as they can. They

pump it out into the spaces between cells. The remaining cell fluids become so syrupy and concentrated that

they act like antifreeze! Meanwhile, the water in the intra-cellular spaces is so ultra-pure that it can super-cool

down below -40F before it will freeze. Hardened trees can survive the up&down temperatures of an Oklahoma

winter. And fortunately they depend on shortening day-length, not our unreliable autumn temperatures, to tell

them when to get ready.

Deciduous (leaf-dropping) trees prepare for the cold by jettisoning their most vulnerable tissues: the

leaves that they had worked so hard to produce in the spring. By autumn, the leaves have finished their work

of capturing the Sun's energy and feeding the tree. Unlike the leaves/needles of evergreen trees, they aren't

protected by thick waxy waterproof coatings, and they don't "harden" like the living cells under the tree's bark.

The tree must get rid of them.

How does a tree shed those leaves? (No,

the next year's leaves don't push the old ones off!)

Every leaf is born with a built-in circuit breaker, a

layer of special cells ("abscision zone") across its

base where it attaches to the stem. When shorten-

ing daylength tells the tree that the time has come

to for leaf-drop, the cells in this layer die; the layer

becomes weak and brittle. In a few days all it takes

is gravity, rain drops, or a blustery wind to snap off

the leaf. No great loss: in a forest, the leaves will

decay to compost and return their minerals to the

tree's roots. And in the spot where each leaf was

attached, a waterproof corky layer ("leaf scar")

seals off the stem.

So the evergreens and the naked deciduous trees, hardened against the worst winter can bring, "play

dead" while they sleep. No fish dinner awaits them, but they will feast on sunlight when spring comes again.

SOURCES

Folktale motif K371.1

In Europe and Japan there are many stories about Fox pretending to be dead, tricking people who want more

than they have. Native American Nations also tell about a predator (Bobcat, Raccoon, etc) who pretends to be

dead so that prey (Turkeys, Crayfish, etc) will come close enough to grab. There are advantages to being able

to play dead!

My retelling is based on Judit Bodnår, A Wagonload of Fish (Hungary) Lothrop Lee & Shepard 1996; Myra

Ginsburg, One Trick Too Many: Fox Stories from Russia, Dial 1972. Variants are known from Ireland and

Finland to Russia.

Facts

I am inspired by Hope Jahren's essays in Lab Girl (Alfred A Knopf 2016), especially pp 95-96 and 191-193.

For a fine microscopic view of an

abscission zone see: http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/Resources/Botany/Shoot/Leaf/

Abscission%20layer%20IAA/Leaf%20abscission%20MC.jpg

From https://thegreenthumb20.wordpress.com/tag/

16

10301 South Sunnylane Road

405-814-0006

http://

www.museumofosteology.org/

Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

On February 23, 2013 The EnvironMentor

dipped a toe into social media. We made

this decision because, at this time, there

are two to three months between issues of

the Newsletter. During this past gap an im-

portant event had an application deadline of

April 1st so an announcement went out

from Facebook. We won’t bother you with

anything trivial, so …

“Like” The Environmentor on

Facebook!!

QUIKList Oklahoma

Leopold Education Project

http://www.aldoleopold.org/Programs/lep.shtml

Type in Oklahoma

Oklahoma Blue Thumb

http://bluethumbok.com/

Oklahoma Blue Thumb Association

ok.bluethumb.association@gmail.com

Oklahoma Envirothon

http://www.oklaenvirothon.org/

Oklahoma Green Schools

http://www.okgreenschools.org/

Oklahoma Master Naturalists

http://okmasternaturalist.org/

Oklahoma Native Plant Society

http://oknativeplants.org/

Oklahoma Recycling Association (OKRA)

http://www.recycleok.org/okra/

As with all hyperlinks in The EnvironMentor

Newsletter, these are clickable.

Do you know an environmental group in Okla-

homa that should be listed. Send that infor-

mation to:

environmentor@okcu.edu

Project Learning Tree (PLT)

http://www.plt.org/

http://www.forestry.ok.gov/project-learning-tree

Project WET

(Water Education for Teachers)

http://www.bluethumbok.com/project-wet.html

Project WILD

http://www.projectwild.org/

17

To go directly to The Calendar click on:

http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor

Most people who remember The EnvironMentor Newsletter know that the pages at the end of the issue

were reserved for The Calendar. Being online has some great advantages. When you downloaded your

copy of the newsletter you may have noticed the box on the right side of the webpage. This is a conven-

ient listing of the next events from The Calendar. This will always be up-to-date because it happens au-

tomatically. For more information on the event just click on it and a window will open up with all the de-

tails. If you wish, you can access the rest of the calendar from the there.

To have your event posted to The Calendar, copy and paste the following list into an email, fill

in as much information as you wish, and send it to: Environmentor@okcu.edu

Title of your event:

Start Date and Time

End Date and Time

Location

Location Address

Contact Name

Contact Phone

Contact Email

Details in Narrative Form

Location Link

Event Link

Map Link

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