Remember our outdoor neighbors this holiday season! from A Cultivated Nest Best wishes from The EnvironMentor Vol. 9, No. 3. The Internet Site for Environmental Information in Oklahoma December 2020 - January 2021 Eagle Watching — now and into the spring. “Take binoculars and a camera to observe a magnificent migration of bald and golden eagles” Lake Thunderbird State Park — “Meet at the Discovery Cove Nature Center at 12:45 P.M. before Eagle Watch Tour Arcadia Lake — Eagle Watch “begin[s] at the Arcadia Lake park office …” Keystone Lake — “A favorite fishing area for migrating bald eagles … the Eagle Overlook Platform in the Brush Creek area be low the dam ...” Chickasaw National Recreation Area — Bald Eagle Watch “begins with a ranger-led program at the Travertine Nature Center and continues with a caravan …” Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge — “winter eagle sightings along numerous hiking trails and observation areas scattered throughout the park.” Eagle Tour and Loon Watch The Bald Eagle from digital-images.net Refuge has a webcam too. Tenkiller State Park — after the eagle tour at Sequoyah stop by Tenkiller for the loon tour at 2:00 P.M. Meet at Driftwood Nature Center. Lake Murray — Tucker Tower Nature Center Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge — Eagle Roost Nature Trail (considered a beginner-level trail) Quartz Mountain Nature Park — “search the tall cottonwood trees l ocated on the northern shore of Lake Altus-Luggert or on the southwest face of Twin Peaks … where eagles commonly Golden Eagle from National Audubon Society roost. In Search of Eagles For more complete information click: Black Mesa State Park and Nature Preserve — While most areas are https://www.travelok.com/article_page/ locations for seeing Bald Eagles, Black Mesa is best known top-10-places-for-eagle-watching-in- for the Golden Eagle. oklahoma In this issue ... Quiz!! Quiz!! Quiz!! Eagle Watching — Now And Into the Spring Cover We have a current events question for you: Editorial Page 2 In the past month this insect has grown in Quiz!! Quiz!! Quiz!! 2 prominence in a European nation, what 2020 BioBlitz! OK Wrap-Up 3 insect and what nation? Oklahoma sports Proposed Endangered Species Act Listing 3 several species of this insect also. The Oklahoma Recycling Association 4 The Green Scene Newsletter 4 121st Annual Christmas Bird Count 5-6 What About Nativars? 7 Mesonet 8 A Facttale from The EarthTeller 9-10 Not an Endorsement, but … Page 11 Upcoming Events Hackberry Flat Center 2021 12 The Comedy Wildlife Photography Award Winners 13 New Podcast Episodes 13 Oklahoma Envirothon Save the Date 14 Oklahoma Native Plant Society 2021 Plans 14 Free Gardening Guides 14 Water for 2060 14 For the answer to this quiz, fascinating Read For Adventure Challenge 15 facts and more information see page. How to Build a Raised Garden Bed 15 Hunker Has a Fun Quiz for You 15 Bird Academy 16 Mushrooms and Climate Change 16 An environmental education newsletter for Wild Care Foundation 16 the citizens of Oklahoma sponsored by the Oklahoma Blue Thumb Volunteer Training 16 Department of Biology at Oklahoma City University. Items appearing in this newslet- Audubon Prints 17 ter do not necessarily reflect the opinions or BeastBox 17 endorsement of the sponsoring organization. Oklahoma State Parks and Outdoor Guide 17 Editor: Beth Landon Healthy Soil for Life 17 [email protected] The EnvironMentor on Facebook 18 Please send any submissions to QuikLIST 18 The EnvironMentor Newsletter Calendar Form 19 or The Calendar to: [email protected] Published bimonthly each year. Study: The next deadline is January 20, 2021. Birds Are Linked to Happiness Levels If you wish to receive an email announcing when a new issue has been uploaded, please send an email to [email protected]. Download your EnvironMentor Newsletter in pdf form from: http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor Visit The EnvironMentor Calendar at http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor/ Regularly updated as information becomes available. Read the article from EcoWatch here! 2 Wrap -- Up! BioBlitz! OK 2020 Records 1261 Species!BioBlitz! Go to https://biosurvey.ou.edu/bioblitz2020/ to view a video, click on the iNaturalist Inventory, and click on the Ebird Checklist, as well as to access online resources and to download a BioBlitz! BINGO sheet for outdoor enjoyment. A note from the BioBlitz! OK Co-Coordinators: “But just because the weekend is over, that doesn’t mean you can’t still explore our natural diversity. We will be adding new content to the Virtual Nature Center and posting regularly on Facebook throughout the fall and winter about biodiversity and citizen science activities.” Happy Exploring from the BioBlitz! OK Co-Coordinators! Priscilla Crawford, Oklahoma Biological Survey Angelina Stancampiano, Oklahoma State Parks Proposed Endangered Species Act Listing Decision for Monarch Butterflies On December 15, 2020, the US Fish and Wildlife “The US Fish and Wildlife Service defines Service will decide among the following outcomes: an endangered species as ‘in danger of ex- tinction throughout all or a significant 1. Listing is warranted. portion of its range’ and a threatened 2. Listing is not warranted. species as ‘likely to become endan- 3. Listing is warranted, but precluded by other gered in the foreseeable future priority species. throughout all or a significant portion of its range.’” For a fuller explanation of these outcomes see the To read the entire article on the Okies for Monarchs full article, click below. website click here. 3 Subscribe To Our Green Scene Newsletter! Sign up for our eNewsletter to stay up to date about the M.e.t., recycling, the environment, and events throughout the Tulsa area! Click here to subscribe on the pop-up or at the bottom of the webpage. 4 Audubon Invites You to Celebrate 121 Years of the Annual Christmas Bird Count 1 8 9 2 11 6 10 12 7 3 13 5 4 18 19 21 22 14 20 17 15 16 # Location Contact Email 1 Kenton (Black Mesa) Jimmy Woodard [email protected] 2 Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge Glen Hensley [email protected] 3 Arnett Bill Diffin [email protected] 4 Washita National Wildlife Refuge Levi Feltman [email protected] 5 Black Kettle National Grassland Dick Zahm [email protected] 6 Sooner Lake John Couch [email protected] 7 Stillwater Timothy O’Connell paynecountyaudubonsocie- [email protected] 8 Tallgrass Prairie Preserve Don Wolfe [email protected] 9 Hulah Reservoir Don Wolfe [email protected] 10 Tulsa Jeff Cox [email protected] 11 Rogers County Richard Stuart [email protected] 12 Spavinaw Frank Houck [email protected] 13 Fort Gibson Reservoir Nadine Varner [email protected] 5 # Location Contact Email 14 Sequoyah Chad Ford [email protected] 15 Broken Bow Reservoir Mia Revels [email protected] 16 Red Slough Leif Anderson [email protected] 17 Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge Charles Brown [email protected] 18 Oklahoma City Nathan Kuhnert [email protected] 19 Norman Mark Howery [email protected] 20 Chickasaw NRA Ron Parker [email protected] 21 Stephens County Roma Lenehan [email protected] 22 Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge Michael Husak [email protected] 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? appid=ac275eeb01434cedb1c5dcd0fd3fc7b4 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednes- Thursday Friday Saturday 14 15 16 17 18 19 (16) Red Slough (20) Chickasaw (7) Stillwater N.R.A. (17) Tishomingo (10) Tulsa 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 (15) Broken (22) Wichita Bow Reservoir Mountain Wildlife Refuge 27 28 29 30 31 Jan 1 2 (13) Fort Gibson (21) Stephens Reservoir County 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (1) Kenton (Black Mesa) (19) Norman 6 Many gardeners and landscapers have become inter- ested in growing native plants, as we learn more about the What importance of our natives as hosts and food sources for polli- nators and other important insects. But some wild plants grow taller and leggier than we'd like, or have a short bloom- About ing period, or come in limited colors. How can we welcome them in our gardens? Plant breeders are eager to provide us with selectively bred Nativars? “cultivars” (cultivated varieties) of our native plants. These are called “nativars,” not a scientific term but a handy desig- nation on the label at the nursery. You may find its common By Fran Stallings name and sometimes its scientific name, plus the nativar's trade name in single quotes, and sometimes numbers indicating that it has a Plant Patent. For instance, Eastern Redbud Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' (PP#22,297), a nativar with purple leaves. Sometimes breeders work with naturally occurring variants such as the occasional yellow clump of orange butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tu- berosa), producing a pure yellow line which they have named 'Hello Yellow.' Orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida var sulliventii) often grew tall and floppy; the nativar 'Goldsturm' is more compact, has larger flowers, and a longer bloom time. By crossing different species Cercis canadensis of Echinacea together and selectively breeding the offspring, breeders have produced neatly clumping varie- ties with red, orange, white, yellow, even pale green petals and nicer shapes. Some are so double they look like pompoms rather than daisies. Gobotany.native planttrust.org Asclepias tuberosa Rudbeckia fulgida var sulliventii Asclepias tuberosa at The Daily Telegraph Colorful echinacea from dreamstime.com at monarchbuttergarden.net You can have your natives and your neat colorful garden too! Win/win. But the selectively bred nativars are not always as beneficial to wildlife as the wild types.