Lucky you. When I was a child a lot of my relatives lived near Reck which is in southern Carter county. We went down there a lot and would see roadrunners on the road. I loved them.

I had one painted bunting that came to my house in Lone Grove for a couple of years. Aren't they beautiful. I haven't seen any at this house, so guess I will just have to be happy with all the cardinals, American Gold Finches, and wait for the pelicans to arrive every year. I love to see those big old things too.

I do feel pretty lucky--even though the painted buntings and roadrunners are always "around", they are pretty shy and don't let themselves be seen up close very often. We'd lived here several years before I saw my first painted bunting....and it was lying dead in the road, as if it had been hit by a car. After that, though, I saw one fairly often that summer, in the pasture north of our house.

Pelicans! Lucky You!! I don't see them very often around here. Every now and then I'll see a flock of them migrating through, but only once every couple of years.

I do love the American Gold Finches too. We have oodles of them in the winter.

My all-time favorite bird sighting here in southern OK was 2004--that was the first time I saw a pair of bald eagles together in the wild. I don't know where they nested--probably somewhere along the Red River--but they used to sit on top of an old barn about 3/4 miles from our house, and I'd see them when I walked the dogs. Once, they flew over our house twice in one day--our friend, Ken, was building our barn/garage that year and he saw them both times that day. It was pretty special, especially since he passed away the following year.

There were a lot of eagles around last winter, but I never saw them.

I haven't seen a lot of wild turkeys this year either.

We have had a LOT of birds in the garden ever since we put up the taller deer fence. They sit on top of the fence or the posts and hunt for bugs.

I wrote a response here last night and it didn't show up. Just as I was clicking out, I saw a message that said I had already posted a message with that title. Well, dah!!! At any rate, I am changing the title to see if it will let me post.

Grove has a Pelican Festival in the fall. I think this year is the 25th annual event and I believe it is 3rd thru 5th of October this year.

One year we were at the parade and this large flock of pelicans flew over just as if they were on cue. The parade was on the street in front of us, but we were all standing on the street looking up at the pelicans. LOL

My best pelican story happened a few years ago. I was traveling north and was just on the south side of the Honey Creek Bridge. Just before I started across the bridge this big pelican flew in front of my car and just started flying a couple of feet in front of my car and just a few feet over the top of the hood. I had to slow down and travel at his speed in order not to hurt the bird. My husband was in the car with me and was cracking up, telling me he liked my new hood ornament. The bird stayed in this same position just as if he had to fly in that lane of traffic across the bridge. Cars were stacking up behind me so we looked like a big parade coming across the bridge with this huge pelican in the lead. I understand they can have a wing span of up to 9 feet, but I think this one was probably 6-7 feet. It was very funny.

I love that pelican story!

A couple of years ago, DH was training for a marathon. (I am NOT a runner, but I like to walk.) Once a week, we'd drive down to Dallas to White Rock Lake (he was training for the White Rock Lake marathon) and he'd do progressively longer training run each weekend (12 miles one weekend, 14 the next, 16 the next, etc.) on the running paths and roads around the lake.

I'd walk (usually only 6 or 8 miles, since walking is so much slower) the trails around the lake, listen to music through my earphones, and watch the birds. There's lot of pelicans there, and I so enjoyed seeing them and all the other birds every week. It was like a mini-vacation once a week, getting to watch all the various bird species and, of course, all the people and pets as well. The pelicans were my favorite part.

We live a few miles west of Okiedawn on the "West End" of love county.
We have had a roadrunner in the yard every day for the last week. It hunts the tree frogs that are abundant in our woods. It doesnÂt leave until it catches one. Roadrunners are interesting to see because they are usually reclusive. They are, however, very destructive on wildlife. They are omnivorous . Their favorite foods are baby birds, frogs and lizards. They eat lots of wild turkey and quail chicks and rob nests of song birds and doves . The only good thing about them is that they eat snakes. My wife was working in the yard this spring and a roadrunner was a several feet away from her fussing and pacing back and forth. When my wife finally moved away from the small tree she was under the roadrunner ran up the tree and snatched a baby bird from a nest. They will also catch the rats and mice that you attract when you feed the birds as well as frogs that visit your ponds. They are like the other predators that follow the prey animals that you attract to your yard. The panthers and cougars follow the deer. The bobcats and coyotes follow the raccoons, pet dogs, cats and small mammals. The snakes come looking for the small mammals, birds and rodents. I personally find all that fascinating and love to see the great variety of wildlife close-up.

Hi Bubbadillo,

Well, having read your post, I wonder if the roadrunner (and he was pecking at the pile of henscratch) was more interested in the little tree frogs that live in my potted plants near the garage/barn. We haven't had as many wild turkeys OR quail the last couple of years, but we've had more roadrunners........so, maybe now I understand the connection!

I've never seen a roadrunner eat a snake (wouldn't that be fascinating!), but I am glad to hear that they do. We haven't had a lot of snakes around our house this year (except for the black rat snakes that have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to eat our baby guineas).

On the day that the pallet factory burned a couple of weeks ago, though, a lady who lives on Peanut Farm Road WAS bitten by a rattlensnake, and the Love County medics had to leave the fire and go to the hospital to help treat her.

I find the wildlife just as fascinating as you do, and have learned (by watching) the ebb and flow of wild animal populations......for example, the way the rabbit population will go up while the coyote population is down....and then, of course, when the coyote population rises, the rabbit population drops.

In our yard this year, we have a LOT more deer than usual coming to eat and drink...even having bucks come out in broad daylight, which I seldom see. I know the larger predators will follow, so I just do my best to make sure the chickens, guineas, dogs and cats are locked up securely before twilight.

The only wildlife we seldom see on our own place here is the wild pigs, and I bet you have them more out west than we do here. We had them hanging out in our creekbed one year, where they wallowed and left huge holes in shallow parts of the creek. Another year, they frequented the back part of our property, which is fairly close to the Red River. I am only moderately afraid of the panthers and cougars, since they are rarely seen and the worst they've ever done here is "roar" at me at night if I am outside. The wild pigs, though, terrify me, as I am sure I couldn't outrun them.

I DON'T miss the snakes at all. Normally we have a LOT of copperheads, water moccasins and velvet-tailed rattlers here, and the occasional western diamondback, but all I've seen in our yard this year are rat snakes and chicken snakes and, rarely, a green tree snake. It is the BEST snake year ever (fewest snakes seen), so I guess our cats are doing their job and keeping the number of rodents down.

Dawn