Spring always brings excitement as we gear up for Birdlam, our local bird-watching competition organized by the Payne County Audubon Society. Ever since it was reintroduced in 2020, we’ve participated every year and won prizes each time. However, this year was different in a wonderful way - we decided to bring on board our new family member, little Sreeja.

Preparing for Birdlam with a baby presented new challenges. Sreemala was responsible for packing, and ensuring we had with us everything Sreeja might need during her first big birding day. Despite her best efforts, it felt like we needed more space! Pratyay was responsible for planning the stops and birding locations.

Like 2022, when we had a really amazing tally of birds (see our story from that day here) we decided to spend most of the day in Southwest Oklahoma near our favorite Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. We drove there the night before to start bird-watching at dawn. Our late start after a busy workday meant that we arrived at our secluded Airbnb much later than planned. Unfortunately, we couldn’t unlock the house! With no internet or phone signal, contacting the host was impossible. After 30 minutes of trying, we decided to head to the nearest town, Lawton. Thankfully, the internet came back on our way when we discovered a last-minute change of the lock code! We went back, managed to unlock the door and settle in for the night.

Eastern Phoebe that was nesting on the doorway of our BnB. The slight motion blur in the tail was caused by its constant tail-bobbing and my use of slow shutter speed due to a very low light.

As we went out in the morning, the first bird we saw was an Eastern Phoebe and its mate who were nesting on the doorway of our BnB. These birds are drab yet quite charming! We took a quick photo and went out on our way for the big day!

The weather forecast predicted heavy rain and storms on Birdlam day, but luck was on our side. We would end up enjoying a relatively dry day, perfect for bird-watching. It was cloudy all day though, resulting in most images having a white sky. However, the fields in the refuge had enough splashes of color to make up for that. It was wildflower season at the Wichitas, and this year seemed to be particularly good for coreopsis. The entrance from the West end of the refuge has a field full of cacti that were blooming and we even found some roadrunners running around in the distance.

Cactus bloom.

Burrowing Owls are not uncommon on the Western part of the state, but people typically don’t go West on the Birdlam day. So, it was a unique addition to our list when we found a pair. We then hiked a couple of trails with Sreeja riding her favorite backpack. This was the first time she spent a long time on it, and she loved it! We are grateful to our friends who passed it down to us after their children used it.

A pair of Burrowing Owl who don’t look very happy with the visitors.

Bison roaming around the open spaces in the refuge is always a nice sight.

Wildflowers among the rocks… mostly paintbrush and coreopsis.

Wildflower medley.

Colors from the Wichitas… Iris and a Ladybug on Oak.

Carolina Larkspurs.

Hiking among the beautiful coreopsis bloom.

The little one enjoyed the looking at all the wildflowers.

The wildflowers kept entertaining us even at times when the birding was slow. There were pops of all kinds of colors and the pollinators were in action too! The first to show up was a Black-chinned Hummingbird feeding on the paintbrushes. These hummingbirds are common in this part of the state although it’s pretty rare where we live. The gorget of the bird actually has quite a bit of purple, but most of the time it looks almost all black based on how light is reflected off of it. Another Black-chinned Hummingbird was seen sitting on a perch made of dry branches, which is quite common in this part of the refuge. You can see the spiderwebs around it if you look closely. Like many other birds, hummingbirds use spider silk for nest building and also steal insects trapped in spider webs to feed their little ones.

Black-chinned Hummingbird among the paintbrushes.

Another Black-chinned Hummingbird. Do you see all the spider web?

Among other flowers, we found many of Pratyay’s favorite plant - antelope horn milkweed. This also a favorite among the pollinators and we saw many butterflies and bees making good use of them.

Common Buckeye on Antelope Horn Milkweed.

Love these milkweeds!

Birding was productive in the morning as we quickly found some common and uncommon birds. Highlights included spotting a zone-tailed hawk with prey. Painted Buntings were everywhere, and the delightful Black-capped Vireos were quite reliable.

A high-key look at a Painted Bunting from the cloudy day.

A closer look at arguably the most colorful bird of North America.

Black-capped Vireos present with their funny song.

Here’s a singing one on top some dead branches.

“Sparrowing” (is that a word?) in this part of Oklahoma can often be quite fun with several species that we don’t see in Stillwater. One of those, the Rufous-crowned Sparrow, was quickly found. More common Lark Sparrows were fun to watch on the red rocks. Photography was not our focus for this day, but you would always get some good lighting on a cloudy day like this. While we loved getting some nice photos of a Tufted Titmouse against the white sky, a Summer Tanager added some pop of color to the gray day. A gorgeous Eastern Collared Lizard posed on a rock when we craved for some more color!

Rufous-crowned Sparrow. Seeing one after two years.

A handsome Lark Sparrow.

Tufted Titmouse taking off.

A Summer Tanager adding a splash of color to the gray day.

Need more colors? An Eastern Collared Lizard posing on the rocks.

Mom and daughter happy after finding a good bird… A Zone-tailed Hawk… not a common bird in Oklahoma.

Our next stop was a one-hour drive down to the Hackberry Flat Wildlife Management Area. This place can be really good for field birds as well as shorebirds when the amount of water is right. This place somehow looks different every time we visit! This year, the most common birds were Long-billed Dowitcher and Wilson’s Phalarope – both beautiful birds, and we were happy to get some flight shots. The atmosphere was kind of foggy and ethereal as you will see in most of our photos. It made for a very pleasant outing.

Long-billed Dowitchers were everywhere.

Lesser Yellowlegs flying above the wetlands.

Wilson’s Phalaropes chasing around.

Like 2022, we found many shorebird species including getting a good look at some Snowy Plovers. The highlight was finding some Glossy Ibises mixed in with the more common White-faced.

Snowy Plovers. Yes, there are two in this image.

Blue-winged Teals are always great to see. They don’t have spectacular colors or anything, but very elegant. We didn’t get close ups to show you their full beauty this time, but it was cool to see them flying around in that almost foggy atmosphere.

A very vocal Lesser Yellowlegs.

I thought shooting small worked for this Dickcissel. It’s always a joy to find them in numbers out in the prairie.

The last part of our birding day was spent near Oklahoma City. We drove down to that part to get a few more of the Eastern species in the right habitats. We did add a bunch of species that we were still missing including a rare Anhinga that was hanging out in the OKC area.

Upland Sandpiper… We were excited to find one after a very long time.

We were all kind of tired after a long day; so it was time to come back.

As the day ended, we returned to our Airbnb, unsure if we had seen enough species to win a prize. Prize or no prize, the day was unforgettable! Last year, Sreeja was in mama’s tummy during Birdlam, and this year, she experienced it with us, pointing out birds and enjoying nature!




Birdlam was over, but our trip to Southwest OK was not. We decided to spend the Sunday out looking for birds too and perhaps spend a bit more time photographing them which we couldn’t do the day before. Sun came out for a while although it was still quite cloudy and it was perfect for photography. A Lark Sparrow posed nicely with the soft light creating some nice bokeh. We wanted to get some nice shots of arguably the most colorful bird of North America – The dazzling male Painted Bunting. We were happy when we got some nice look at a male. A Black-capped Vireo also cooperated.

We found this on the property of our BnB. I believe this is an Indomitable Graphic Moth… and interesting name!

Lark Sparrow in some nice light.

Another Male Painted Bunting. Look at all the colors!

Waiting for a Black-capped Vireo to show up.

One finally cooperated!

With a warmer temperature, the wildflowers were full of pollinators. Butterflies and bees were abundant. Sreemala decided to take some flower photos while Sreeja was happy to take her morning nap in the backpack!

Bees around the antelope horns… what a sight!

Did I say I love these milkweeds? Here’s a singleton…

Sreemala taking some wildflower photos while Sreeja takes her mid-morning nap.

One of the new wildflowers we saw on this day. Krameria. They are quite pretty.

The Red Admiral is an admirable butterfly! It’s a common species in much of OK, but doesn’t appear very often in our county. So, we were happy to get some photos. A Handsome Pipevine Swallowtail also entertained us.

Pipevine Swallowtail on a paintbrush.

Red Admiral.

Some textures and shapes from the Wichitas.

By mid-day, we decided to say bye to Wichita Mountain NWR and head back to Stillwater. We stopped at several spots on our way including a large prairie dog town. We used to see these social creatures very often in Colorado, but not much these days. So, it was fun to spend some time with them and then take another leisurely afternoon hike in the OKC area.

Prairie Dog mom and babies. Do you see a butterfly in the background?

There weren’t many birds out there, but we photographed several butterflies and moths including our first time seeing Eight-spotted Forester Moth. All three of us were pretty tired by the end of hike; so, it was time to call it a day!

Question Mark butterfly.

An American Snout. Gotta love these funny-looking little butterflies.

Another Red Admiral that we saw on the same Chinese Privet. This plant is not native, but the pollinators seemed to love it.

We were excited to see this Eight-spotted Forester Moth for the very first time. Who knew we would see this species again very soon with much better photo ops! Those would be part of our next blog with photos and stories from our summer trip back to Colorado.

This year’s Birdlam will always be a cherished memory for the Wingmates! Despite the added responsibility of having to look after Sreeja, we relished our first serious birding session in months. Sreeja, nestled in our back carrier, delighted in pointing out wildflowers and birds during our hike was one of the most fun parts of the trip! We are forever grateful for these experiences as we look forward to many more bird-watching adventures in the future.