The Oklahoma Run

Tishamingo to Lake Hefner

The Oklahoma Run

We made the decision to head up to Oklahoma to celebrate the life of my son who passed in September of 2022. By every account, he is what you would call a “doer” always on the go enjoying nature, fishing, working on his boat, you name it.

So, we took our time to get up there and be “doers” ourselves. We will give a quick review of Tishamingo National Wildlife Refuge as well as Martin Park and Lake Hefner in Edmond, Oklahoma. However, I really feel like this is a backroads story to celebrate Caleb’s birth and life.

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Amira’s Review

Martin Park

We stopped by this park first thing in the morning. The park was very cute and well maintained. There were people of all ages enjoying the trails. We walk into the park over a bridge and underneath is a stream. Further in the actual trails start and we begin to explore.

Immediately I was drawn to the trail that had the giant treehouse! How cool. Climbed to the top and expected to see birds. Not one lol. Womp womp.
I saw the usuals; woodpecker, cardinal, eastern phoebe. We walked for a couple hours and the trails were nice and shaded for the most part.

Just a suggestion: if you are like me and prefer to bird with little to no humans around get there early. This park opens at 5am which I love. I wish more parks would open earlier. By the time we arrived around 9 it was pretty crowded. Also wear some sort of tick repellant. They have signage saying that they do have ticks on the trail. I came home with one. Not fun!

As we were leaving I saw some signs for a bird lookout. It was kinda cute. There was a wooden wall with holes cut out. Behind the wall were bird feeders to attract a variety of birds. I saw a woodpecker, finch, house sparrow and a ton of squirrels. The concept was creative but the holes were not big enough for my camera, so if a new to me bird had landed I wouldn’t have been able to capture it.

Lake Hefner

By the time we finished up at Martin Park we were starving. We decided to pick a spot to have brunch up by Lake Hefner. We chose Redrock Canyon Grill and it was so good. We grabbed a patio seat that overlooked Lake Hefner. While brunching we were able to sip mimosas and watch the seagulls and pelicans fly by. Highly recommend this restaurant.

After brunch we drove down to the shore of Lake Hefner. Paul immediately went down to look for seabirds. I lingered a bit looking at the trees on shore. While scanning the area I had a very nice local gentleman point out an area filled with seabirds.
We drove down a bit and sure enough birds all over the shore! If ever near Lake Hefner in Oklahoma definitely check it out. It was a beautiful area.

Paul’s Review

The Oklahoma Run

We headed up Hwy 377 in Texas, about a 45 minute driver to cross over Lake Texoma. As soon as we crossed over the lake, our first backroad was immediately available to us OU Road with thick tall pines covering both sides of the road and thick under brush that you couldn’t see more than an inch into. Ha! Wasn’t the best road to turn down – zero birds to be seen – but it did dead into the OU Biological Station, which is now on my Radar to checkout.

Continued on up through Madil and on into Tishamingo. It wasn’t part of the plan, but we stopped at a small park called Pennington Creek, where Amira’s patients paid off and she was able to get a picture of the Fish Crow – score – new bird for the life list.
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/tishomingo

Tishamingo National Wildlife Refuge Trail Review

We took the Craven Nature Trail, the sign says half a mile, but it’s more like an 8th of mile.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that summer is here and just about everywhere we want to bird, or is known to be “birdy” is dense vegetation. Turning on the eBird app… Ha! The sound of fun birds everywhere, from the Summer Tanager, Kingfisher to the Inigo Bunting, but all we saw was glimpses and movement not a single shot worthy of posting. Well we did get the Eastern Phebe at the entrance, but that was it.

Tishamingo National Wildlife Refuge is known for great birding, we will be back for a full day at this park… prepared, patient and ready to explore all the place has to offer. Sure a bit disappointed, full of unreasonable expectations we got back on the road and just discussing the experience when on the roadside, a large Barred Owl was just sitting on a near by tree. You’ve got to love the backroads!

We headed NE with our next destination Sulpher to checkout the springs, sure it was a pretty place, but not quite as cool as I remember it as a kid. Tons of people, no birds and now we are moving on.

Made it to Norman around 6pm, checked into our hotel, got some dinner and drinks and came across a Red-Tailed Hawk just handing out on a street lamp. Second best shot of the day…. And that was the day!

Set out on day 2 heading up to Edmond to my son’s gravesite and had a nice visit as hard as it was… leaving the Brown Thrasher showed up, grabbed that pick…another new bird for our life list. Felt like my son Caleb was just giving me a nod…. to keep enjoying it!

Martin Nature Park Review
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

We made are way to Martin Nature Park, easily on my top 3 nature parks and trails thus far for layout, functionality and diverse terrain. All the locals were there from the tufted titmouse, chickadees, cardinals, red-winged blackbirds and again keeping in mind the time of year we were not expecting much, but still an exceptional location.

The place included an overlook platform, great views of Bluff Creek and a walk around pier. We are looking forward to coming back in the fall and have a true birding adventure.

Next stop Lake Hefner Review

I will say we started off by stopping in for brunch and a great restaurant called Redrock Grill, great breakfast and mimosas… great way to keep on birding. We headed down to the southwest corner where most bloggers said the birding was best. Immediately we came across the Semiplamated Sandpiper and Franklin’s Gull, both new birds for our life list. The place was just too busy, too many people to sit back and enjoy the place, but we can see that this place too might be a great spot in the fall.

Tuner Falls Park area

Well it was time to start heading home, jumped on I-35 South to get home quickly, but couldn’t resist pulling off in the Turner Falls area. Pulled off on Hwy 77D looking over the great overlooks in the area, no birding just took in the views. A storm coming up with lighting strikes coming down and thunder rumbling through our bones…back on the road driving in a pour down that followed us all the way home.

I was born in Oklahoma and spent my first twenty years there, but with a renewed look at nature, it was liking seeing the state again for the first time.