Page 66 - 2018 NOV/DEC Outdoor Oklahoma

Some of Rarest Birds
By Jena Donnell, Wildlife Diversity Information Specialist

JENA DONNELL/ODWC State’s Oldest Wildlife Area Holds

USDA

A red-cockaded
woodpecker flies
from its cavity in
a pine tree.

The nation’s largest remaining continuous section of shortleaf pine/native hardwood forest is found on the McCurtain County Wilderness Area. This
is the favored habitat for the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.
State’s Oldest Wildlife Area

Holds Some of Rarest Birds

By Jena Donnell, Wildlife Diversity JENA DONNELL/ODWC
Information Specialist

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Wildlife Department’s oldest
management area, the McCurtain County Wilderness Area,
was created 100 years ago in 1918 and is home to Oklahoma’s
only remaining red-cockaded woodpecker population. We
followed biologists during this area’s centennial year as they
tracked these endangered birds and worked to restore the
forested habitat on which the birds rely.

This tree-cavity insert is being used by a nesting pair
of federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers in
the McCurtain County Wilderness Area.

38 OUTDOOR OKLAHOMA