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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Welcome to the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge and the Eagle Roost Nature Trail. We invite you to enjoy this short trail (1 1/4 miles) through a variety of wildlife habitats characteristic of northern Oklahoma. Follow the numbered posts, use this guide to learn about the area, and discover how refuges play a critical role in preserving our nation's wildlife resources.
Please use caution while enjoying the trail and beware of posion ivy. Leave no traces of your visit--place litter in the trash receptacle provided.
This area attracts a variety of puddle ducks: mallards, green-winged teal, and wood ducks. The plants in the water are an important food source for the ducks, while the trees provide shelter. Other forms of life use this habitat including invertebrates, red-eared turtles, frogs, and mosquitoes.
Slightly different wildlife are attracted to this area. Thousands of shorebirds and long-legged wading birds feed in the large and shallow Sand Creek Bay. Sandhill cranes, ducks, and geese seek safety on the open water, where they can easily spot predators across the bay and make their escape.
You are at the edge of two habitats, where the wooded zone meets the bay. Animals from both habitats merge here, making an ideal place for predators suck as hawks to seek prey, and for scavengers to find a meal.
At one time, golden and bald eagles roosted in the trees lining this pond. Today, these majestic birds roost elsewhere on the refuge.
Golden eagles and young bald eagles looks very much alike, with their dark brown feathers streaked with white.
Animals often leave signs that tell of their activities. Numerous tracks or a worn trail indicate a preferred route to a food source, watering hole, or den. Scat found along the trail will indicate what the animal has been eating. Look for hair, bones, or seeds in scat samples. Watch for tracks and scat of deer and coyote.
Look for beaver-cut trees and crossings. Wood cut by beavers has a chiseled look to it, with a cone-shaped tip. A beaver crossing is a smooth and narrow trail, free of vegetation. The beaver's tail drags on the soil, smoothing away tracks and other shallow indentations.
These pools usually dry up during the summer months. Plants spring up at the edge of the water and follow its retreat. When rain refills the pool, the plants are submerged, providing important food for ducks that arrive in the fall.
Refuge managers sometimes help this natural cycle along. Water is drained from a pond through large tubes before the ducks arrive. The ducks' favorite food plants are grown on the mudflats and then the tubes are closed. Rain fills the basin or water is pumped in just before the ducks arrive to ensure a plentiful food source.
Look across the pond to the farm field in the distance; deer are often seen grazing there.
As you walk, notice the change of elevation. This incline leads from marsh habitat into forested zones. Shrubs replace cattails as the low-growing plants, while elms replace willow as the dominant tree species. The cottonwood is adapted to both habitats. Plants, like animals, have certain habitat requirements.
The diverse plant life surrounding this pond attracts a variety of birds. Herons and egrets hunt for fish among the large, round leaves of the American lotus. Wood ducks nest in the boxes perched above the water. The boxes resemble hollowed-out nesting trees.
Some animals require more than one habitat to live. Deer browse for annual forbs and grasses on the grassland, but seek shelter in wooded areas. Beaver forage for willow and cottonwood bark and small twigs on land, but construct their lodges in the water. How many "habitats" do you require?
Sandhill plum thickets and red cedar trees dominate this area. The thickets provide excellent food and shelter for bobwhite quail and other birds.
Each habitat you have passed through can be thought of as an island with specific natural boundaries and particular types of animals. As you have learned, each habitat is critically linked with the others. Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is an island full of special habitats surrounded by a sea of agricultural lands.
The refuge is linked to other wildlife refuges by the path of migrating waterfowl. Our mission is to protect and enhance these habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife. Visit the refuge often and enjoy this valued natural heritage.
[Feedback] [Regional Refuge Index] [Southwest Regional Home Page]
[National Wildlife Refuge
System] [FWS National Home Page]
[Salt Plains NWR Home Page]
http://sturgeon.irm.r2.fws.gov/u2/refuges/oklahoma/eagle.html - revised April 15, 2002
KEYWORDS=wildlife, animals, hiking, birds, Oklahoma, refuge