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Welcome! This site is provided by the Friends of Oxley Nature
Center to share information about the Center, which is operated by the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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The Oxley gates are open daily
from 8:00- 5:00. The Interpretive Building is open from 10:00-4:30 Mon-Sat &
Noon-4:30 Sun. You may park outside the gate and walk the trails from 7:00
a.m.-9:00 p.m. or on holidays.
Mohawk Park charges a $2 fee per car on
weekends April through October for non-members.
The Redbud Valley gates are open Wed-Sun from 8:00-5:00, and
the Visitor's Center is open from 11:00-3:00. You may not hop the fence when
Redbud is closed. |
Quick
Links
Nature Store Summer Sales!
July/Aug 2010 Newsletter
Autumn Butterfly
Count
Butterfly
Count Results
Teachers - Some Tours
Available
Impact of City Budget Cuts
Shop at Amazon
& support Oxley!
Visit
the Oxley Nature Center
Facebook page to see the latest news, photos and
event info |

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5th
Annual Autumn Butterfly Count
Thursday, September 30, 2010
8:30 to dusk
(weather conditions permitting)
We need 8-10 teams, with at
least 2 to 3 people in each team. It is good if each team has
someone who knows all the butterflies, but it is more important
to have someone who can take a photo of the mystery butterfly.
Each team needs a spotter, who stays with the butterfly until it
can be identified and counted. Each team needs counters, who can
tally the easy to ID species as we walk along. Each team needs
someone to write down what everyone is calling out. Beginners
are welcome! Before long, you will be singing out, “Another
Pearl Crescent!” or muttering “Make that five more ETBs”
along with everyone else.
The North American Butterfly
Association charges us $3/person for the count. Register by
September 28, and the Friends of Oxley will pay your count fee.
Butterfly Counting
We cannot count every single
butterfly within the fifteen mile circle. We do our best to
count the same way, at a number of locations within the circle
every year, though. As the years go by, each one of these
seasonal “snapshots” allows us to get an idea of the general
trends going on in our part of the world. We pay attention to
whether the numbers are going up or down, or are staying the
same, from year to year. We try to watch how weather and habitat
affect butterfly populations each season. We compare what
happens in our circle to what is happening all across North
America.
What is truly amazing is
that Tulsa, a fairly ordinary urban area, is an extraordinary
place to find butterflies! When you compare what we find here
with what butterfly counters tally at counts across North
America, the Tulsa Counts are consistently in the top rankings,
in terms of the number of different kinds of butterflies found.
This richness of biodiversity is partly due to the fact that
Tulsa is where north meets south and east meets west, and where
prairie meets forest. It also indicates a very healthy
environment, not just for butterflies, but for all kinds of
living things, including humans.
Previous Count Results
2010 Spring
Butterfly-Count
2010 Summer
Butterfly Count |

How the City
of Tulsa’s budget cuts still
affect Oxley Nature Center
Oxley Nature Center has
always operated with a very small full-time staff directing and
expediting the efforts of the seasonal and volunteer staff. It
has been twenty years since the Nature Center divided the work
among 4 people, and Redbud Valley Nature Preserve was not a part
of that schedule. We are beginning to realize that there are
some things we just won’t be able to keep up with at previous
levels.
We will have to scale back
on the size of school groups coming on guided tours. Oxley
Nature Center’s school programs will no longer be free of
charge, except to Tulsa Public Schools. Fortunately, a generous
private donor is providing some funding to help defray bus
expenses for fieldtrips to Oxley Nature Center; we do request
that teachers ask their parent-teacher organizations first.
You will find not quite as
many weekend programs being offered, and the monthly astronomy
programs are on hold. In order to be good stewards of our
resources we ask that programs requiring supplies to be
purchased or much preparation time have a minimum number of
participants pre-registered 48 hours in advance. The staff has
to consider each request for a program carefully now, and will
have to say no more often than we like.
On the positive side,
neither Oxley Nature Center nor Redbud Valley Nature Preserve
has had to scale back any of the hours or days that it is open,
other than the mandatory furlough days, and we have tried to
remain open on a few of them when possible, flexing other days
off. We have only had to cancel a few previous commitments and
bookings. Oxley Nature Center’s excellent seasonal and volunteer
staff has stepped forward to fill in when and where they can.
How can you help? Oxley
Nature Center’s volunteer staff is always looking for another
good recruit; even just a few hours each month can be a big
help. Check out the “volunteers” link to find out what you might
be able to do. Become a Member of The Friends of Oxley Nature
Center. Not only do Members get discounts, the Oxley Nature
Center Association fills in many little gaps in the Nature
Center’s budget. The Friends group works on big projects too,
like raising money for new exhibits and the recent remodeling of
the Interpretive Building.
We appreciate your
understanding and patience. We are especially grateful for your
continued support. |

Attention
Teachers!
Click here for
information on school programs.
Oxley Nature Center has a
few open days for school tours this fall and next spring! Here
is your chance to book an award-winning tour for your class. You
may choose among several topics. The Riddle of the Woods is
written for upper elementary students, and presents the lesson
of energy flow from sun to producers to consumers to decomposers
in the form of a mystery to be solved. BioF.A.D., which stands
for Biologist For A Day, is designed to allow middle school
students a chance to find out what it is like to be a field
biologist as they rotate among 4 stations gathering data as
citizen scientists. A Pathfinder tour offers younger students
the chance to earn a badge as they hone their observation
skills. A General Discovery tour can be designed for any age,
and may incorporate any natural history topic you wish to
introduce or emphasize.
Call soon for available tour
dates: 918-669-6644. You may talk with a staff naturalist
between 10:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or leave a voice mail message
outside regular office hours. School tours are now $2 for each
participant (free to Tulsa Public Schools), and the Pathfinder
badges cost $.70 cents each plus tax, about $.75 apiece. There
is a possibility of financial assistance for bus expenses from a
generous private donor; please ask your school’s parent-teacher
organization first. |

News from
Oxley's Nature
Store
Click here to see more featured books
and products |
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SALE!! All
T-Shirts 25% off.
Limited size selection available.
No additional discounts on sale merchandise.
Adult and youth shirts in several styles


Oxley's Nature
Store now stocks
Cloud B Products

Twilight
Turtle projects a complete starry night sky onto the walls and
ceiling of any room. Choose from three soothing color options –
blue, green, and amber – to create magical, tranquil
environments that are ideal for helping children of all ages
ease into a restful sleep.
Parents can also sit with their children and
identify 8 major constellations within Twilight’s star pattern
using the wonderfully illustrated Star Guide. Twilight Turtle is
individually hand painted and includes a battery saving time out
function, push button reactivating, easy color selection, and 3
AAA batteries. A perfect gift for all ages.

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Interpretive Building
Renovation Complete!
The building renovations, begun in January 2008, are now complete,
resulting in a practically brand
new facility with many upgrades and changes. The new
new exhibits
funded the the Friends of Oxley have been
installed.
Stop by soon to see the new Oxley Nature Center! |
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New and Improved Trail Maps Now
Available! |
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Damselflies &
Dragonflies of
Oxley Bill Carrell has compiled a
checklist of the all
damselflies and dragonflies
observed at Oxley Nature Center.
And now, with the cooperation of the web site
OdonataCentral,
photos of all the species have been added to the checklist, along with links
to species accounts. |

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First known record of a Striped Saddlebags, Tramea
calverti, in Oklahoma spotted at Oxley!
Click here for details.
Checklist of Damselflies & Dragonflies of Oxley Nature Center, compiled
by Bill Carrell |

Damselflies &
Dragonflies of
Oxley Bill Carrell has compiled a checklist of the all
damselflies and dragonflies
observed at Oxley Nature Center.
The checklist is hosted at the TNC web site, and can
be viewed by clicking here.
Newsletter Now Available
in PDF Format The Oxley Newsletter is now available in Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
Format. Click here for the current and past
issues. If you would like to receive the newsletter via email instead of a hardcopy
in the mail, please send you name and email address to
John Kennington
The History of Redbud
Valley Amy Morris, going through the archives of has assembled a
wonderful history o the foundation of Redbud Valley.
The article can be found here.
Have
You Found an Injured or Orphaned Bird>
Click here for information from about what to do
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On-Line Membership Form
Now Available!
If you would like to join the Friends of Oxley, or renew
your membership, you can now do it on-line using your credit or debit card.
Click here for our new online
membership application |

Volunteering
Volunteers are a vital part of our Nature Center. Our
volunteer
page describes the many way you can contribute. If you know you're
ready to help, you can go right to the
volunteer
application. Thank You! |

What Is An
Easy Way To Support The Friends of Oxley? By shopping at
Amazon!
If you enter
Amazon
through the links on our site, then The Friends of Oxley will
receive a portion of your purchase. You still receive the normal excellent
Amazon
prices, and this applies to any product offered
through
Amazon,
not just bird and nature books! So consider doing all your
Amazon
shopping through here to support Oxley Nature Center. Our original
On-Line
Nature Store is still available, and has a better
selection of some items (such as bird feeders). And you can always come
out to Oxley and shop the old-fashioned way!

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Deer
Track by Donna Horton |
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 Information on School Fieldtrips |
Contact Information
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Telephone
918-669-6644
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FAX
918-669-6653
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Postal address
5701 East 36th Street North, Tulsa OK 74115
Electronic mail
General Information:
Oxley@ci.tulsa.ok.us Webmaster:
John Kennington
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