Mitch Park

LOCATION: Mitch Park – Edmond�
Contributed by Terri Underhill

35.411255 N 97.300477 W

Mitch Park 1501 W. Covell (between Kelly & Sante Fe) in NW Edmond OK.

Mitch is a 133-acre park which features several play-grounds including handicap accessible facilities, multiple use trials, basketball courts, pavilions, picnic tables, grills, amphitheater, Multiple Activity Center and sports fields with concession stand and restrooms.

bunting-male-painted-terriGetting to the park is easily accessible entering Covell from either Kelly or Santa Fe. You can take the main entrance into the park or follow the signs to the Mathis Skate Park on the east side of Mitch and north of Cheyenne Middle School. Both entrances are on Covell, along the south side of the park. Personally, I prefer to park and enter at the Skate Park since I can see and hear birds before I’ve even step foot on a trail.

During the summer months you most likely will have already seen numerous Mississippi Kites soaring before you even enter the park. The wooded areas of Edmond are ideal for nesting and therefore loved by the Kites, Red Shouldered Hawk and numerous raptors. This is the habitat they prefer to breed and raise their young in.

During the summer months the first song you’ll want to listen for is the melodious song of the Painted Buntings. The males sing from the tops of the trees along the paved trails close to the area he nests in. The city of Edmond has done a fine job landscaping with native vegetation the birds and wildlife seem to thrive on. Throughout the park are benches and feeding stations where you can sit and enjoy the birds. I sometimes take along bird seed just in case the feeding stations have been depleted from the squirrels and rabbits.

The majority of the trails are paved and a newly-opened trail bridge opened during the winter of 2005. This new bridge is a great area to observe the Louisiana Waterthrush during the summer months. The Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks also enjoy this area and can be seen and heard during their summer stay.

hotspot-mitch-smOn the east side of the bridge and about 200′ south, there’s an unmarked opening in the dense trees. This is where you can walk down to a hidden waterfall and see the wonderful red rock our state is commonly known for. If you’ve ever had the urge to step back in nature but don’t want to take a drive to the country, this is great little place to check out. This beautiful area is a bird magnet in the heat of the day when the birds and critters come to bath and drink from the cool pools of water below the slow streaming fall.

On the south end of the trails is a man-made overlook. This is a great place for getting a bird’s eye view of the trees tops from down below and even a closer look at a variety of birds. Native birds can be seen carrying nesting material in spring and later caring for their young in this densely wooded area. Mockingbirds, Thrashers, Bluebirds and many other fruit loving birds and wildlife can be seen enjoying the extremely popular fruit from the native Chickasaw Plums bordering many of the nicely paved trails. An assortment of Sparrows and many other birds use the dense thicket of Chickasaw Plums for nesting and a safe haven for their young. The thorny spurs give maximum protection against even the boldest of predators.

 

Species seen as of August 2021
eBird Basic Dataset. Version: EBD_relJul-2021. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Jul 2021.

Accipiter sp. Eurasian Collared-Dove Pied-billed Grebe
American Coot European Starling Pileated Woodpecker
American Crow Field Sparrow Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch Fish Crow Purple Finch
American Kestrel Fox Sparrow Purple Martin
American Pipit Franklin’s Gull Red-bellied Woodpecker
American Redstart Gadwall Red-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin Golden-crowned Kinglet Red-eyed Vireo
American White Pelican grackle sp. Redhead
American Wigeon Grasshopper Sparrow Red-headed Woodpecker
Baird’s Sandpiper Gray Catbird Red-shouldered Hawk
Bald Eagle Great Blue Heron Red-tailed Hawk
Baltimore Oriole Great Crested Flycatcher Red-winged Blackbird
Barn Swallow Great Egret Ring-billed Gull
Barred Owl Great Horned Owl Ring-necked Duck
Bell’s Vireo Greater Roadrunner Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher Great-tailed Grackle Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Bewick’s Wren Green Heron Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-and-white Warbler gull sp. Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird
blackbird sp. Haemorhous sp. Savannah Sparrow
Black-chinned Hummingbird Hairy Woodpecker Say’s Phoebe
Blue Grosbeak Harris’s Sparrow Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Blue Jay hawk sp. Sharp-shinned Hawk
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Hermit Thrush Snowy Egret
Blue-winged Teal Hooded Merganser Song Sparrow
Brewer’s Blackbird Horned Lark sparrow sp.
Broad-winged Hawk House Finch Spotted Towhee
Brown Creeper House Sparrow Spotted x Eastern Towhee (hybrid)
Brown Thrasher House Wren Summer Tanager
Brown-headed Cowbird House/Purple Finch Swainson’s Hawk
Buteo sp. hummingbird sp. Swainson’s Thrush
Cackling Goose Indigo Bunting swallow sp.
Canada Goose Killdeer Tennessee Warbler
Canvasback Lark Sparrow Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee Least Flycatcher Turkey Vulture
Carolina Wren LeConte’s Sparrow Vesper Sparrow
Cattle Egret Lesser Scaup vireo sp.
Cedar Waxwing Lincoln’s Sparrow warbler sp. (Parulidae sp.)
Chimney Swift Little Blue Heron Warbling Vireo
Chipping Sparrow Loggerhead Shrike Western Kingbird
Chuck-will’s-widow Louisiana Waterthrush Western Meadowlark
Clay-colored Sparrow Mallard Western/Eastern Meadowlark
Cliff Swallow Mallard (Domestic type) white egret sp.
Common Grackle Merlin White-breasted Nuthatch
Common Nighthawk Mississippi Kite White-crowned Sparrow
Cooper’s Hawk Mourning Dove White-eyed Vireo
crow sp. Nashville Warbler White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco Northern Bobwhite White-winged Dove
Dickcissel Northern Cardinal Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant Northern Flicker Willow Flycatcher
Downy Woodpecker Northern Harrier Wood Duck
Downy/Hairy Woodpecker Northern Mockingbird woodpecker sp.
duck sp. Northern Parula Yellow Warbler
Eastern Bluebird Northern Rough-winged Swallow Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Eastern Kingbird Northern Shoveler Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Meadowlark nuthatch sp. Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Phoebe Olive-sided Flycatcher Yellow-headed Blackbird
Eastern Towhee Orange-crowned Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Wood-Pewee Orchard Oriole  
Empidonax sp. Painted Bunting  
     

 

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