LOCATION: Lake Hefner
35.58868 N 97.63196 W (Stars & Stripes Park)
35.56241 N 97.61029 W (Prairie Dog Point)
Finding bird “hot spot” locations in Oklahoma City can be made easier with an understanding that the city is laid out in a grid with main streets approx. one mile apart. The east-west streets are typically numbered; north-south streets are named. The major highways with routes through the metropolitan area are I-40, I-35, I-44 & I-240, Broadway Extension, Hefner Parkway, and the Kilpatrick Turnpike.
Lake Hefner is an impoundment located in northwest Oklahoma City. It was built in 1947 and serves as one of Oklahoma City’s water reservoirs. The lake receives water through a canal on the southwest side that brings water from the North Canadian River at the northeast margin of Lake Overholser.
Lake Hefner covers 2,500 acres with an average depth of 29 feet. A bicycle ride or walk around the lake is a distance of about 11 miles. The 3-mile dam is located along the north side of the lake, somewhat parallel to Hefner Road, between Hefner Parkway and MacArthur with one-way, east-bound car traffic and a walking/bicycling lane. The deepest water (94′) is along the dam. The dam, most of the west side and all of the east side of Lake Hefner are a rock revetment. The most consistent mud flats are located along the southwest corner.
Birding around Stars & Stripes Park Directions: From I-40 proceed north on I-240/OK74 that becomes Hefner Parkway north of 39th Street. Exit west at NW Highway, west to Portland and north to the lake for access to the south side. Portland ends where it intersects with S. Lake Hefner Drive, the location of Stars & Stripes Park. The park offers walking trails, playgrounds and good shoreline for gulls and terns. The hiking trails in the immediate area of the park offer interesting birding with a mix of grass, woods, shrubs and shoreline. 
From Stars & Stripes Park there are hiking trails that access all sides of the lake. There is also a quasi creek that ends south of the road. Water birds in this area are primarily dabbling ducks, geese, and waders. The south side of Lake Hefner offers a great diversity of habitat as there are many trees, mowed areas, undisturbed habitat, and cedar plantings. The lake in this area has many fingers or small coves that are easily accessed by the path. There is only a small amount of marshland. When the lake level is low there are extensive flats at “Hobie Point” or the Riversport Sailing Center that is well marked on the Lake Road a few hundred yards west of Portland Ave. (Download/print map of Lake Hefner)
Prairie Dog Point: Of special interest to birders is Prairie Dog Point, located at the southwest corner of the lake (see map below). Birders from across Oklahoma visit this location during spring and fall migration, as well as during the winter months when sightings of rare birds are often reported. Recent sightings at Prairie Dog Point include Whimbrel, Piping Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Dunlin, Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, Short-billed Dowitchers, White-faced Ibis, Snowy Plover, and Western Sandpiper. California Gull, Least Tern, Common Tern, and Lesser Black-backed Gull were also sighted.
Other nearby areas of interest include: Bluff Creek Park — this Oklahoma City park is located below the Lake Hefner Dam with an entrance at Hefner Road and Meridian. In addition to the playground and picnic area, the park area includes a mountain bike course with trails through various interesting bird habitat including small ponds, streams, woods, and open grassy fields. This area is a good location for spring and fall migrant warblers.
Nichols Hills Park — located east of Pennsylvania on Grand Blvd.
Dolese Youth Park — this youth sports complex is located on the site of a former sand pit. There is a small lake, wooded areas that include a disc golf course and picnic pavilion areas. Dolese Youth Park is located on NW 50th, just west of Meridian (about 3 miles from Stars & Stripes Park).
Lake Hefner unofficial bird sighting list:
| Cackling Goose Canada Goose Snow Goose Wood Duck Gadwall American Wigeon Mallard Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Red-throated Loon (rare) Common Loon Pacific Loon (rare) Yellow-billed Loon (rare) Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Eared Grebe American White Pelican Neotropic Cormorant (rare) Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron (rare) Cattle Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Glossy Ibis White-faced Ibis Osprey Mississippi Kite Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper’s Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot Sandhill Crane (rare) Black-bellied Plover American Golden-Plover Snowy Plover Semipalmated Plover Piping Plover |
Killdeer American Avocet Lesser Yellowlegs Willet Spotted Sandpiper Upland Sandpiper Whimbrel Long-billed Curlew Hudsonian Godwit Marbled Godwit Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Baird’s Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Stilt Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher Wilson’s Snipe Wilson’s Phalarope Laughing Gull (rare) Franklin’s Gull Bonaparte’s Gull Ring-billed Gull California Gull Herring Gull Thayer’s Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Sabine’s Gull (rare) Caspian Tern Common Tern (rare) Forster’s Tern Least Tern Black Tern Rock Pigeon Eurasian Collared-Dove White-winged Dove Mourning Dove Inca Dove (rare) Yellow-billed Cuckoo Common Nighthawk Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Olive-sided Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird Western Kingbird Scissor-tailed Flycatcher |
Loggerhead Shrike Blue-headed Vireo Warbling Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Horned Lark Purple Martin Northern Rough-winged Swallow Cliff Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Bewick’s Wren House Wren Sedge Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling American Pipit Cedar Waxwing Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Spotted Towhee Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln’s Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Harris’s Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer’s Blackbird Common Grackle Great-tailed Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch Pine Siskin American Goldfinch House Sparrow |
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