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Mary K. Oxley Nature Center

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 west gate to Mohawk Park is closed on weekends from April 1 to Oct. 31.

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

Jan/Feb 2012 Newsletter

Spring 2012 Volunteer Training

Updated Mohawk Butterfly Checklist

2011 Butterfly Counts

Butterfly Count Results

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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Outreach Programs from Oxley Nature Center


Winter 2012



Make reservations now for programs brought to your classroom from Oxley Nature Center between January 11 and February 18. To make the programs available as widely as possible, we may only visit your school once this season, and we may only visit each group of individual students once. Classes may be combined, but groups are limited to no more than 30 students in any single presentation. Even presenting 4 programs during the morning and 4 in the afternoon, we may not be able to visit every classroom in your school this season, so choose carefully. New this year, there is a fee of $2 per student, payable by cash or check or purchase order on the day of the presentations.

Winter 2012 Outreach Program Registration

 

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Teacher Workshops

June 4-16, 2012 Sensational Science Academy for Teachers

Oxley Nature Center is one of nine local museums/agencies working under the leadership of the University of Tulsa to present an intense learning experience for educators this summer. Hands-on, inquiry-based science education is the focus during field work with the staffs of the Geosciences Center, Linnaeus Gardens, Oklahoma Aquarium, Oxley Nature Center, Philbrook Museum, Project RESTORE, The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Air and Space Museum, and the Tulsa Zoo. A limited number of spaces are available.

Applications close on February 1st, 2012: http://orgs.utulsa.edu/sense/application.htm

If you missed the deadline, go to the link to inquire whether this year’s program filled or to find out about next year’s workshop.

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Variegated Fritillary by Jim Thayer

Butterflies of Mohawk Park
Jim Thayer has provided an updated checklist of the all butterflies observed in Mohawk Park. 

Click here for to download a PDF version of the checklist

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New for the Nature Center’s Nature Store

Magic T-shirts!! Magic T-Shirts® are black and white indoors and burst into color in the sun. They return to black and white without the sun.

Click here to for more info on these new products!

New Book Titles and Audio Book/CD’s to Explore

 

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Volunteers

 

Volunteers are an essential part of Oxley, and the Fall volunteer training information is now available. Check out the our volunteer page for the many volunteer opportunities available!

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6th Annual Autumn Butterfly Count

You Can Be a Citizen Scientist!

Join us at Oxley on Friday, September 30h to spot, count, tally and identify butterflies. Information gathered is used to supplement the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Summer Butterfly Count held annually in June and July. Citizen scientists participate in local counts, increase their own knowledge, raise public awareness and contribute valuable data about butterfly populations.

We will meet at 8:30 a.m. and count until dusk, weather permitting. You are welcome to participate in all or part of the count. Bring a lunch, water, hat and binoculars if you have them. Meet at Oxley Nature Center.

No experience is necessary. You’ will work in teams with experienced naturalists counting in different teams in different areas.

Please call and register in advance so teams can be assembled! The $3 fee will be waived if you register by September 26.

Count Results from 2010

Spring Butterfly-Count  Summer Butterfly Count  Autumn Butterfly Count

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How the City of Tulsa’s budget cuts still
affect Oxley Nature Center

Want more open days? (Yes, Oxley Nature Center closes on every City holiday now.) Want to bring all your 5th graders on a single fieldtrip? (Yes, we’ve had to scale back to smaller group sizes on guided fieldtrips.) Do you miss the Nature Center’s astronomy programs? Let your City councilor know. Every time unexpected sales tax revenues are reported, the Mayor’s staff assigns those funds to where the citizens have indicated they want their tax money spent.

Oxley Nature Center has always operated with a very small full-time staff directing and expediting the efforts of the seasonal and volunteer staff. The Nature Center last divided the work among 4 people in the 1980s, and Redbud Valley Nature Preserve was not a part of that former schedule. In some ways, we have had to scale operations back to 1980s levels. In other ways, the new fiscal reality is sinking in, that sales tax revenues alone are not going to be able to fund what they used to.

We have gone back to smaller school groups coming on guided tours. Oxley Nature Center’s school programs are no longer free of charge. Fortunately, a generous private donor provides some funding to help defray bus expenses for fieldtrips to Oxley Nature Center; we do request that teachers ask their parent-teacher organizations first.

There are fewer weekend programs being offered, and the monthly astronomy programs are still on hold. In order to be good stewards of our resources we ask that a minimum number of participants pre-register 48 hours in advance for programs requiring supplies or a great deal of preparation time. The staff has to consider each request for a program carefully now, and has to say no more often than we like.

On the positive side, neither Oxley Nature Center nor Redbud Valley Nature Preserve has had to reduce any of the hours or days that it is open, other than the mandatory furlough days for a few years. We only had to cancel a few previous commitments and bookings. We have continued to offer several new programs and host new special events as well as some of the old favorites. Although workshop fees reflect the rising costs of materials, the basic program fee remains very low, and there are still 4 free programs available every month. Oxley Nature Center’s excellent seasonal and volunteer staff has continued to step forward to fill in when and where they can.

What else can you do to 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. It’s one of the best bargains in town! 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.

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Attention Teachers!

Click here for information on school programs.

Oxley Nature Center just a few tour dates left for this spring, so call now to reserve a spot. 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, 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.

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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

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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. 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

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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!

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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



Information on School Fieldtrips

Contact Information

Telephone

918-669-6644

FAX

918-669-6653

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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