If a nature photographer could have three wishes before embarking on a journey in the pursuit of photographic excellence, it would most likely include the following.

1. Nice weather; if not a blue bird day, at least decent light.
2. Plentiful and cooperative subjects; birds that sit tight, unexpected mammals that suddenly appear in front of your lens in a shaft of golden light and...
3. A destination free from the hordes of humanity, many of which will approach you at the most critical moment and say "I bet that camera takes good pitchers don't it?"

I was wishing for all theses things when from word on the street, I heard that a PhotoMigrations group was meeting up for a weekend at the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in southern Oklahoma. The WMNWR is a favorite for many camera buffs who love to push buttons and hear clicks. My intention was to join up with this merry band but first I wanted to make a stop at a place called Hackberry Flat, another refuge about 60 miles or so southwest of the Wichita's. However, my first wish, the one for good weather, seemed in jeopardy. Now, I'd like to point out that Oklahoma has been going through a severe drought or, as President Bush might say, "In other words, no rain." In fact, the records show that it had been over 100 years since it had been this dry - we're including the Dust Bowl era here folks. But when word leaked that I was planning a little photo outing, the weather boys immediately saw a chance to screw up my trip and predicted a 50-50 chance of rain and you already know which 50 I would see. As it happened, it didn't start raining on me until... I got to the refuge. There were no blue birds and there was no light.

Hackberry usually fulfills my second wish of plentiful subjects, mostly shorebirds, often thousands of them. There are avocets, willets, sandpipers, plovers, yellowlegs, curlews, black-necked stilts, the list goes on and on. But on this particular occasion, I wish someone would have sat me down, grabbed a piece of my wildly divided attention, and asked the following:

1. What do shorebirds usually stand around on?
   The shore.
3. And for a shore to be a shore, it has to have what?
   Water.
5. So simple logic should tell you that if Oklahoma has no water and no shore, you are not going to find shorebirds.
   You think?

Actually there were more birds than I had expected, very wet birds, but there were birds. Like many water bird refuges, Hackberry has a levee system to control the water distribution and the managers had done an admirable job in supplying water, what little there was, to the areas that normally held a high bird population. There just wasn't enough to go around and some of my favorite areas held nothing but cracked earth. It continued to rain and not being overly enthused with the photo conditions, I amused myself by using my bird book and trying to identify as many species as I could. I was surprised to find more than 20 in less than 3 miles. If the rain moved out, the next day could be super!

My options at the time were few. I could drive around in the rain and hope it would clear or go to the motel and watch CNN and see how many people had died that day. I chose the rain. It was about an hour later that I realized that my third wish had been granted, big time. There were no crowds, in fact, not a soul. I had in front of me, several square, humanity free miles. It was one of those rare and precious moments of absolute solitude, just me and the birds and of course, the rain. Well, not quite. About the time I decided to call it a day, I spotted some headlights in the drizzle. Got to be a photographer says I, nobody else silly enough to be out here in this weather. I'd forgotten about the birders. Sure enough, a couple was sitting in their SUV, spotting scopes poked out the windows, covered with towels, calling to each other what they were seeing. As it turned out, I'd met them before. Nice folks really, just not sure of their sanity. I suppose they might have some opinions on mine as well.

Next day; blue bird day! Not a cloud in sight. Wish #1; taken care of. Wish #2; denied. No birds, a few at best, the majority had apparently followed the rain. Not dumb birds, those shore birds. So I left with them and headed north to the Wichita's wondering which, if any, wishes would be granted there.

Arriving at the campground, it was obvious that wish #3, the one for no crowds, was already out the window. There were church groups, boy scout groups, families, teens, crying babies, and of course the PhotoMigrations group, or as I call them, the PMers. The campground was packed. But the refuge is big enough to absorb a lot of people so it wasn't too bad. I had only one shot interrupted and that was by a PMer. We gathered together at the end of the day and it was fun to see some old photo friends again and meet some new ones. One gracious PM couple fixed a huge pot of chili for us that evening while we sat around and shared stories. Due to the dry weather, there was a no campfire policy so we had to make do with the heat from the chili.

The Wichita's once again rewarded us with abundant wildlife - bison, the prairie dogs, deer, elk, birds, and the ubiquitous lizards. For the landscape aficionados there were lichen covered boulders, grassy meadows, scenic lakes (one PMer's husband caught a five pound bass), and a mountain called Mt. Scott (well, to us Okies it's a mountain) for dazzling sunset shots when nature cooperates. The weather was beautiful - cool nights and daytime temps in the seventies.

The three wishes? There's a line from an old Meatloaf song that goes:

"Now don't be sad, 'cause two out of three ain't bad."

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