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If your property includes a large, open lawn, pasture or fenceline through a grassy field, you can manage your area for scissor-tailed flycatchers. You can make your property more attractive to them by planting and maintaining scattered shade trees such as elm, pecan, hackberry, chittamwood, oak, mesquite, locust, osage orange or persimmon. Also, leave small trees along fencerows in grassy habitats.

Another way to assist scissortails and other Neotropical migrants is by informing others about the hardships these birds face from illegal poaching and habitat destruction. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation offers several informational aids for this purpose:

• Attracting Birds to Your Backyard (1 hr.)-VHS
• Birds and Migration (18 min.)-16 mm film
• Scissortail, Our State Bird (15 min.)-16 mm film Nongame Outdoor Store purchases support the Nongame Wildlife Program and also educate the public:

• Birds of North America-full-color field guide ($11, $10 plus $1 p&h)
• Posters: Scissortail ($2), Nesting Birds ($1). Add $1 for flat poster.