The soul of the bird lady
I’ve had some conversations with Carolyn Ohl, who owns the Christmas Mountains Oasis located in a remote area near Terlingua. Serious birders and photographers go there to see the Lucifer Hummingbird, Elf Owl and a rare butterfly. Some call her the Bird Lady of the Big Bend. She is profound in her ob- servations about birding.
“Birders’ lives are enhanced by visiting the oasis for maybe a few hours in their lifetime, but mine is enhanced all day every day,” she says. “I’m always pruning, watering, filling feeders or pumping water so that the oasis will be lovely for birders. In the very beginning I may have done it for myself but it soon morphed into a passion that I cannot separate what’s for me and what’s for birders. I would do it even if no one visited, but the pleasure I derive from it is in sharing it.
“After 25 plus years it just can’t be any other way. Until I got into birding in 1995 I felt like a square peg in a round hole. I never fit in anywhere. I was too different. But suddenly with the birding community I found my kindred spirits and feel I’m a part of an entity that’s special. I can’t separate myself anymore from that entity.
“I enjoy ancestry because I’m building a tree for posterity. I enjoy butterflies, dragonflies, birds and flowers and I document everything. I think the main reason I enjoy them is because it’s fun to see a new species for the first time and it’s fulfilling to feel like a part of nature. When I saw my first Lucifer it was like a religious experience.
“When I sit here with a birder who is getting their lifer Lucifer it’s as if I’m vicariously seeing it through their eyes for the first time, too. It’s an enormous pleasure for me. And it hurts me when great birds are there and I’m the only one seeing them. The pain of that exceeds the pleasure of seeing them. I love to share the birds.”
Her oasis in at the end of a 7-mile dirt road with bumps and curves. She gives maps to visitors. It is open only to those who make appointments to go there. The oasis has no overnight facilities. Carolyn doesn’t charge anything but occasionally she’ll get a grant for some improvements. Right now she’s building a new water feature and viewing area. Every August she holds a hummingbird festival and gives presentations about the fascinating tiny birds. She is on Facebook under Christmas Mountains Oasis.
When she was 5 years old in Iowa an uncle took her on a birding trip and bought her a child’s bird book. All the time she was growing up she thought birding was just for kids. Then, as an adult, her sister in law suggested she and Carolyn go birding. Carolyn went and was hooked.
She bought a section of land and built a comfortable home. She posted sightings of birds on various websites and soon birders all over the country and some foreign countries wanted to come to her place. Birds at the oasis have been featured on both PBS and National Geographic.