Hoot Owl

History

Hoot Owl was incorporated in 1977 by a family of three in order to "keep trespassing hunters and other towns from encroaching on their land." In 1992 the town filed to be dissolved after a bank foreclosed the property, and the town's two residents, mayor and founder William R. Bradley Jr., and his son, city clerk Robert Bradley, both voted in favor of dissolution. The foreclosing bank filed suit and successfully blocked the dissolution in 1993. The town was then sold to a Tulsa doctor, Thomas Robert, in 1994. Robert told interviewers he intended to use the town as a weekend home.

Geography

Hoot Owl is in northeastern Mayes County, on the eastern shore of Lake Hudson, a reservoir on the Neosho River. It is by road southwest of Spavinaw and north of Salina. The town is northwest of Oklahoma State Highway 20 at the end of what mapping services label "Hoot Owl Road," but the narrow dead-end road is simply designated as No. 443.5. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the site has a total area of , of which , or 1.67%, are water.

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  234
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  192
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  185
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  185
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  178
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  177
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  177
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  163

Most recent

• M 2.82 — 2024-03-23
  9 km SE of Foyil, Oklahoma
• M 2.7 — 2018-12-10
  1 km ENE of Zeb, Oklahoma
• M 2.7 — 2016-04-03
  Arkansas-Oklahoma border region
• M 2.7 — 2016-01-14
  7 km W of Talala, Oklahoma
• M 2.6 — 2015-09-03
  6 km WSW of Vera, Oklahoma
• M 2.6 — 2010-05-21
  2 km SW of Centerton, Arkansas