I went on a hike the other day and encountered some deer. I love seeing deer. They are so beautiful and graceful. They are not hunted on Turkey Mountain and so are not skittish at all.
I went geocaching at a local park and saw some ducks paddling around on a pond.
Kodi and I were playing in the backyard and he decided to take a little rest break in the leaves.
Last week I went to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center. I went in search of otters. The staff reports that they are active on Coal Creek at 8 am in the morning. Well I got out there at 8:30 and I didn’t see them, I don’t think. Near the old beaver lodge which they reportedly have taken over I could see that something was moving under the water chasing fish. I didn’t know if they were otters doing the chasing or if it were bigger fish chasing the smaller fish. So another otter failure but for some reason I didn’t mind.
So I started hiking around looking at what I could see.
Oxley has nice wooded areas, lakes, ponds, streams, and swampy areas. All sorts of terrain and it is pretty flat and the trails are all in good shape so it is easy to move around the preserve.
I saw a great blue heron flying around.
And a closeup, sorry for the fuzziness.
I came upon a limpkin. A tropical wetland bird that has a large range in South America and in the USA in Florida. It is an apple snail eater but they can eat other snails. As apple snails have migrated into south Louisiana the Limpkins followed them. Nobody knows why they are in Oklahoma now. Supposedly Oklahoma has seven of them now, three of them at Oxley. They have been here a few years so I guess they like it. You can read the Cornell Labs writeup here.
And way off in a swampy area I saw these waterfowl feeding.
I saw several groups of deer in the preserve.
And a couple of ducks of some sort.
And more deer. I think I saw four small groups of them.
They were staying in the woods. They were being careful but not skittish like deer in hunting areas get.
They are beautiful animals.
I didn’t find the otters but you know the fun is in the looking for, right?
We just got back from a short trip down to southeast Oklahoma. We rented a cabin and packed a lot of stuff, including relaxation time, in just a few days.
We saw lots of deer. This one we spotted close to an automatic feeder. That is a great way to get deer to show up, or me for that matter. Just feed me and the deer on a regular basis.
The cabin we rented had a deer feeder.
The feeder went off at 6 am every morning for just a few seconds.
The deer hang out eating until about 6:45 and then they wandered off. I guess a neighbor’s feeder came on a 7?
They are very beautiful to look at and graceful in their movements.
You can tell they are used to people but still watchful.
All sorts of grey squirrels showed up to feast from the feeder.
And this critter showed up and stood stone still for many minutes. Just inside the hadows I didn’t get a decent photo of it. I don’t think I have ever seen such a critter. Google Lens says that it might be a swamp rabbit. Inaturalist is still pondering the results of my crappy photo.
Our little seven pound pomeranian puppy Kodi is getting swimming lessons from Heather on the Mountain Fork River. The little dog a trooper on the trail, straining his leash out ahead of us.
We came across this charred wooden bear on one of the walks in our cabin neighborhood. I’m guessing that it was done on purpose. Why, I don’t know.
Our cabin had a baby sasquatch inside. I love the big feet!!
I headed out recently to Oxley Nature Center in north Tulsa to hike the trails and see what kind of animals were out and about.
During the middle of the day I didn’t expect to find any deer but I found a small family of three resting in the woods. They didn’t seem too bothered by me.
This young one was browsing then laid down with its back to me. Go Away!!
I found this cool butterfly resting on a trail. Google Lens tells me that it is a Gorgone Checkerspot. I have never heard of such a thing.
This turtle was catching a few rays.
Two grown and two baby geese (goslings). I’ve done my research and apparently you can’t call a group of geese less than five in number a gaggle of geese. A group of swimming geese is called a plump. So here is plump of geese. I find the names of groups of animals fascinating. My favorite is a Murder of Crows. So I can truthfully say that I have seen a few murders.
A raft of ducks. I think this raft is blue wing teals according to google lens.
And a solitary great blue heron.
Too blurry of a photo for an ID but these birds were swooping all over the place. I got a new word maybe. A group of unidentified blurry birds flying really fast is called a Swoop. You heard it first here. You better check in often to keep up to date.
I found this funky looking dragonfly on a trail. Not good enough of a photo to get google lens to give me results that I am happy with.
And on the home front.
Our six pound Pomeranian puppy Kodi is a bundle of energy. He hates to be separated from my wife. If she is outside he pogos at the door to join her. When she’s inside he wants in. I guess that he has separation anxiety.
That’s it for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out, lots of great animalcentric posts by some very talented photobloggers.
I took a short hike on Turkey Mountain recently and surprised a couple of deer. They just moved off a short distance, keeping an eye on me. This one particular didn’t seem any in hurry to leave.
On the same hike, I came across an armadillo snuffling around the woods raising dust. It didn’t see me but when it did it ran off a few feet. I’ve seen more armadillos out in the woods this summer than I have seen in a long time.
Lots of livestock at the State Fair this year. I always enjoy looking at them.
Closer to home I came across this cottontail living in our front flower bed. It just sat there looking at me and then hopped back into its cover.
And in the home, LJ the cat catching some warm sun.
Last week was the busiest I have been in a while. I helped out at the Leave No Trace event here in Tulsa so I was there for most of it. Not that big a deal really, about four or five hours a day so don’t feel sorry for me but it was a lot to me.
It started Wednesday and ended Saturday. Lots and lots of good stuff happened and I was glad to be a small part of it.
The way I recover from stress is to head back to nature. Sunday night I went to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center. They close the gate at 5 pm so I parked outside the gate and climbed over the fence. (Totally legal folks!!) One of the people I met at the event told me where to find the river otters at Oxley. That got my attention!! I have never seen one in the wild. (Spoiler alert, I still haven’t seen one.)
It was beautiful, the sun was getting low and the leaves were glowing.
There is nothing like a lonely trail through the woods.
I didn’t find the otters but I found a few deer including this one who posed for me.
The next evening I went back to Turkey Mountain. Not too many people in what is called the back country when the sun starts going down.
I found this deer and a few of his siblings and mom. I just had my point and shoot with me and this is the only photo I got. I have gotten pretty good at figuring out where the deer are in the evening on the mountain and how they move.
The sun was going down and the trees were putting on a show.
Sunset near what is called Rock City.
At some point the color is going to get a little better and then we’ll get a big wind and all those trees will be on the ground.
And again, give me a trail through the woods anytime.
So how do you recharge the batteries?
Come join party at Skywatch Friday. Lots of talented people there.
Friday, my wife and I were in a parking lot and came across this bright spot. I was like, What!!
Somebody had an Arkansas Razorbacks plate and it reflected perfectly on the ground. I love it.
I’m helping take care of a monarch way station on Turkey mountain. The stake fence makes for some nice shadows.
I get bored while watering so I made a time lapse video of it.
And the other day while hiking on Turkey Mountain I came across a family of deer grazing including this one coming out of the shadows. I am glad the deer are returning. The mountain has become really popular but the hub bub has died down a little bit and the deer are coming back.
The other day I went for a hike on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area. Last time I was out I followed trails on the east side overlooking the Arkansas River. This time I took the west side trails.
I checked out the new trail segment that I helped build in early April along with a bunch of other people.
I got down close to the YMCA and turned back. I got along a segment paralleling 61st street thinking that that was the place to see deer. I looked up and there were two of them. I hardly ever see them in broad daylight.
We stayed there looking at each other for a couple minutes and they had enough and went on. Seeing deer on Turkey Mountain is a rare thing since the area became popular after a dipweed shopping center developer proposed an outlet mall on the mountain. (They dropped the project after overwhelming community opposition.)
Last weekend, son Logan and I ventured to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to get a little outside time.
I also took along my LensBall, a bigger than a baseball sized glass sphere. It’s heavy and it is kind of cool. I am still learning what to do with it.
Logan was a good sport while I fiddled with all the gidgets you fiddle with on a camera.
Some things worked and other things didn’t.
We came across two groups of deer. They stayed in the woods behind brush. Made it tough to focus and get the right brightness.
To me finding deer is always a treat. I have seen more deer at Oxley than the rest of the natural areas around town put together. Sometimes they hang out in the waterline rights of way and you can get good clear, well lit shots. Other times you just have to do the best you can.
And then you edit things to draw out what you can from the images that you take.
And then all the sudden a couple bolted out in front of us. This one, and
that one!! Of course I was not expecting them and got some pretty fuzzy shots because I had slowed the shutter down in order to deal with the light better.
And I’ll close out with some blue sky since this is a Skywatch Friday post. Come join us!!