I went hiking earlier this week on Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa. I came across this tiny frog traversing the trail.
I also went for a bike ride and took my camera with me again. As I was going down the trail I spotted a bald eagle flying high over me but headed down to the river. So I pulled out and spotted this guy fishing. That’s two weeks in a row I’ve seen a bald eagle in approximately the same location. Sorry for the fuzzy photo. I was at the far end of the range of my Canon Superzoom.
I also found this egret, or white heron or something several miles north of the Eagle out in the river looking for lunch.
And white pelicans on a sandbar.
And a log with two pairs of turtles. I didn’t know that momma turtles gave baby turtles piggy back (turtle back?) rides.
And a great blue heron. Again at pretty good range. They are skittish!!
That’s it for this week. I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Lots of really good posts there. Check it out.
Last Monday I braved the heat for a bike ride on Tulsa’s RiverParks trails bordering the Arkansas River as it flows through town. I took my Canon SuperZoom camera along in a backpack hoping to take some photos.
I found what I think are great egrets. (I’m not a very good birder so if you have better ID I would appreciate it very much.) This one was looking for lunch in the shallow water.
This nearby group seemed more into grooming than eating.
Further down the river I spotted this great blue heron. They are very skittish and so by the time I stopped my bike, and retrieved the camera from the backpack and focused, this guy was ready to leave.
Nearby, this group of pelicans were hanging out together.
I saw something black with a white spot almost clear to the other riverbank. It turns out that it is a bald eagle. The first image of one I have captured in the wild. Sorry about the poor quality but it was at the far range of the camera.
I was pretty happy with my photos. Again, if I have misidentified any of them please let me know.
I was going to go work on our sprinkler system this morning but I went outside and saw momma cottontail underneath the bench in our back yard. This means she probably has a kit stashed not too close and not too far away. I decided not to stress her so I’ll be leaving her alone until she leaves on her own.
She’s laying down chilling but very alert.
Other pics of cottontails in our yard. Might be her, might be somebody else, I can’t tell.
They get very still. They can’t fight at all but they can remain still and can run very fast in a herky jerky manner.
The other day our little pomeranian Rascal had been outside and wanted in, the only problem was that a baby bunny was hanging from his mouth. The little critter was already gone. Now Rascal was just doing what dogs do, right? Heather went out and found its sibling about six feet from the nest looking scared to death and helpless.
A quick consultation with my friend Mr. Google indicated that the best thing we could do was just leave it alone. We did although it was a hot day and all that, so monitored it through our bedroom window and it survived the rest of that day and to the next afternoon when it looked like it was rallying a little bit and seemed to be more energetic and active.
And of course we watched Rascal closely when we let him out side to do his thing. And I’m happy to report that the little bunny has made it to some cover and is being closely monitored by its mother so we are happy that our non-intervention plan worked. (so far at least).
In other news I am sad to report that I have come down with Covid. The symptoms I am having are like a really bad allergy attack. And since it is a holiday weekend I couldn’t a teleappointment until Wednesday which is the day, if I don’t have a fever, that the CDC says that I can end isolation. Kind of sucks being sick at the start of a holiday weekend but I think I’ll be fine. I just don’t want to be cooped up but that is just the way it is.
We just had the primary elections in Oklahoma and of course I voted. If you had elections I hope you did the same.
So I ride my bike from time to time along the Riverparks Trails in Tulsa alongside the Arkansas River. I’m always seeing stuff that you can’t really capture with a small handheld camera or cell phone. I was reading somebody’s blog a few weeks ago and they described how they took their “big camera” in a backpack when they went bike riding. The light went on, a dim light in my case, but it was duh. I need to do that. So I loaded up my old Canon Powershot. It can zoom optically out to 40 and beyond software wise. And it is a ton lighter than my “big camera” Nikon with a long lens.
It’s pretty light so I loaded it up in a small backpack, and took it to the Riverparks with me.
For years there has been a large population of pelicans hanging out at sandbars on the river. I could see them but now I could photograph them. Here are a group of three with a grackle or some other black bird hanging out with them.
Here is another group. Both these photos were taken on the east bank near where the Gathering Place is located.
On the west bank of the river, about a mile upriver I spotted this armada of geese all headed to somewhere.
There was another grouping nearby. So I took a lot of other pics of none wildlife stuff. I’ll be taking the camera in my backpack some more. I forget who gave me the idea, if it was you, let me know. I’m thinking of getting some sort of basket to carry it in.
And now to switch gears to my back yard I have been trying for a couple months to capture an image of a hummingbird at our hummingbird feeder.
And I finally got one!! Not though, it is just a female cardinal flying in back of it.
My trailcamera caught a swooping photo of grackle coming in for a landing.
We have lots of bunnies in the back yard.
And sometimes even a raccoon.
This is Rascal our Pomeranian. He is our baby. He is only eleven but he has developed hip and shoulder issues, along with some heart problems. He lives for his walks though, they revitalize him but it has been really hot.
So now we are dog stroller people. We take him on his walk until he gets winded and then we put him in the stroller. He is getting acclimated to it, so win/win.
But maybe we overdid it. We thought our little plump kitty, Lizzie would like the stroller. Nope, she is not a fan. She didn’t have any fun. But we did, so all was not lost.
She was exhausted after her short jaunt. Literally down and back our driveway in the stroller wore her out. She thinks we suck at cat parenting.
That’s about it for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters.
We’ve had this hummingbird feeder up for weeks. We keep stuff in and clean and refill regularly. The first day we had a hummingbird and nothing since then. Nothing in terms of hummingbirds. We got all sorts of other critters who perch on it or get behind it like this smart aleck squirrel.
And some more bird action in the background.
And here is a cardinal and a blue jay mocking me about my hummingbird failure.
I went hiking on Turkey Mountain and found this new (to me) bat nest.
I also found this black colored snake in the middle of the trail. He scooted off by the time I got my phone out and ready.
I also found this guy in the middle of another trail. I let him be.
I checked out the monarch waystation and there are more wildflowers popping up.
I saw this little moth looking creature on one of the blooms. Inaturalist says it is a “gorgone checkerspot.” I’ve never heard of that but I’m going with it for now.
And this doesn’t have anything to do with critters. It’s another jigsaw puzzle. I’m getting to where I am not intimidated by large expanses of sky or water. I’m really enjoying working on online jigsaw puzzles. No pieces are ever lost plus I use the setting where all the pieces are in the right orientation. I know, I am cheating.
My wife put a new suet cake in the feeder in our back yard. So far the grackles love it and it is getting attention from the brown thrashers, sparrows, blue jays. The squirrels are also eyeing it.
The grackles are not mobbing it, yet. The sparrows are being fairly aggressive and the thrashers are just watching.
I’m loving watching all the interplay between the various species.
I set my trailcam up on the back porch the other day. At 1 am we had a visitor.
I don’t know whether these are the same bandits or not. I think it is the reason we have had two bird feeders destroyed.
I took the camera down to Beavers Bend and set it up hoping to capture some deer but all I got was this ghostly image of a raccoon. At least I think it is a raccoon.
We have a hummingbird feeder. I have had the camera at it for multiple hours over multiple days and have captured exactly zero hummingbirds. We got a lot of critters in the background though.
Our bird feeders have lots of visitors.
I like the candid shots of them taking off or landing.
It would seem taking off or landing would be harder than flying.
I was hiking on Turkey Mountain the other day. I always keep a sharp eye out for copperheads. I didn’t see any that day but I saw this tiny critter hopping across the trail. At first I though it was a bug but I think it is the world’s smallest frog. Talk about good camo, when he quit moving, I couldn’t see him!
Earlier this week I spent the morning at Oxley Nature Center here in Tulsa. I was hoping to see some deer but I went too late for that I think. I did find some mosquitos, or rather they they found me!! Thanks to slathering on my 40% DEET repellant and I emerged unscathed from them but they followed me everywhere.
While still on the boardwalk off the visitor center I spotted this gray squirrel and their friend. They are very shy.
Just off the boardwalk I found these. INaturalist says they may be a wild iris. I loved the color.
Where a Green Heron had been just a minute or two earlier.
I walked on down to Coal Creek and stopped at this swampy area. There was a guy there with a huge camera and one of those gigantic grey colored lens on it. He said there was a green heron. He told me where to go to see it which was just a few steps from where I was standing. So I went over and looked and looked, he eventually wandered back and tried to help me find it but he couldn’t find it either. He showed me one of photos he captured and then left. So I stayed for a while and two other people showed up making lots of noise and then the heron sprang up from right where I had been looking and went into the tree canopy and I lost sight of it. I just got a glimpse of it. I’d never seen one before.
And then I walked along Coal Creek hoping to see the otters that live there but again, too late in the day. These turtles were all over the place.
I was walking along one of the muddy trails and saw this snake wriggling its way along the same trail. It slithered into the brush so I went and found it. I think it is a rat snake. Lots of them at Oxley.
And here is a Relive Video of my first hike at Oxley.
I went back to the Visitor Center and drove to a remote section of Oxley called the North Woods and hiked their loop. I saw no wildlife at all except the mosquitos were really out. I was hiking along and I heard this sound like some critter was really in distress. What in the world I thought and I came up on this group of four guys with big huge cameras and they had an electronic device that was making very loud bird calls. All the birds in the area were responding to it and the guys were scoping the trees with binoculars. When they saw me they acted a little sheepish, and told me they were trying to call warblers. I said okay and walked on and they took their device and moved on elsewhere. Anyway I enjoyed the rest of my hike without the racket they were making.
Here is the Relive Video of my second hike.
On the home front, we put out a hummingbird feeder and within a day we saw a hummingbird feeding at it. I put up my trailcam and no hummingbird’s on it yet. We got this squirrel checking it out.
The only bird I’ve captured is this hawk (I think it’s a hawk) high in the air.
Speaking of squirrels, here is an action shot of me mowing the yard.
