Category Archives: Saturday’s Critters

RiverParks Art Themed Adventure Lab Geocaching

Another wildlife art themed Adventure Lab Geocache popped up on the Tulsa RiverParks so I ventured out there on a cold day to figure it out.

It was done by the same guy that did another one a couple months ago. So you key on these wildlife sculptures, and you have to get some information from the accompanying plaque to prove you were there. Also, you get a clue to a real geocache in a container.

The Moose and Me – could be a book title.

So I hobbled up and down the RiverParks trails chasing down these clues.

Geese

A bald eagle. I have seen real ones cruising up and down the river and perched on logs in the river.

I did spot a hawk looking for his lunch.

And I saw white bird, maybe a seagull, I don’t know flying up ther river.

So I got my certificate that I completed the cache. I was also the “First to Find” for it. That is a big deal to us nerdy types. I found the real associated cache and was the FTF for it as well. It felt good to get out of the house after the stretch of nasty weather we had.

I still have my bird camera going. I get over 120 hits and day. I’m going to say literally 95% are house sparrow, 3% are juncos, 1% are dove, and 1% are squirrels. So here is a one minute video of selected birds for the past week.

That is it this week. I hope everyone is doing well.

Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – 25 January 2025

These are some older photos from our trailcam that I had on the back patio back when it snowed.

A dark eyed junco (toward the bottom of the photo)

A squirrel, we have lots of those and they eat a lot.

A male Northern Cardinal

A female Cardinal, (under the chair to the right)

I think these are a pair of house finches.

Kodi, our Pomeranian, loves the snow.

He also likes being snug and warm. It was so much of a fight to get him in the crate we just let him sleep in his bed beside our bed. He stays in it all night and has no problem settling down for the night. Win/win.

Lizzie never quite gets enough nap time.

Here they are together in the living room.

A couple of geese I found at the local mall.

Still loving my bird camera. I am getting about 140 visits a day. So this is a 30 second video showing the different species of birds that come visit. House sparrows, cardinals, black eyed juncos, mourning doves, an occasional house finch. It’s quite the device.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Dogs, Squirrels, and Birds this Week

The weather has been both warm and cold lately. Kodi loves laying in the sun on cold sunny days. Talk about a look of bliss on his face.

We were wondering how he would do with snow and he loves it. Doesn’t bother him a bit.

So I’m loving my camera bird feeder. The squirrels love it to so I chase them off whenever I can. This past week I had house sparrows, carolina chickadees, house finches, and both sexes of cardinals. I found a new feature on the camera that I have used. I can talk to the squirrels that at time overwhelm it. I yell at them to “Git out you dang squirrels” and the run off. It also has an alarm, I can make it go off from my phone and that really gets them away.

Them squirrels are raiders. Here is a shaky video of one of them who took the top off of a bird feeder and was just helping himself.

That’s a wrap for this week. Stay warm everyone. I’ll be watching the NFL playoffs this week.

I visited with my knee surgeon yesterday and I am on for the middle of next month. After the Superbowl though.

Linking with Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Backyard Birdcam

Big news for me this week is that I bought an internet connected, solar powered, birdcam and got it installed in the backyard.

It is pretty easy to install and set up. Given the time of year I haven’t had too many customers yet. A couple of squirrels, a Carolina Wren, and female Northern Cardinal. I’ve had more squirrels but I throw snowballs at them if I see them.

They come in short videos about ten seconds long. I used an iphone app to stitch them together and then uploaded to youtube. It is only 12 seconds long.

Lizzy allowed me to take her portrait. She is the sweetest cat we’ve ever had.

And then she winked at me. I don’t know what is up with that.

I filled up all the feeders and this blue jay helped himself to a peanut.

The squirrels helped themselves to another feeder with sunflower seeds in it.

I got Kodi patrolling the perimeter.

And three dove on the ground.

After it snowed Kodi spent some time out in it. He seemed to like it.

I think that is a lonely Junco off to the left.

After a while the brat wanted in.

He posed for his portrait on the steps.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Backyard and More

A flock of sparrows mobbing our feeder

Cardinals don’t seem to mind sharing

Squirrels want it all for themselves

A squirrel getting a drink and scrutinizing the trailcam

Catching Kodi, the Pomeranian, in the back yard

I went on a hike at Ray Harral Nature Center. Most of the critters were elusive. This fat little guy watched me while I walked by as he ate his lunch.

I could hear birds but didn’t see them except for glimpses of the cardinal.

I still haven’t seen a Carolina Wren in real life. I don’t add birds to my life list unless I see them and get a photograph. I think I am up to eight birds on my list. Don’t laugh at me.

I went on a walk along the Arkansas River and saw these. I think they are seagulls.

That’s a wrap. I’m wishing everyone and their families a Happy and Healthy New Years.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Art on the River

In early December I was on Tulsa’s RiverParks trails working on an art themed Geocaching Adventure Lab. I posted about it earlier and saved the critter themed art for this post.

Wolves are always a good subject.

I’m thinking this is a great blue heron. These murals were not part of the cache project but they are also beautiful and animal themed.

I believe this also is a great blue heron.

And this sculpture. I see lots of great blue herons while out on the trail. They are beautiful animals but they make the most awful squawk as a vocalization.

And right near the sculpture is a real life great blue heron.

And an American White Pelican. I see them sporadically. They are kind of touchy about people. I’ve learned I’ve had to sneak up on them.

Geese are everywhere, all year long on the RiverParks, and the whole town for that matter.

So yep, I completed the cache and got the coordinates for a nearby physical cache, and found it, so yep a good time.

If you want more information about geocaching check geocaching.com.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Peace in the House

I was home with son the other day and all was quiet and I came upon this scene. Lizzy the cat and Kodi the dog were laying close to each other without fighting. On these cold days they both like sunshine so they were enjoying each other’s company. Usually when Lizzy is in close reach, Kodi chases her.

They stayed that way for quite a while son and I gawked over them.

Kodi is enjoying the tree. Lizzy used to climb up in the tree and we had to perform several extractions, so far no extractions this year.

Kodi has really developed a taste for beef. We were reheating some leftover roast beef the other day and he decided wanted some. His system is delicate and so as a treat I give him deli beef used in sandwiches.

Lizzie found a Christmas throw on our sectional that she has taken over.

I wish each and every one out there in the interwebs a Merry Christmas, and if you don’t celebrate the holiday, I wish you peace and happiness. I get great pleasure and fulfillment from my “blog friends.” Photoblogs are the peaceful happy corner of the internet.

Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Best of 2024

I’m on Instagram a lot and post at least once or twice daily about all sorts of things. I violate all the rules for growing your following and all that other stuff. I’m not trying to grow a following I just like posting photos and seeing what other people post. I use an app at the end of the year called “Top 9” and it shows what your top 9 photos were of the year. So this is the results for 2024

You can see my posts are pretty random and so is what people like of what I post. You can also see that I like post photos of animals. One of our cat Lizzie, and our pom, Kodi, some geese and my favorite is the squirrel getting miffed because we hadn’t refilled the bird feeder.

So if you are on instagram and we have connected yet, seek me out at @yogiab and lets follow each other. I’m already following with a bunch of blog friends.

Meantime, check out Saturday’s Critters where I am linking.

Saturday’s Critters – 7 December 2024 Edition

Hey its getting to be Christmas. We pulled the tree out of the attic and stood it up and guess what? The lights still light up!! Outstanding. Plus, it’s my tradition that when Heather turns her head I put the star on the tree. It stays up there until she notices it.

This is our Pom Kodi. It looks like he is looking at the tree. Nope, he’s looking at the door to the utility room waiting for my wife come home. Kodi likes her lots more than he likes me. Notice the topper on the tree.

Our cat Lizzy likes Christmas trees as well. When she was younger she would climb up into it. She always waited until it was fully decorated. Kind of hard to perform a cat extraction with a fully decorated tree. I thought I had a photo of her in the tree but I couldn’t find it.

Our silly Pom saw us getting on our scale so he tried it also. He even put all four feet on it. He was too light to register a weight.

And here he is chilling out in his bed waiting for my wife to come home. He thinks that I am no fun.

Here is the tree at our gym. Complete with a stuffed lion. This morning somebody added a full size kangaroo. I forgot to a photo of it so you will just have to take my word for it.

We went on a dog walk our greenbelt spotted this great blue heron looking lost. He was about 30 feet from a little creek. He let us get pretty close and then he flew up and got on the peak of a house nearby. He looked pretty comical. I didn’t take a photo because I am leery of taking photos of people’s homes,

I was at Woodward Park yesterday evening and up walked this gaggle of geese. They reminded me of a gang, marauding through the park. Luckily, they ignored me.

And that is all that I have this week. Actually, I have more, but this is enough for this week. Check out Saturday’s Critters.

Thanksgiving Weekend Critters

I fired up the trailcam in the backyard. It captured this handsome tuxedo cat sneaking up on something. We have all sorts of field mice and small birds hanging around the backyard.