I went bicycling Saturday morning with my action camera on the handlebars. Here some shadows I encountered.
I point the camera down and I got a shadow selfie action shot.
I got passed on a fully enclosed pedestrian bridge.
And here is the elk I promised you.
This is a ShadowShot Sunday Post. Check it out.
Last Sunday morning I grabbed my camera, bug spray, and sunblock and headed to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to see what I could see.
Right at the visitor center entrance I found this bush quivering with all sorts of butterflies. Can’t really see all of them in the photo so check out the short video below.
It was a good start to my outing.
I went a little ways into the trails and found this guy, a red spotted purple butterfly from what google lens tells me.
And later on I found a great blue heron looking for their lunch. A bonus turtle is in the background.
And a female cardinal with her lunch in her beak already.
Another view of the same bird.
And a very fuzzy view of an indigo bunting. Those little guys are active flitting here and then there. I am still learning how to spot the little ones and take photos of them. Sometimes I just have to be happy with spotting a glimpse of them.
So I heard a lot more birds than I got photos of them. It is nice hearing them and the Merlin app is wonderful deciphering what kind of birds there are.
Sometimes I see a lot of deer at Oxley. The Oxley staff says they are overpopulated with deer. There is lots of food for them now, not so much in the winter. Below is a short video of the fawn.
I looked all over for their mom and didn’t see it. They are generally protective of their babies.
So I wibble wobbled around the preserve for a little less than three miles and enjoyed myself thoroughly. And to part, a poem from the former Artist in Residence at Oxley, Sasha. I thought it was pretty cool. And short, I love short poems.
Thank you for visiting. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.
The thing about a beach vacation is the beach and the water. Here is a scene from our condo balcony on the fifth floor with the gentle morning waves of the Gulf of Mexico rolling up on the beach. So we’d watch the Gulf from our condo with our morning coffee, breakfast, and newspapers. Then later we’d go hang out on the beach and then we would do a walk on the beach. Then we would go out and about town and return to beach in the late afternoon and then when it got dark we were back out on the balcony watching the Gulf some more. It was heaven.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday
This past couple of weeks, I have been hanging out at the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama. We love it there. I spent a lot of time sitting there letting the sun do its best to kill me with its death rays, while wondering about all the people that are part of the beach. The Beach Warriors. It’s a whole army of people.
Early in the morning, the fishing dads come down from their condos. Other dad’s bring out coolers, chairs, and shelters, set them up and the families don’t show up for hours.
The guys and gals that set the beach service up are out early as well. Talk about a job from hell, drag all that stuff out, set it up and sell only about 30% of the setups max. You can take photos for free though.
Most people bring their own chairs and such.
And you have the energetic beach runners. I used to do that some years ago when I still ran. Beach running is hard except for young people who just seem to glide along.
And the energetic youngsters running around like kids have done for thousands of years at the beach.
And then photo’s at the beach. This was a family directed event. The professional photographers work fast. Time is money you know. I loved this family they took all the different arrangements of people you can image. Youngsters, oldsters, moms and dads. They took their time.
And the beach kayakers. Lots of fun but the amount of energy spent per unit of fun was high. This guy was actually surfing his kayak in.
Stand up paddleboarding has a chill vibe. Lots lower energy per unit of fun. You have to have good balance!! With both kayaking and paddleboards you have the problem of hauling your watercraft across the beach to the water.
There was an Amish presence on the beach this year. During the day they all sit together and talk and visit. Nobody taking instagram selfies or anything like that. This evening they all turned their chairs around and watched the men play a version of baseball. Fun for everyone!
A catamaran came by at least once daily. Part of a dolphin tour just offshore. We’ve seen lots of dolphins go from west to east about ten in the morning and back late in the late afternoon. It’s one of those things where it is a lot more fun to watch with your eyes instead of trying to photograph or video.
The Alabama Highway Patrol cruised by once or twice checking everything out.
The beach patrol came by also checking to make sure we are safe, nobody is using glass, and your shelters are behind the designated line. Also, they have a final cleanup on the beach about 10 or 11. If you leave chairs or anything behind, they confiscate and dispose of them.
This is just a sampling of the Beach Warriors you come across on a beach.
Not a beach, the walkway to the beach shaded by palm trees, from our condo building on our recent vacation in Orange Beach, Alabama, right on the Gulf of Mexico.
Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday
We’ve been gone for a couple weeks on a family vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. We love it there. We sit on the beach a lot and typically do a daily walk of two or three miles. I saw lots of shore birds there many of which I found hard to ID. Here’s some examples:
Your garden variety laughing seagull. Please correct any ID that you think is wrong.
A small colony of seagulls. (I love collective nouns for animals of all different types.)
A bigger colony of seagulls and other various types of shore birds.
More laughing seagull? Maybe.
A brown pelican lording over other birds.
A protected sea turtle egg nest. They have always had them in Orange Beach but we saw lots more than years previously. I guess that could mean more sea turtles are nesting or that they are identifying nesting sites that were missed earlier. I don’t know.
A crab playing possum on the beach. I thought it was dead but when I got too close it took off.
Pelicans on patrol, flying low!
Another patrol!
Google lens says a Ruddy Turnstone, doesn’t sound right to me.
Google lens says Sanderlings??? I kind of doubt it.
Linking with Saturday’s Critters
Our beach vacation is ending soon. We’ve walked miles on the beach, spent hours on the beach. Ate a lot of really good food, read books, stayed up late on our balcony and really had a good low key time. Back to reality soon.
We are having our family vacation in Alabama’s Gulf Coast. We love the beach and the Gulf of Mexico. This is a shot on Wolf Bay at Orange Beach. So I am on “minimal blogging mode.” I’m taking lots of photos to generate “content” as the youngsters say. The Skywatch Friday pages are already made and will come up as normal this week and next.
On Sunday, July 20 a couple weeks ago I took off on a bike ride on the Tulsa RiverParks. It was hot and I didn’t start until midmorning for various reasons so things got a little warm.
Sunday is a big day for Tulsans to get outside and ride their bikes, run, walk, whatever on the RiverParks. The traffic is mainly on the east bank so I started out on the east bank and went up and down the west bank just to get away from people.
Still, it was pretty busy but not overly so.
I was passed by almost everybody except…
…for people standing.
I always love going by PSO’s old Tulsa Power Station electric generating station. That sign looks really nice at night.
I got to my predetermined turnaround point and rested a bit and drank some water and then reversed course. I always check the weather apps to see which way the wind is blowing. I don’t mind riding into the wind on the outbound leg, that way I have the wind at my back going back to my car.
I was one hot, thirsty, old bike rider at the end! 14 miles all told.
I am linking with Skywatch Friday.
A deck with wood rails in our neighborhood green belt.
My favorite dog walking route is in the greenbelt. Here we drop down into what I call “Shady Valley.” Nice respite on a hot day.
On my bike ride last week. This is where I rested for a while.
And this is a trail bridge over Mooser Creek. It never seems quite wide enough for riders approaching each other. The last two photos are kind of funky I know. My new bike cam only takes video so the stills are screen shots. I returned the camera and now have one that takes stills and video. Life is too short to edit video is my motto.
That’s it for this week. Everybody try and stay cool except you guys/gals in the southern Hemisphere, you try and stay warm!
Shadow Shot Sunday (Now at a new ink!)