Tag Archives: Oxley Nature Center

Skies – Here, There, and Everywhere

I went walking a couple times at Tulsa’s Lafortune Park. Treated to the sunset one time.

I noticed this brush with beautiful coral flowers. Google lens tells me that it is Chinese Quince.

The redbud trees are starting to bud out. The Eastern Redbud is Oklahoma’s State Tree. I love them.

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Fuzzy pic of people playing golf at one of the golf courses there.

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Memorial High School has a baseball field that they were using.

I also went geocaching at Expo Square. I didn’t find the one here but I love this locomotive. It is retired now but pulled logging trains in southeast Oklahoma for years.

And checked out the Golden Driller there. It is dressed up in honor of City Year Tulsa’s tenth anniversary. They are the sponsor the people I tutor for. City Year is under attack for pushing a “woke ideology.” I’ve been tutoring grade school kids for five years now and the only ideology I have been trained to push on the kids is learning how to read.

Another geocaching stop. I didn’t find this one either but I loved the windmill in the stiff Oklahoma breeze.

Another time I went to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center and walked the trails.

And enjoyed the views.

As you can I have been busy.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. and My Corner of the World

Saturday’s Critters at Oxley Nature Center

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.

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I saw a great blue heron flying around.

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And a closeup, sorry for the fuzziness.

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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.

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And way off in a swampy area I saw these waterfowl feeding.

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I saw several groups of deer in the preserve.

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And a couple of ducks of some sort.

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And more deer. I think I saw four small groups of them.

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They were staying in the woods. They were being careful but not skittish like deer in hunting areas get.

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They are beautiful animals.

I didn’t find the otters but you know the fun is in the looking for, right?

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Oxley Nature Center

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In early August I ventured up to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center.

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They have lots of deer up there. Sometimes I find them and sometimes I don’t. This time I found three groups.

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They are wary but not skittish like deer who have been hunted.

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If you stand still long enough, they ignore you.

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I found this mama with a fawn.

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Lots of birds out that day also. They were way off so the photos are a little fuzzy.

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And a dragonfly!!

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Exploring Oxley Nature Center

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.

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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.

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This young one was browsing then laid down with its back to me. Go Away!!

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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.

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This turtle was catching a few rays.

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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.

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A raft of ducks. I think this raft is blue wing teals according to google lens.

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And a solitary great blue heron.

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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.

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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.

Skywatch Friday – The North Woods at Oxley Nature Center

A week and a half ago, late on a Sunday afternoon, I went on a hike at Oxley Nature Center’s North Woods area. I love the North Woods area because it is beautiful, the trails are well maintained and hardly anybody besides me goes there even on a nice weekend afternoon.

It’s kind of a walking meditation.

Be careful while you are meditating and walking though. This thing will give you a headache.

The staff and volunteers are always tweaking and improving things on the trails.

It’s got water views and benches.

And what I call tree tunnels cutting through the woods. I love to come here when it is windy like it was on my hike. The woods are thick so there is no wind on the ground but you can hear the wind as it moves through the tops of the trees.

Later on in the spring, the reflections will be prettier.

I was hoping to see deer, not today!

And the end.

I try and go on all the trails during my visits to the North Woods. That entails taking some of the trails twice. That’s alright.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday.

Shadowy Shots at Home and on the Trail

Our tiny five pound plus Pomeranian puppy Kodi gets lost in the shadows sometimes.

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Fresh blooming Mexican Plum stands out from the shadows at Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center

Shadows casting across a trail sign at Oxley.

Because of our dry spell, trees are casting shadows instead of reflections across a dusty dry lake bed.

I”m late but I’m still linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

Saturday’s Critters – Oxley Nature Center

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On my hike out to Oxley Nature Center I cam across this little critter. I may be wrong but I think this white-tailed deer is a yearling. It kept looking over to our right and I saw what I think was its mother.

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She wandered over to where the young one was. They didn’t run off. They were grazing and moving slowly away from me.

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Meanwhile I spotted dad he was way away amongst some underbrush in this tightly cropped photo which explains why it is so grainy. We all love using manual mode on our cameras and looking down on those still using automatic mode. I’ve learned though when going through the woods where the lighting is variable that I am best served in auto mode, without the flash, and using manual focus. Otherwise the camera wants to focus on the tall grass and miscellaneous branches. There you have it!! True confessions.

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I also came across this armadillo. I have seen more armadilllos this year in northeast Oklahoma than I have in the thirty years that I have lived here. What is the deal?

I got a little video of him snuffing around. They are blind and deaf apparently. They look very ancient. I have a feeling that when human kind is goine, armadillos will be rooting around the ruins of our cities looking for bugs and other stuff to eat.

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There were a lot of waterfowl out and about on the ponds and lakes but they were staying way away from me. I’m not much of a bird guy but I think these are mallard ducks. Correcting my ID of these critters will certainly not hurt my feelings.

That’s it for this week. My cats got tired of being featured every week. They want royalties, or at least a food upgrade or some new toys.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Come join in!!

Waterfowl at Oxley Nature Center

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On my recent hike at Oxley Nature Center in Tulsa. I came upon lots of deer but they were skittish and took off and I couldn’t get a clear shot through the underbrush. I also saw a possum but had the same problem. I did come across these birds on a lake paddling around. I didn’t have a very long lens because I was trying for more foliage views than long range photography. I am not sure what kind of birds these are.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Go check them out!

An Afternoon at Oxley Nature Center

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Wednesday here in Oklahoma started cold, about 29F but it was clear and it warmed up nicely and the skies were clear in the afternoon into the 40’s so I bundled up and drove to north Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to get some trail time and sunlight.

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I took the trail called the North Woods Loop. I have been on this trail dozens of times over the years and hardly ever see anybody. Today there was nobody at all.

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The air was crisp and the skies were blue. It was late afternoon and the lowering sun illuminated everything perfectly.

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There were lots of dead leaves on the trail which made it hard to walk stealthily.

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The sun was brilliant shining through the remaining leaves leaving an impression almost like stained glass.

It was a great day to be out in the woods.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday