An Armadillo escaping the heat in the woods.
A fawn in the deep woods staying close to its mother.
When its hot, the woods are the place to be. This is son going ahead of me.
Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Check it out.
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.
I’m linking with Magical Mystery Teacher’s Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Come join in.
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.)
A short video of my trek.
I’m linking with Our World Tuesday. Come check it out.
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!!
It has been hot lately but Sunday it cooled down quite a bit and we had overcast skies. Heather went to have some girl time with her friends and Logan went to his job, so I loaded up my camera and an extra lens and went north the Oxley Nature Center on the north side of Tulsa next to the airport. I don’t know what it was but the deer were out big time. I saw scads of them. I am going to spare you photos of all of them but I will show you this guy. He was a little slow on the uptake but once he noticed me he sure gave me the hawkeye.
And he gave a high pitched snort and took off.
He might have lost a little face. The ladies never moved. We had a face off for a while and then I ducked back into the woods so they could resume their salad munching and visiting.
And I came upon this deer. I was walking along the trail one way, a woman with a camera was coming my way, and this jumped out about 15 feet away but didn’t run very far. We had another stare off, until I let him win and walked away.
I eventually made my way to the boardwalk and went across. I bet have a hundred photos of this. I just love boardwalks.
I came across these two. I don’t know a thing about birds but I am going to guess the dark one is a great blue heron, and the white one is a white heron. Please correct the ID if I am wrong. I just want to get it right.
And I resumed my trek on the trails. I walked about four miles according to my step counter. Slow miles but I was on my feet so it counts right?
Just toward the end I came across this fawn. I hung with me for quite a while but then he bolted.
So it was time to get back to the car to make an instagram post (If you don’t instagram an activity then it didn’t happen, right?), and then fetch the kid from work. I was worn out and happy.
New Year’s Eve morning I decided I wanted to go on a little hike. I’m in recovery for an injury and my doctor told me to walk or run on level surfaces. Running is not happening right now but I am walking more and it doesn’t get any more level than Oxley Nature Center in north Tulsa. It was cold, in the low twenties, and there was a stiff breeze. Look at the flags standing at attention. Notice the empty parking lot! I had the whole place to myself.
I am not afraid of the cold. After years of running in the winter in all kinds of weather, I have the right gear to wear in cold weather. It is a balancing act dressing for the cold. Too little clothes and you die from the cold. Too many clothes and you overheat and sweat and possibly freeze. Also, avoid cotton!! Cotton kills in cold weather. Wear tech fabrics close to your skin. They wick the moisture away and breathe. The other thing about cold windy weather is I like to hike in the woods. It cuts the wind a lot. There are some parts of Oxley where you can hear the wind howling in the tree tops but it is calm at ground level.
Another reason to hike at Oxley, in the woods is the deer. They have deer there and I see at least one almost every time I go. I saw this dude when I walked into a water pipeline right of way. He had a group of four or so does he was bossing. So he stood and kept watch giving me the stinkeye while his harem left.
Then he gave me one last glare and left.
I walked on and had to backtrack when I came upon a frozen over trail. Hadn’t seen that at Oxley before.
Lots and lots of deer tracks.
I got to Lake Yahola and observed this dude from one of the blinds they have set up. Does anybody know what this guy is? I am wondering if it is an American White Pelican.
Hiking further on I found these deer. There were about four of them. I had a devil of a time being the newbie, picture taker that I am. I had to take the lens of autofocus and focus manually but there was a lot of glare so I had to shield the viewfinder while focusing. I’m sure it looked pretty hilarious. As you can see, I didn’t quite get the focus right.
And then yet another group. There was the big dude letting me know he was watching me and then he left and then mom and a teenager showed up. They kind of strolled past. In the background you can see another deer grazing. It was part of another group of four or five.
And got to the other side. This was pretty close to my car. I got in the car and while I was messing around with my gear and getting a drink a security car came by and checked me out.
Time to stop for some hot chocolate at Quik Trip, head home and check on the Dallas Cowboys in the game against Philidelphia. Dallas won but it was very ugly.
aa
Saturday I went for a walk at Oxley Nature Center‘s North Woods. I love it there because it is remote, off the beaten path, and I rarely see anybody.
I especially like it when it is windy because there is enough trees and brush to block the wind. It is near still at the ground and I love the sound of the wind in the tops of the trees.
The trails are well kept. This time of year there is a thick matt of dried leaves that announces your presence as you walk along and sends the big and small critters scurrying.
I started in late afternoon and the low sun made all the leaves radiant with color.
There is something about a bench on a trail overlooking a creek that is restful without even sitting on it.
The woods loom over parts of the trails. I call these tree tunnels.
I love the color of some of the oak leaves.
Another tree tunnel.
The sun is getting low. Heading across my favorite boardwalk. There is a geocache here that took me three years to find. And one day I saw it without looking for it.
Headed back to the car and saw these two critters. We watched each other for a while. I would move up twenty paces and wait twenty seconds, and then move up another twenty paces and so on. They got tired of my game and scampered off.
A little bit further I found this single deer. She played my game and let me get a little closer before she turned on her heel and left.
I didn’t set any speed records but I had a good time. Didn’t see anybody else. I wasn’t looking for anybody either.
A benefit of having a bad knee. Logan mowing and me using my Matter App to embellish things a bit. Logan does a great job mowing but he did it Frank Sinatra style (his way). So we ended up with crop circles on our yard. I’m not complaining though.
A white tail deer giving me the stink eye at Oxley Nature Center.
Heather’s knockout roses using the Waterlogue App on my ipod.
Knockout roses using the ToonCamera App on my ipod. I love to tinker with photos a lot.
Speaking of Apps I’m liking Hipstamatic’s update. And continuing with red All is Well With My Soul. at 60,000 miles!
My brother Bob drove all the way from Corpus Christi to Tulsa to have Thanksgiving with us. Logan and I decided to take him to the Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve about an hour from Tulsa in the Osage hills. It is Frank Phillips old ranch. You know the guy who started Phillips Petroleum. He is long gone but the company he founded and his ranch are still going. I love the museum, but that is for another day. Today I am posting about the bison and deer on the preserve.
There are lots of bison there. I used an HDR technique to get halfway decent shots. I don’t know about you but bison shots are tough. They just soak up the light and end up being black blobs unless I overexpose the shot and then their surroundings look like they have been nuked.
There was a calf there. This one is red. I am not sure but I think somebody told me that all bison calves are red. Anybody out there know for sure?
Where does a bison lay down goes a variation on the old joke. You go make this guy move if you don’t like where he has planted himself.
There were lots of deer out Saturday. They are very watchful but not as wary as they would be outside the preserve.
I like how they lock their attention on you. I am not a deer expert mind you and the only thing I shoot them with is my camera but I think these are European fallow deer. There are also Japanese Sika deer and we saw some but they were far off. And hey readers, if I am mistaken let me know!
Whoops, what is going on over there.
Woolaroc has lots of other animals roaming loose. Just as we were leaving the gate a herd of elk appeared and they have Scottish highland cattle, and Texas longhorns.
Linking with Camera Critters and Saturday’s Critters