I went hiking on Turkey Mountain earlier this week. I encountered, several times, a family of three or four deer. This was the best photo I got. Lots of trees made focusing difficult. I love seeing deer in the woods.
And I saw this butterfly. Google tells me that it is a Red Admiral.
And I was walking along and I heard a woodpecker up in the trees. I looked and looked and saw this one but he wouldn’t stay still very long. Sorry for the grainy cropped shot.
And here is our Pomeranian Kodi. He’s cute as all get out and likes me 95% of the time but watch out for the other 5%.
I woke Lizzy the cat up from a nap the other day. She was not amused.
And I captured the image of this little bunny in our backyard early Friday morning. We have a lot of hawks in the neighborhood and they feast on little bunnies.
And speaking of feasting we have a bunch of squirrels this season. Watch out little dudes!!
Kodi loves going places so we took him on a hike at Ray Harrall Nature center. He did two miles and never slowed down. His little feet were moving fast.
And that is my critter report this week. I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.
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.
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.
This young one was browsing then laid down with its back to me. Go Away!!
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.
This turtle was catching a few rays.
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.
A raft of ducks. I think this raft is blue wing teals according to google lens.
And a solitary great blue heron.
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.
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.
On a guided hike on Turkey Mountain, I was lagging behind the group (I like to lag) and found this butterfly. Google lens tells me that it is a Red Spotted Purple butterfly. Other resources say Red Spotted Purple Admiral. I don’t know, I just thought it was different.
An overhead view of the same butterfly.
I visited Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum and took a walk around the gardens. I saw this little pollinator working away, doing its thing.
And then a wasp looking critter working on these blooms.
And yet another pollinator, pollinating.
And a duck on the museum grounds. Do you suppose he snuck in without paying?
And they had sheep. I loved these sheep. They were on a secluded part of the grounds up until 2014 and then disappeared. They are back now in a more visible part of the grounds. There were lots of teenagers visiting the museum the day I was there and the sheep were a hit. Up to six or seven kids were sitting on them at a time. I just bided my time until they left to get this shot.
And then shift to our backyard. I was sitting on a bench reading and this downy woodpecker landed on a nearby branch and stayed for a little bit.
And going inside the house, Lizzie the cat spent a big part of a recent day with her tongue sticking out. Silly cat!!
And here’s the Kodi the Pomeranian puppy showing a little bit attitude during a training session.
And here he is at puppy school doing everything my wife asks of him. He’s a rock star at puppy school. When it is not his turn to do something he watches the other dogs and people closely. He’s taking it all in. I’m learning what it is like to have a dog smarter than I am.
And that’s a wrap this week for critters. I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.
Friday morning I talked son Logan into going on a hike with me to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center.
In the parking lot we spotted a swallowtail butterfly. Swallowtails move around a lot so I just kept taking photos hoping one would be okay.
Later on in our hike we found a doe and her fawn in the woods. They were kind of skittish and the woods were thick so it was hard to get a good photo.
And later came upon this armadillo rooting around for something to eat. It pretty ignored us. I don’t think they see or hear very well. Years ago when I lived in south Texas they got hit a lot on the roads.
And as we were leaving we saw this doe and her two offspring. I think one might be a yearling and the other a pretty new fawn. They ignored as well.
Here’s my hiking companion, son Logan who has started a couple classes in the local community college’s Paralegal Program.
Butterflies from the Tulsa Botanic Garden. My very first mosaic made in photoshop. I promise I will get better.
Saturday Heather and I decided to go up to the Tulsa Botanic Garden. It has been at least a couple years since we have been which nowadays is like a lifetime.
Nucklehead pumpkins at the Tulsa Botanic Garden
The previous day, we were overwhelmed by what happened on the way home. In fact, about a block from where we live. To prevent pest breed, hire pest control near me, from here.
They had a scarecrow contest. Heather and I both voted for this one.
Almost home and we came upon a scene that was hard to compute. Cars stopped in the road. People out and about and a man down on the ground.
More knucklehead pumpkins.
We stopped, got out of the car to see what is going on. The man down on the ground threw himself out of the car his wife said. She had a grandson on the spectrum in her car. Heather went to check him out and calm him down.
A persimmon grove. Over 100 years old, all these trees are connected via their roots. In other words, all these trees are the same tree.
So I stayed with the woman who was trying to calm her husband down. He was moving here and there, wanting to know what happened and begging for help. Two different cars of people were stopped, calling 911, reporting the incident.
A giant Oak tree. there is Heather off to the left.
Most people were just sliding by in their cars. Not stopping but getting a good look.
Heather on the trail. We both love the trails out in the woods.
The lady told me that he fell out of the car. I didn’t know why, I didn’t really care. He had a sharp crease on his scalp and was bleeding profusely. Also it looked to me like he broke a couple fingers. I kept trying to calm him, telling him help was on its way.
Lots of butterflies!
I knew help was coming, but it seemed like it took forever. Meanwhile the guy was inconsolable and moving here and there. His wife was talking to him and I kept telling him that help is on its way. I felt like yelling at him, but you know, people in this situation don’t suffer from hearing loss.
They had a scarecrow contest.
Finally, the ambulance showed up and and a fire truck. I was really impressed with the teamwork between the two groups of guys. You could tell they knew they had a serious situation and they moved quickly and urgently but in control.
This was Heather and I’s favorites.
The police showed up and and also moved quickly, efficiently, and calmly, finding out what happened. The firemen had a stuffed bear for the child in the car.
So Heather was with the child, who was on the spectrum, in the car. I went up there and hung out and let the wife talk to the police in private about what happened. There was a lady who was asked to stay because she saw the whole thing from the beginning.
So hug your kids close and pray for those who are not so lucky.
