Tag Archives: Deer

Rough Green Snake and More – Saturday’s Critters

Found this little guy on Turkey Mountain. I think it is a rough green snake. I see more of these kind of snakes on the mountain than any other. Most of them are just a few inches long, this is the biggest one that I have ever seen. Maybe a foot long at the most. I love the graceful coils. It seemed kind of curious to me with the raised head. I tried to tell him to get off the trail or it was going to get stepped on.

Our purple coneflowers in our front flower bed. Purple coneflowers are the state wildflower of Oklahoma. These have a bumblebee and a moth on them.

A curious deer checking me out while I was geocaching in a pecan orchard near Tulsa. The orchard is huge and has lots of deer. A couple years ago I saw a huge herd of them running through it. This time there were lots of signs in the orchard. They are subdividing it for houses so kiss those big beautiful trees goodbye.

And Kodi the Pomeranian. He loves swimming in his little pool on hot days.

We have lots of geese in Oklahoma, especially golf course geese like these.

And how about Mother Goose with her perky little hat.

And big ole rabbits and Alice in Wonderland. (At a local library)

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Hochatown Deer, Snakes and Sasquatch

This past week the family spent some time at Hochatown, Oklahoma near Beavers Bend State Park for a little R&R. Since I am retired we can take a weekend getaway during the middle of the week and avoid the crowds! We are not big on crowds.

We rented a very nice cabin with all sorts of amenities. The best thing was all the deer that came by to visit early in the morning.

Deer are really graceful but very wary. As well they should be.

So we sat still on the porch as they came by.

We went hiking a few days in the park. We found this little armadillo on our first hike. They really are intriguing creatures.

But then we come across this snake that Heather almost stepped on. She thought it was a copperhead which is of course venomous. I kept telling her to get close enough to see the shape of the eyes to make sure. She refused. INaturalist confirmed it was a copperhead. It was laying right on the edge of the trail and refused to move so we just edged around him best we could. It was one of the biggest copperheads I have ever seen.

Later on during a walk around our cabin neighborhood we come across Bigfoot. Neither Heather or Kodi were afraid of him one bit.

Kodi loved our getaway. We didn’t take him on any hikes but we did lots of walks around the cabin and took him to a dog friendly brewery. He had a great time. As did we.

We went kayaking while down there, here is an action shot of Logan. We didn’t see any critters on the water except for birds.

Speaking of birds, have you tried the Merlin app. A free app and you download a bird song library and then you turn it on and it ID’s the birds by their songs. It’s amazing. The only thing is that it doesn’t locate the little buggers for you. So now I’m just taking screen shots of what it is hearing. It is truly amazing.

I’m linking to Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – Tortured Poets and Pomeranians Edition

I was on a hike here in Tulsa and scared up a group of about three deer. We had a little faceoff for a while. All I had was my phone camera so you have to really look hard to see the deer. I love seeing deer on a hike!!

I captured a squirrel and some birds on my backyard trailcam a few weeks ago.

My sister Ellen, her husband Irv, and my son Logan took a little trip to Woolaroc’s Museum and Wildlife Preserve about an hour or so from Tulsa. We saw lots of critters including some bison.

They had some juveniles, “red dogs” but they wouldn’t group up. Come on guys, how about some cooperation. Move together. Look at the camera.

I have no idea what they are looking at.

And a group of deer at a Preserve Lake.

They had an animal barn and with this sad little donkeys. All donkeys look a bit sad don’t they.

And a sad little pony.

And maybe the saddest story. This guy was a longhorn cow that lived at Woolaroc and got moved to southeast Oklahoma for a time. His proud horns drooped because the grass didn’t have the minerals needed to keep them up. He’s immortalized now.

Taylor Swift dropped her new double album “Tortured Poets Department” the other day. Kodi and I listened to most of it on the back patio. Kodi loves catching rays and grooving to new tunes. I think he may be a Swifty.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.

Saturday’s Critters – In the Woods, On the Water, Covered with Leaves

I went on a hike the other day and encountered some deer. I love seeing deer. They are so beautiful and graceful. They are not hunted on Turkey Mountain and so are not skittish at all.

I went geocaching at a local park and saw some ducks paddling around on a pond.

Kodi and I were playing in the backyard and he decided to take a little rest break in the leaves.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!!

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

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.

I saw a great blue heron flying around.

And a closeup, sorry for the fuzziness.

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.

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

I saw several groups of deer in the preserve.

And a couple of ducks of some sort.

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

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

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.

White Tailed Deer and More

We just got back from a short trip down to southeast Oklahoma. We rented a cabin and packed a lot of stuff, including relaxation time, in just a few days.

We saw lots of deer. This one we spotted close to an automatic feeder. That is a great way to get deer to show up, or me for that matter. Just feed me and the deer on a regular basis.

The cabin we rented had a deer feeder.

The feeder went off at 6 am every morning for just a few seconds.

The deer hang out eating until about 6:45 and then they wandered off. I guess a neighbor’s feeder came on a 7?

They are very beautiful to look at and graceful in their movements.

You can tell they are used to people but still watchful.

All sorts of grey squirrels showed up to feast from the feeder.

And this critter showed up and stood stone still for many minutes. Just inside the hadows I didn’t get a decent photo of it. I don’t think I have ever seen such a critter. Google Lens says that it might be a swamp rabbit. Inaturalist is still pondering the results of my crappy photo.

Our little seven pound pomeranian puppy Kodi is getting swimming lessons from Heather on the Mountain Fork River. The little dog a trooper on the trail, straining his leash out ahead of us.

We came across this charred wooden bear on one of the walks in our cabin neighborhood. I’m guessing that it was done on purpose. Why, I don’t know.

Our cabin had a baby sasquatch inside. I love the big feet!!

We had a great time on our trip!!

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.

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.

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.

Weekly Critter Summary

I took a short hike on Turkey Mountain recently and surprised a couple of deer. They just moved off a short distance, keeping an eye on me. This one particular didn’t seem any in hurry to leave.

On the same hike, I came across an armadillo snuffling around the woods raising dust. It didn’t see me but when it did it ran off a few feet. I’ve seen more armadillos out in the woods this summer than I have seen in a long time.

Lots of livestock at the State Fair this year. I always enjoy looking at them.

Closer to home I came across this cottontail living in our front flower bed. It just sat there looking at me and then hopped back into its cover.

And in the home, LJ the cat catching some warm sun.

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

Shady Woods on a Hot Day

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.

Skywatch Friday – Restoring Equilibrium

Lafortune Park – I love the smudged cloud skies.

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.

Wild Turkeys hanging out on Turkey Mountain at the YMCA where the Leave No Trace Account was held. They Turkeys were there every day.

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.

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