Tag Archives: Great Blue Herons

Saturday’s Critters – Seen on a Bike Ride

I went on a bike ride the other day on Tulsa’s Riverparks Trails during a very unseasonably warm day.

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I saw two groups of white pelicans on the river. They were both all hunkered down. I hope that they will get going to where they need to be for the winter.

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The canadian geese are here all year long in Tulsa. Many of them still migrate south but I guess the others have figured out what some of politicians haven’t, that global warming is a thing.

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And I saw a few great blue herons. They are everywhere. Back in the day when I still worked I was out in the natural gas fields of western Oklahoma and I stopped on a dirt road to make a cell phone call and suddenly noticed in the field next to where I parked there were a bunch of great blue herons. Not in a pond or water, just standing there in a field. I took a pic but it is long gone. Well before the days I knew about storing and tagging and all that other stuff.

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I found a bunch of seagulls clear across the river.

Turkey Mountain Colors 2

I stopped and took a photo of the foliage on Turkey Mountain across the river. I never get tired of seeing it.

Plaque

Nearby was this plaque commemorating the first Oklahoma Game Ranger killed in the line of duty. He was game ranger murdered in the line of duty in Oklahoma. On Turkey Mountain investigating a poaching case. I don’t think it was ever solved.

Back in the day, Turkey Mountain had a bootleggers, lawmen, oil field hands, ranchers, railroad men, and farmers. I have personally found “shake and bake” meth labs. It has a shady past. So does Tulsa for that matter. Machine gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker. They all have Tulsa ties. Read more about Tulsa’s shady past here.

Oops I digressed. I am continually fascinated by the dichotomy of Tulsa. On the east bank are big companies, operas, ballet companies, symphonies, wonderful museums and on the gritty west side, like Turkey Mountain, refineries, oilfield manufacturing, factories is where the money was made to pay for all the nice stuff. That is where the outlaws hung out.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Oops one more thing,

Excuse my appearance, I’m retired so I get kind of scruffy. That is me, (of course) and Lizzy early in the morning. I read the paper and drink coffee in the morning and she reads over my shoulder. I keep telling her that is rude but she won’t stop.

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 – At the Beach!!

We went on our family vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama early in September. It was great because the crowds were gone and the weather was pleasant, but the water was still warm. It was perfect.

Pelicans on Patrol

I spotted a squadron of pelicans skimming the waves in the Gulf of Mexico. I presume they were looking for something to eat.

Brown Pelican at Perdido Pass

We saw this lone wolf pelican at a nearby pass begging for food from the fishermen. We see these loners and I sense that most of them are juveniles and don’t quite know how to fend for themselves.

And near the pelican were some great blue herons. (At least I think that is what they are.)

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I was on the balcony of our condo when I spotted this heron. I am thinking that he was looking for lizards.

We walked on the beach a lot. We saw lots of shorebirds standing and flying around.

Had a bunch of these birds

On a bicycle ride in nearby Gulf State Park we saw this alligator. We have been here before and there is almost always an alligator or two here.

And at the swimming pool one evening we spotted this lizard. He would puff his throat up to a bright red color. He’s lucky a heron didn’t see him is what I think.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

River Critters and More

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I went on a bike ride earlier this week along the RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa and took along my superzoom camera. I captured this flock of great blue herons egrets fishing along a channel in the Arkansas River.

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I always like catching birds in flight.

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Another mixed flock of birds fishing in a different spot.

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This heron was all by himself.

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Upriver were some geese.

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A couple of egrets checking out the action.

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Another shot of an egret with a heron.

And a butterfly flitting around our backyard.

Lizzy the cat checking on the cicada action on the back porch. She likes to watch them. Our pom Kodi likes to eat them. Yuck!!

Hoof prints found during a hike on Turkey Mountain. They have asked for people not to ride horseback on the new trails but some people insist on doing their own thing.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters!!