Tag Archives: Insects

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.

The Week in Critters

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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.

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An overhead view of the same butterfly.

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I visited Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum and took a walk around the gardens. I saw this little pollinator working away, doing its thing.

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And then a wasp looking critter working on these blooms.

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And yet another pollinator, pollinating.

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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.

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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.

Lizzy sticking her tongue out at us

And going inside the house, Lizzie the cat spent a big part of a recent day with her tongue sticking out. Silly cat!!

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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.