A motley collection of ducks, some of whom might be escaped or released household pets, at Hunter Park in Tulsa.
Some geese on a large pond at a cemetery here in Tulsa during a geocaching outing. Yep there are lots of geocaches in Tulsa. One advantage is that the residents are going to call the cops on you. This cemetery has Roy Clark, Oral Roberts and other celebrities at rest on the grounds.
And a native pollinator doing its thing with a wildflower.
A turtle and a frog forever frozen in place at Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow.
And a pair of doves with a little girl at the Utica Square Shopping Center in Tulsa.
And some more birds including a scissortail flycatcher and a bunny at Utica Square during an art show there.
I went hiking near the end of September at Oxley Nature Center and took lots of photos. My posts this week have been centerd around that hike, so here is one more for Saturday’s Critters.
A doe and her fawns slip into the forest before I even get to the Nature Center.
I heard lots of birds and even saw some of them but got very few photographs of them. For my style of photography I need them to sit still while I fuss with the camera. This robin sat all he could then he left.
A fuzzy photo of a deer.
I found a big wildflower patch.
A cardinal playing peekaboo with me.
I love Eileen’s Blog and the other people who post on her Saturday’s Critters meme. I’ve learned so much. One of the latest things I’ve learned is to keep the Merlin App open during my entire hike so I can capture everything. It works. It goes against the grain. My whole life growing up I heard every day, “Turn out the lights! Turn off the television! Close the refrigerator door! You know what I am talking about. So now I do luxuriant power expenditures on Merlin and it works great!
Another deer. Sorry, another boomer trait, don’t waste photos.
A blob of a crow perched on a branch.
And here is a review of my hike from Relive. It will show some of the photo you have seen today.
I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of dedicated animal lovers there!
Our little Pomeranian Kodi loves to go swimming but his enthusiasm and joy are greater than his skill so when we take him swimming Heather has to hold on to him. Our rescue Terrier, Sadie, is not into swimming at all.
On another bike ride on the Arkansas RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa I captured these two great blue herons flying low over the water below Zink Dam.
A great egret fishing
And a bunch of great egrets and great blue herons trying to catch their breakfast.
I stopped at a bench on the trail to rest up adjacent to this sculpture of geese.
A couple weeks ago I worked “Monarchs on the Mountain” representing the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition. TUWC was deeply embedded in the event. We are a co-sponsor. A couple of our board members were on the organizing committee, and another was the MC of the event. Another board member takes care of the online part of the event using our website. Monarchs on the mountain is festival celebrating Monarch Butterflies and all other pollinators and the monarch migration which is happening now.
My role (that’s not me in the photo) was to man the booth and tell people who TUWC is and what we do.
This is a diorama that another board member made a couple years ago where we illustrate Leave No Trace principles for kids. We have a little story about Hans and Hilda going on a hike with their dogs. So we talk about leashing animals, staying on the trails, don’t throw your apple cores and banana peels out into the woods in the mistaken belief that you are helping feed the animals. Those little brown round things at the bottom of the photo are dog poops, not cinnamon rolls, so we throw them out and ask, “What do you do when your dog poops in the woods?” Answer is of course that you bag it and dispose of properly.
Working the booth is a lot of fun. I’ll tell you one thing, we get lots of Girl Scouts come by and they have the life cycle of monarch butterflies and Leave No Trace principles down. I’m very impressed with them and their adult leadership.
First up, a Mississippi Kite sitting on a powerline in our neighborhood greenbelt. I love their distinctive call and style of flying. Despite their fierce appearance what I read is that they don’t look for little mammals on the ground, they like to catch flying insects to eat.
I turned my Merlin App on for a few minutes a while back in the backyard. It has better ears than I have. It is amazing what it can do.
And a collection of sparrows on a fence that I photographed.
To finish this post off, “Hippo” by John Kearney in the Philbrook Museum Gardens here in Tulsa. It’s made of welded chrome bumpers. I love it.
We got out of the habit of taking the dogs on a morning walk this summer because it has been very hot, very early in the day. We got a temporary break in the weather a couple weeks ago so I took Sadie out for a morning jaunt. She was kind of unsure about it and kept her tail down and looking back over her shoulder.
Two red tailed hawks on a tall power pole in our neighborhood greenway.
I put my trail cam up on the fence and pointed it at the feeder cam. Some birds, like the mourning doves, don’t look good on the feeder cams because the wide angle lens make them look like short, fat, and squatty. A second look from a few feet away make them look awesome. Here it looks like dove is fighting off a sparrow.
Here we have two doves on the feeder with a third coming in hot. I don’t see room for him. Two’s company’s, three’s a crowd is the saying.
Squirrels are the bane of my existence on a feeder camera. Oh well, they have to eat also I guess.
And closing with the Welcome Bear at my former MIL’s back yard.
A deer I found while hiking on Turkey Mountain. The deer is kind of fuzzy but the shrub in front of it is in perfect focus. That is why I call myself a picture and not a photographer.
Kodi the Pomeranian and Sadie the rescue Terrier resting together.
Earlier this month I found this rabbit on our front walk. It was very hot and I think it was thirsty so we added a water bowl in the front yard. We already a couple bowls in the backyard.
Lizzie the cat has such beautiful expressive eyes.
And a Merlin collage from a hike I took earlier this month.
We have a power line running through the greenbelt in the neighborhood. All sorts of hawks like this red tailed hawk perch up there and look for their next meal. Sorry for the fuzzy photo. It was at the far range of my camera and lens.
Sadie the Terrier and Kodi the Pomeranian love their “Turkey Tenderloins.” They immediately run to a dog bed we have in the living room and get to work on them. They will do anything the treats.
From the camera feeder. Two grackles getting irritated with each other.
And Lizzy the Cat looking at me all irritated and everything.
And from earlier this summer. I rigged a trailcam up to look at the camera feeder and caught a squirrel running away with a peanut.
Also from May I caught the colorful plumage of a dove as a grackle chased it off. I had never seen this view of a dove before.
And from a recent hike I saw this birdhouse somebody put up. I don’t know who Evie is but I love her birdhouse.
That’s it for this week. I hope everyone is enjoying the weather. We have a had a streak of over 100F days and it is expected to continue until at least next week. I sure do enjoy reading the blog posts from Australia and New Zealand. I am really liking them describing how cold the winter is down there. I’m looking forward to our own winter.
I went on a bike ride on the River Parks Trails along the Arkansas River here in Tulsa and took along my “good” camera.
I found this pod of American White Pelicans. I think a couple of them are sleeping.
I am thinking these are female mallard ducks but I am not sure. If I am wrong let me know!
I love Great Blue Herons. They are a bird that no matter where I go, I see them. And those pose beautifully for inept picture takers like me.
And a Great Egret snoozing away in the river. Google lens says this is an American White Pelican. I don’t think that is right!! Maybe AI’s takeover of the world is not going well.
And from the backyard. I love cardinals, so bright chirpy.
