Tag Archives: Sculpture

RiverParks Art Themed Adventure Lab Geocaching

Another wildlife art themed Adventure Lab Geocache popped up on the Tulsa RiverParks so I ventured out there on a cold day to figure it out.

Mountain Goat

It was done by the same guy that did another one a couple months ago. So you key on these wildlife sculptures, and you have to get some information from the accompanying plaque to prove you were there. Also, you get a clue to a real geocache in a container.

The Moose and Me – could be a book title.
Mountain Lion

So I hobbled up and down the RiverParks trails chasing down these clues.

Geese

A bald eagle. I have seen real ones cruising up and down the river and perched on logs in the river.

I did spot a hawk looking for his lunch.

And I saw white bird, maybe a seagull, I don’t know flying up ther river.

So I got my certificate that I completed the cache. I was also the “First to Find” for it. That is a big deal to us nerdy types. I found the real associated cache and was the FTF for it as well. It felt good to get out of the house after the stretch of nasty weather we had.

I still have my bird camera going. I get over 120 hits and day. I’m going to say literally 95% are house sparrow, 3% are juncos, 1% are dove, and 1% are squirrels. So here is a one minute video of selected birds for the past week.

That is it this week. I hope everyone is doing well.

Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Art on the River

In early December I was on Tulsa’s RiverParks trails working on an art themed Geocaching Adventure Lab. I posted about it earlier and saved the critter themed art for this post.

Wolves are always a good subject.

I’m thinking this is a great blue heron. These murals were not part of the cache project but they are also beautiful and animal themed.

I believe this also is a great blue heron.

And this sculpture. I see lots of great blue herons while out on the trail. They are beautiful animals but they make the most awful squawk as a vocalization.

And right near the sculpture is a real life great blue heron.

And an American White Pelican. I see them sporadically. They are kind of touchy about people. I’ve learned I’ve had to sneak up on them.

Geese are everywhere, all year long on the RiverParks, and the whole town for that matter.

So yep, I completed the cache and got the coordinates for a nearby physical cache, and found it, so yep a good time.

If you want more information about geocaching check geocaching.com.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Skywatch Friday – New Perspectives!

I went out to the Tulsa History Center to check on the revamped installation of the Oklahoma’s Five Moons. The installation had been damaged by some dummy who stole one of the metal sculptures and then tried to sell it at a metal recycling place. To their credit the recyclers called the police and the guy was apprehended. The sculpture took some time to be repaired and the History redesigned the installation.

Left to Right: Maria Tallchief, Marjorie Tallchief, Yvonne Chouteau (in front), Moscelyne Larkin, Rosella Hightower.

The Five Moons are five Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma who achieved worldwide fame in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. After their performing days were over they became instructors and promoters of their art. Here is a good summary of their careers.

I brought along my drone this day. I have many photos of the ballerinas but they are all on stands and up in the air so I thought that with the drone would provide a new perspective. And I think it worked pretty well.

It was a windy day and my little featherweight drone was struggling to stay in one place but I made it happen.

The lady in the background in the photo above showed up in the middle of my flight and asked what I was doing in a friendly manner. We got to talking and turns out that she is an Urban Sketcher. Which I have come to find out means to sketch on location. So kind of like being an instagrammer except on paper. I thought it was very interesting. You can find out more about Urban Sketching here. She is on instagram as well so we followed each other. We also talked about the Five Moons. We both agreed that not five Oklahoman’s out of hundred know who the Five Moons are. Which is a shame.

So buoyed by my experience with the Five Moons I headed over to nearby Woodward Park and launched the drone on the “Appeals to the Great Spirit” Sculpture. It is really tall.

I think the overhead shot adds to the effect of the sculpture here as well.

It just goes to show that you don’t have to fly way high to use a drone effectively.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.

Here is a previous post on the Five Moons

Saturday’s Critters – In and Out Edition

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Here’s a sculptural critter, some sort of heron I think at the Linnaeus Demonstration Gardens.

And another artistic critter. This little girl on the back of a turtle at the Tulsa Botanic Garden.

I hardly ever use my drone for critter photography and this is “Appeal to the Great Spirit” at Woodward Park. I used my drone to get a different perspective on this sculpture.

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In the backyard I got this squirrel getting his photo taken.

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And a bunny out past 3 am.

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And this leaping squirrel.

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And some birds buzzing the backyard on a high speed low altitude run.

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And these guys going for suet feeder.

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And a Canadian Goose at Woodward Park contemplating the pros and cons of staying vs migrating.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters

Saturday’s Critters – Late March 2024 Edition

My wife and I were taking our dog for a walk the other day and we came upon this guy/gal. INaturalist says it is a Ruddy Shelduck. It had three friends nearby and they had a very cool vocalization that I did not capture. I come to find out that a neighboring subdivision owns them and they escape quite frequently.

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My wife put up bird feeders and the grackles really appreciate it. Talk about loud and noisy though.

Lizzy gave me a big yawn when I was trying to get a portrait.

Skinnery Oak Bobwhite Sculpture

Here is a sculpture at a nearby park of a dog flushing some bobwhite quail.

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We visited Tulsa’s Botanic Gardens today and in addition to the beautiful flowers, shrubs, and other plantings they had an exhibit of animals made out of Legos by an artist. This is a spiny anteater.

That’s a wrap for this week. I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out.

Shadow Shot Sunday – Winter Shadows

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A view of our north fence with shadows from the bench and trees. By this time next week we should have a new fence to replace this well worn installation. I love the old patina but it is time to go.

Son and I are still practice driving. He’s actually doing pretty good.

Tulsa’s Lafortune Park now has a small buffalo herd. They seem to be managing the cold weather very well.

I am linking with Lisa’s Shadow Shot Sunday. Go check it out.

Exploring “The Herd” at Lafortune Park

I had some time so I went to check out the “The Herd” at Tulsa’s Lafortune Park. The county parks department commissioned an installation of a herd of bison at Lafortune Park. They had been there forever but wrapped up in plastic so I noticed that the plastic had been taken off so I went to check it out.

Here’s the little red dog or calf.

Here’s the dad. A huge old bull.

And the mom. As with all species the hardest working family member of all. I didn’t get very good photos. Taking photos of bronzes in full sun is some thing I need to work on.

So I sneaked off from the Herd and around the side of the little league ball parks.

And found a geocache. This is unique because it was actually 3D printed from a computer app. That takes geocaching up a notch from the recycled Bismati Rice plastic jars that I like to use.

And then I went by this pond on my wat back to the car. I can’t go by a fountain or pond without taking a photo. This one has a bit of a rainbow on the left side.

I’m linking with My Corner of the World.

Check out Geocaching.com if you are curious about what that is about.

Weekend Reflections – The End of the Trail

End of the Trail

The End of the Trail is a monumental sculpture by James Earle Fraser and is the entry hall centerpiece at the fabulous National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

End of the Trail

The sculpture over the years as come to mean all sorts of things by all sorts of people. The museum has a short video that has one take on it.

I’m linking with Weekend Reflections