Last week I worked this table (the guy there in the photo is not me) at the Monarchs on the Mountain event at Tulsa’s Chandler Park. There were no monarch butterflies around but we celebrated them anyway.

This critter showed up at the booth and stayed for a while crawling around and checking out our giveaways and information. I didn’t know what it was but iNaturalist tells me that it is a wheelbug. There were lots of enviromental type people at the event and they all said, don’t hurt it, it’s good. So I let it crawl and around and told people they could figure out what it was from iNaturalist or Google Lens. Kids got a big kick out of it. And so did I. What a learning opportunity.

A few days ago my wife and I attended an event on Turkey Mountain as guests of the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area. We had a good time. The highlight was seeing this Red tailed hawk. She was very calm even though she was the hit of the party.

Friday I went on a hike on Turkey Mountain. I took my “good camera” even though it was hot and the middle of the day. For taking photos of critters, cell phones definitey have their limitations. I didn’t see too many critters but I go this dragon fly’s photo.

I also got this turtle on a log at Pepsi Lake. I have no idea how he crawled up the log to the top.

And I was able to pick out this photo out of some thick trees. I was so proud of myself for capturing the image of a rare bird. I ran the image though google lens and it turns out that it is a robin. You just can’t see the red breast but the eyes are a giveaway. It’s still a good photo though, right? Hey I like it. Real birders amaze me. They can find the birds and take photos of them. I can hear them and get glimpses of them but they are gone by the time I get my camera ready.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Eileen is a real birder who can find the birds, ID them, and get the photos.