Late Summer Flowers in the Wichitas
Snow-on-the-Mountain – Euphorbia
The snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia) is my favorite late summer flower right now in the Wichita Mountains. It’s in the poinsettia family, so a lot of the color is in the leaves more so than the actual flowers.
Rayless gumweed
The gumweed is familiar to me from my time in Colorado. It’s called rayless because there are no ray flowers that look like petals. Read the rest of this entry »
Birds ‘N Bugs
Common nighthawk, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma
Nighthawks can be hard to photograph because they tend to fly high and when the light is poor. This one gave me an opportunity for its flight portrait just as the sun was setting in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
Common nighthawk calling
I have heard their “buick, buick” calls ever since I was a child in Louisiana. Matter of fact, I caught one once. It was a youngster and it whizzed past my head at dusk. I chased it (barefoot most likely, as I rarely wore shoes outside) until it landed in the field behind my house. I picked it up, carried it around for a little while, and let it go. Cool, huh? Read the rest of this entry »
Bison
Bison are an iconic symbol of the West, and the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is one of the reasons they still survive. Here is the story from the refuge’s website.
“Between 1830-1880, the American bison, or buffalo, was reduced in numbers from 60 million to a mere handful.”
Bison dust themselves to help keep off the flies, which you can see are in abundance if you enlarge the photo.
August in Wichita Mountains
August… The birds have stopped singing. The cicadas buzz in the trees. Bison calves born in March are half-grown. It’s a time of seed-setting and harvest in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma.
Evenings are a great time to be in the prairie landscape. The late sun adds warmth, and it cools off some. Read the rest of this entry »
Cindy McIntyre's Blog 