Home
Directions
Hours & Rules
Facilities
Redbud Valley
Newsletter
Programs
Trails
Wildlife
Volunteers
Friends of Oxley
The Nature Store
Oxley Family
Staff
Employment
Contents

 

 

October 2001

Reported on October 1st, 2001

Fall flowers are in full bloom: Yellow wingstem, Virginia crownbeard, Canada goldenrod, Cardinal Flower, Blue sage, and Passionflower. The vine with clusters of bright red fruits is Carolina snailseed.

  

Fall foliage report
: Smooth sumac is showing scarlet here and there. Some poison ivy vines are a spectacular maroon. A few Virginia creepers are turning orange and red. Enormous yellow leaves from Red mulberry are beginning to carpet the ground along Red Fox Trail

.

Butterflies: Gulf Fritillaries have joined the more common Variegated Fritillaries in Meadowlark Prairie. We are still hoping to photograph the less common Great Spangled Fritillaries so that we can document their occurrences in Tulsa County. Fritillary caterpillars are numerous on the Passionflower vines. The Monarch migration is happening.

Other insects: A few Scissor Grinder Cicadas are calling from the trees in the evening, but crickets of all kinds are more vocal.

Herps: Bullfrog tadpoles are showing up as new little bullfrogs at the edge of B.J.'s Pond. Leopard frogs are calling.

Birds: A Virginia Rail has been seen at Blackbird Marsh. The warbler migration is in full swing. Recent reports include Canada Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Yellow-breasted Chat. Blue Jays are migrating south by ones and twos. Look overhead in the evenings to see Common Nighthawks swooping toward the south in their fall migration, as well. The hummingbirds will be gone soon. Sparrows have begun to appear.

Sky: The waxing gibbous Moon has passed bright red Mars in the southern sky. The Full "Harvest" Moon will happen on October 2nd. Venus is brilliant in the east before sunrise. Look higher in the southeast for the bright planet, Jupiter.

 

 

 

For general information send e-mail to Oxley@ci.tulsa.ok.us or call (918) 669-6644.  
Send e mail to John Kennington with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2006 Mary K. Oxley Nature Center Association, Inc.
Last modified: February 20, 2010

 

 

web stats