“The Pelican and the Prairie”

Image 1 :

After getting a late start to the day I headed down to the river.  Along Riverside drive in Tulsa, there is a pedestrian bridge that crosses the river, below the bridge is a low water damn.  This area is popular for people to spend time with their families and to just be outside.  This day there was a large number of pelicans congregated on the river.  Just below the damn there were a few fishing, diving working hard for their diner.  One pelican in particular had caught this catfish.  If you hav ever caught a catfish when out fishing you know that the two pectoral fins will stick out and with these two rather sharp barbs on the end.  Well nonetheless the two barbs came out, thus making it rather difficult for the pelican to swallow the ill fated catch.  For sometime the pelican tried to swallow his catch, the darn thing just wouldn’t go down his ever expanding throat.  After trying and trying, and fending off would be thieves, he finally succeeded.

Image 2 :

I had gone out to a local preserve called “Oxley Nature Center.”  This center is located inside of Mohawk park near the Tulsa ZOO and just north of Tulsa International Airport.  The area is a heavily wooded with a pond near a visitor center and a lake that is connected to the visitor center via a network of trails and walking paths through the woods. On the far side of the clearing next to the visitor’s center there is an old road that goes by the preserve.  On the side of this road I found this maple tree putting out some young fresh buds.  I thought to myself how could this be, its Pearl Harbor Day.  Nonetheless there it was, a tree budding out on the 7th of December.  How the world and its seasons have changed and are still changing.

Image 3 :

I had gone out to a local preserve called “Oxley Nature Center.”  This center is located inside of Mohawk park near the Tulsa ZOO and just north of Tulsa International Airport. Next the pond there is a pastor where an area of tall grasses and brush are allowed to grow, than adjacent to that there is a field with shorter grasses and then the woods begin.  In the field of short grasses a few isolated trees and a couple of benches are placed for contemplation and reflection of the area or just to rest your feet.

These images can be found on Instagram @BillySPhoto.