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Yellowstone National Park Day 5
Yellowstone National Park, WY, May 2025 Today was a beautiful day to wake up in Yellowstone. The temperature was 28 degrees or less last night, but it increased to 32 degrees by 8 am. Yeah!! We did the typical morning breakfast – pancakes, eggs and bacon (just had to make your mouth water :-). Then,…
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Yellowstone National Park Day 4
Yellowstone National Park, WY, May 2025 (Note: The animal pictures are set up as links to the pictures because you need to zoom in to see the details. This requires the back button to return to the page. The other pictures are embedded. Just click on them to return to the page.) This morning started…
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That is not a Dessert Beetle
Guernsey State Park, WY, May 2025 Get that beetle out of your mouth this instant. We ran across this walking back from looking at the train bridge. It was at least one inch long, possibly longer, with a slight iridescence on the back. From google searching, our best guess is that this is a pinacate…
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Sometimes, Your Neighbors are a Bunch of Turkeys
Guernsey State Park, WY, April 2025 It all started in the morning. John pushed the cat food bowls aside, and they made a “Gobble Gobble” sound. He poked the bowls a few more times, and they did not continue to “Gobble Gobble”. He told Kate that he thought we might have turkeys in our campsite.…
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Animals at St. Vrain State Park
Longmont, CO, April 2025 St. Vrain State Park is about 50 feet from highway 25, a major north/south route in the area. You can hear the traffic on the highway 24/7. The only exception might be when they close the road in the winter. For being as urban as it is, the park has a…
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Washita NWR: Centennial Trail
Washita National Wildlife Refuge, OK, March 2025 The state park and campgrounds are on the south eastern edge of Foss lake, and Washita National Wildlife Refuge is on the north western edge of Foss Lake. We had to go to Washita NWR because they have a cancel stamp for the national parks book. Sadly, the…
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Did you know there are white deer that are not Albino
Foss State Park, OK, March 2025 Growing up I always remember the albino deer at Fort McCoy. It was special when you caught sight of one. At Foss State Park visitors center, I learned that white deer exist that are not albino. There are white deer that have a little brown on them and the…
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On the Right Tracks …
Foss State Park, OK, March 2025 Foss State Park has a lot of red clay, so many of the animal tracks are pretty clearly captured in the red soil. After looking through animal track identification pages, this is probably a raccoon track. Those should be the two fore feet of a raccoon. We saw many…
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Prairie Park Nature Center in Lawrence, KS
Clinton State Park, KS, October 2024 The Prairie Park Nature Center is listed as one of the “Things To Do” in Lawrence, KS. We were not expecting much, so we were pleasantly surprised when it turned out better than expected. The nature center has more animals and animal artifacts than any other nature center we…
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Promachus Rufides Anyone?
Heron County Park, IL, August 2024 It sounds like it should be a cocktail, but it is a red-footed cannibalfly. They are also called bee panthers because they hunt bees. They are part of the robber fly, or assassin fly, family. The name reflects that they prey on other insects, including other robber flies, and…