We got an early start and got to Lake Elmer Thomas in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge a little after 7AM. Though we didn't see many birds, there were still a lot of wildflowers blooming.

Wildflowers at Lake Elmer Thomas, Lawton, OK

Thistle and other wildflowers

Thistle

Wildflowers growing out of the granite at Lake Elmer Thomas dam

Thistle

Yellow and blue wildflowers

Yellow wildflowers with gray-green foliage

Wildflowers

Lake Elmer Thomas

Thistle and spiderwort

Wildflowers

Thistle

At the Mt Scott picnic area, we found a juvenile or female Baltimore Oriole.

A little farther down the road, we found these two bison.

At the side of the road, we saw these yellow and lavender wildflowers.

Wildflowers

Close-up of wildflower

Wildflowers

Another wildflower close-up

Overhead view of wildflowers

European Starling on the power line along the road to Holy City

Our next stop was the Holy City. Behind the gift shop was this little rock cabin.

Close-up of the red rock cabin at Holy City, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Lawton, OK

One of the structures at the Holy City in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Red rock structure at the Holy City

Rock Wren on one of the buildings at Holy City

Rock Wren

A Great Blue Heron flew over us while we were at the Holy City.

Killdeer on the grounds at Holy City

American Kestrel outside Holy City

American Kestrel

One of three Scissor-tailed Flycatchers we saw as we were leaving the Holy City.

Adult male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher showing his underwing colors to us

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

From the Holy City of the Wichitas, we drove to nearby Rush Lake; again we missed birds but found this garden spider.

At Jed Johnson Lake, we saw a distant Great Blue Heron perched on top of an evergreen tree at the edge of the water.

Back out on SH 49, we came across another bison.

Lone bison along SH 49

Bison

We turned onto the road to Quanah Parker Lake and found this tarantula.

Snow-on-the-Mountain

Close-up of Snow-on-the-Mountain

Milkweed

Antelope-horns Milkweed (Asclepias asperula) close-up

Wildflower

Wildflower

Mary compared her foot to a bison track at Lake Quanah Parker.

Jan walked out on the lake bed to get a closer photo of the bison on the east shore.

Bison on the east shore of Quanah Parker Lake

Bison

One of the bison decided to take a dirt bath.

Killdeer at Lake Quanah Parker

Killdeer

Bison

Lone bison

Bison in repose

As we were walking back to the car, I saw this Tiger Beetle racing along in the dirt next to the trail.

Unopened Antelope-horns Milkweed (Asclepias asperula)

Yellow wildflowers

Rock face below the dam at Lake Quanah Parker

Lake Quanah Parker dam

Wildflowers near the dam

Wildflower

More milkweed

Along the road across from the visitor center, there were sunflowers growing next to the guard rail.

Sunflower

Sunflowers

More sunflowers along the road

It was so windy, Jan had to hold this one upright while Mary tried to get a photo.

Another bison

As we drove west on SH 49 near the education center, someone (probably Keri) spotted a group of Wild Turkeys walking through the trees.

The feathers of the Wild Turkey are colorful.

Wild Turkey

We stopped at the big Prairie Dog town to get some photos.

There were a couple of bison at the south edge of the Prairie Dog town.

Prairie Dog

The bison didn't seem pleased to have our attention and started wandering farther away from us.

The Prairie Dogs, on the other hand, seemed to like our attention and posed amiably.

Whose camera should we be looking at?

A pair of bison near the Prairie Dog town

Maybe they weren't avoiding us, but just returning to their group up on the hill.

Prairie Dog chewing a morsel of grass

Bison on the hill south of us and "our" two approaching them

Instead of a lonely bull, we found a lonely bison.

Bison and sky at the Wichita Mountains

Bison

And one a little closer

Another solitary bison on a hill

This one decided to cross our path and the driver of the oncoming car wisely decided to give it the right-of-way.

The second of two bison crossing the road in front of us

Bison

We left the refuge and went to Medicine Park for lunch. After lunch, Mary and Jan walked over to the creek and took a few photos of ducks and geese on the water.

As we were leaving Medicine Park, Jan noticed this Osprey on a cable across Medicine Creek and Mary got a photo.

A pair of prairie dogs at the Holy City village where we stopped after lunch.

This prairie dog is either praying or smelling the fragrance of the grass on its fingers.

And then it noticed I was watching.

Yellow wildflower

Lavender-colored wildflower

Wildflower

Great Blue Heron on the north side of Lake Quanah Parker near the Education Center.

We walked the path from the parking lot at the Education Center to the lake and found this mushroom growing on a tree.

There weren't many birds out in the wind, but these dragonflies were holding on.

Dragonfly at Education Center at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge

Dragonfly

Mary spotted this spider in its web along the trail.

At the concrete pier, we started taking a few photos of each other.

Keri and Jan on the pier at Quanah Parker Lake, Wichita Mountains WR, Lawton, OK

Keri and Jan on the pier at Quanah Parker Lake

Keri and Jan

Jan and Keri, in the wind at Lake Quanah Parker

Jan and Keri, showing her emotive side

Mary and I were both taking photos, so the event was well-documented.

Jan and Keri

Jan and Keri

And Jan got one of Mary and me, also wind-blown.

Back out on SH 49, we stopped to take some more bison photos.

Bison

Bison at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Lawton, OK

Driving east on our way out of the park, we found the same two bison where we'd found them in the morning.

Bison close-up

Another bison close-up

Jan suggested we stop to see if we could re-locate the porcupine we'd seen in the morning and we did; it didn't look like it had moved much since we saw it earlier.

Porcupine, seen from the road in the Mt Scott picnic area

I walked out into the field to see if I could get a less obstructed view and found the porcupine looking down at me.

Without looking closely, the porcupine looked like a gorilla in the tree. This was our last photo stop; we headed back to OKC from here.