We enjoyed yet another Oklahoma Wildlife Refuge loaded with fish-filled waterways and scenic, gorgeous landscape. Little River NWR is a gem of a place located in the deep SE corner of OK, founded to protect one of the largest remaining bottomland hardwood forests in Oklahoma. The refuge is characterized by low, wet habitat with old oxbow lakes and sloughs that wind their way throughout the bottom land habitat. We had not ever been in such a place and really enjoyed this unique area. We hit it on one of the hottest weeks of the summer, so we sweat every time we stepped outside (lots of humidity), but did not let the weather keep us indoors. Besides the fish were biting.....
Oliver is showing-off one of the first fish (a bass) caught during our visit. He caught it on his first cast of the visit.
These were the views from our favorite fishing spot on the refuge, along the Yashau Creek. The Little River NWR was established in 1987 as the nation's 438th refuge. It is 13,600 acres, designated into 5 units, all running along the Little River. In addition, there are over 15 other creeks, lakes and sloughs that run in and out of the refuge. Learn more about this special place by checking out their website:
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/little_river/
We saw deer every time we were on the refuge.
Here are some of the sights from the Duck Roost Slough boardwalk and observation deck, one of the many wetland areas in the refuge. In the fall and winter, you will see hundreds of migratory waterfowl in these waters.
We were very lucky to see, on numerous occasions, the indigo bunting, a royal blue bird that loves the warm temps here. They flit in and out of the trees very quickly, but their beautiful blue color is easy to spot, if you are on the watch for them. I never was able to capture them on the camera - they were always faster than my reflexes.
The refuge is the home of 11 Oklahoma "State Champion Trees". We appreciated the abundance of large cypress trees that are scattered throughout the refuge.
Little River NWR offers such interesting landscape and with that comes some beautiful plants and animals. We fell in love with the rose mallow, this white flower that was in abundance throughout the refuge. We also saw plenty of different kinds of dragonflies and other unique flowers.
More rose mallow....
This white buttonweed looks like it has hair. I adored this tiny little spectacular ground flower.
A nice-sized channel catfish.
I caught a few fish too!
This is David, the gregarious refuge manager at Little River. He was such a great host and super-friendly person. He took us to Unit 5 one afternoon, the furthest east on the refuge. It was a beautiful area. We also enjoyed working with the other members of the staff: Steve, Dalton and Gary. They all made us feel right at home.
A Butterfly Pea.
A freshwater drum.
Another channel catfish.
We also did some fishing and exploring along the Lower Mountain River inside of Beaver Bend State Park, just north of the refuge and the town of Broken Bow. This is another part of the state that is stocked regularly with fish and therefore draws plenty of fishermen throughout the summer.
Oliver caught some beautiful rainbow trout inside of Beaver Bend State Park. He caught four of them one afternoon and we put them all back in the water. He had a ball and I enjoyed watching him pull them in, one after another.
Here are some images of the Little River office. We enjoyed this nice open space for our working hours.
This was our living quarters - the Copper Canyon trailer in the shop area of the refuge. It is funny that the sky is cloudy in these photos as it was bright blue (sunny and hot!) for our entire visit, with the exception of one afternoon when it rained for about an hour. That is when these photos were taken.
These ultra-cool flowers are spider lilies and they were growing all over the refuge. We had never seen them before, so we were psyched that they were blooming during our August visit. You could easily see them in the woods - the white stood out against the browns and greens.
The above flower is a Virginia Meadow Beauty....and it is! (only we saw it in Oklahoma).
The above flower is a blue waterleaf and it grew along the edges of some of the sloughs.
The above flower is a Rose Vervain. These became noticeable towards the end of our visit.
What a cool place! And how different the landscape in this part of the state is versus the landscape in the southwest area, where the Wichita Mountains are located. We are in awe of the natural beauty of Oklahoma.
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