{"id":166199,"date":"2025-12-27T06:24:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T12:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=166199"},"modified":"2025-12-28T04:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T10:30:00","slug":"christmas-day-great-blue-heron-and-turtle-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/12\/27\/christmas-day-great-blue-heron-and-turtle-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Day Great Blue Heron And Turtle At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreatGreat Blue Heron and turtle on Christmas Day at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, beanbag, f8, 1\/3200, ISO 1000, -1.3 EV, Canon RF 100-500mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

On Christmas Day I photographed a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in Miner’s Cove at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Yes, a turtle in winter!<\/p>\n

I knew about the heron being at Miner’s Cove because my dear friend and wildlife photographer, Steve Creek<\/span><\/a>, called and let me know it was there. I drove my Jeep in front of Steve’s pickup and started to photograph the immature heron right away.<\/p>\n

You never know when the herons at the refuge will fly off. They can be rather skittish.<\/p>\n

Something up the road in front of me caught my eye, and I realized that a bicyclist was heading right toward us. I quickly texted Steve to let him know about the man on the bicycle and took a few more stills before switching over to video.<\/p>\n

I was fairly certain the bicyclist would cause the heron to fly off, and he did, as you will see in the video below.<\/p>\n

<\/lite-youtube><\/div><\/div>\n

The sound in the background of this video<\/span><\/a> is the bicyclist who came down the gravel road. I didn’t even notice the turtle in the video until the next day while reviewing my photos and videos of the heron.<\/p>\n

The record breaking temp reached 80\u00b0F on Christmas Day, which is probably why the turtle appeared. Can you see it?<\/p>\n

\"TurtleTurtle at Miner’s Cove on Christmas Day at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma \u2013 Canon R7, beanbag, f8, 1\/3200, ISO 1000, -1.3 EV, Canon RF 100-500mm at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo above is a blown up version of the first image. I wanted to show the turtle closer up. I believe it is a Red-eared Slider. On Christmas Day! Because the temperature was so warm.<\/p>\n

The weather here has been weirdly warm for December. It is supposed to be 81\u00b0F today. That is freaky!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Birds and wildlife make it totally fascinating.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Great Blue Heron photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Christmas Day I photographed a Great Blue Heron and a turtle in Miner’s Cove at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Yes, a turtle in winter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,166,13973,13974],"tags":[4117,13984,3987,627,626,4067,4962,14047,14021,7948,14020,13976,7945,313,3996,4095,373,4193],"class_list":["post-166199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-great-blue-herons","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-bottomlands","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-heron","tag-herons","tag-immature","tag-log","tag-miners-cove","tag-oklahoma","tag-red-eared-slider","tag-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-slough","tag-turtle","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-wetlands","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/great-blue-heron-turtle-christmas-day-mia-mcpherson-3601.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-HeD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":115070,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/09\/great-blue-heron-and-azolla-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":166199,"position":0},"title":"Great Blue Heron And Azolla at Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 9, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A quick post about a Great Blue Heron hunting for breakfast in Azolla at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in June in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Great Blue Heron at Sequoyah NWR, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/great-blue-heron-azolla-mia-mcpherson-1153.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":114019,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/28\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":166199,"position":1},"title":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Until a few days ago, I hadn't photographed a single Yellow-crowned Night Heron in almost fourteen years. I photographed this one at Sequoyah NWR in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-crowned Night Heron perched in a tree, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/yellow-crowned-night-heron-adult-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-3463.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/great-blue-heron-bog-smartweed-oklahoma-ma-mcpherson-9075.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":131073,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/23\/green-heron-images-from-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":166199,"position":3},"title":"Green Heron Images From Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning, I'm sharing three Green Heron photos plus a short video that were taken at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma earlier this month.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green Heron about to lift off from a branch, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/green-heron-miners-cove-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-9807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I photographed this Great Blue Heron two days ago when the autumn sky was gray with clouds on Sally Jones Lake at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Great Blue Heron on a gray autumn day, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/great-blue-heron-gray-fall-day-mia-mcpherson-4297.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/great-blue-heron-gray-fall-day-mia-mcpherson-4297.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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