{"id":167261,"date":"2026-01-21T05:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=167261"},"modified":"2026-01-21T05:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:53:33","slug":"beaver-lodge-canada-geese-and-a-great-blue-heron-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/01\/21\/beaver-lodge-canada-geese-and-a-great-blue-heron-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaver Lodge, Canada Geese, And A Great Blue Heron At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BeaverBeaver lodge, Canada Geese, and a Great Blue Heron at Sequoyah NWR \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/640, ISO 1000, Canon RF 100-500mm at 500mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, I stopped at Lower Scarborough Slough to photograph the beaver lodge and surrounding forest, and also got Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron in my photos.<\/p>\n

The resting Great Blue Heron, perched on the beaver lodge, seemed to be keeping one eye on the Canada Geese.<\/p>\n

The slough provides rich, year-round habitat for beavers, otters, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and countless other forms of life. It\u2019s one of those places that quietly does everything right, filtering water, slowing floods, and offering food and shelter to species that depend on wetlands to survive.<\/p>\n

Beavers shape the landscape here, creating lodges and waterways that benefit nearly everything else that lives in or passes through. Birds use the slough for feeding, resting, and nesting. Fish and amphibians rely on the calmer waters.<\/p>\n

Even during the quieter months of winter, the slough continues doing its work, supporting life through every season rather than just the obvious ones.<\/p>\n

Places like this don\u2019t shout for attention, but they matter deeply. Without sloughs and wetlands, entire food webs unravel. This one is a reminder of how much life can be supported when nature is allowed to function the way it was meant to.<\/p>\n

Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a> has very unique habitat that is found within the Arkansas River flood plain that includes bottomland hardwood forests, sloughs, lakes, and wetlands.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, I stopped at Lower Scarborough Slough to photograph the beaver lodge and surrounding forest, and also got Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron in my photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":167258,"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":[15151,27,28,166,13973,13974],"tags":[15158,4117,16273,14190,13984,32,4774,15159,713,3987,626,14912,6607,13976,4076,313,3996,2063,373],"class_list":["post-167261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-beavers","category-avian","category-canada-geese","category-great-blue-herons","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-american-beaver","tag-ardea-herodias","tag-beaver-lodge","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forest","tag-bottomlands","tag-branta-canadensis","tag-canada-geese","tag-castor-canadensis","tag-geese","tag-great-blue-heron","tag-herons","tag-lower-scarborough-slough","tag-shrubs","tag-slough","tag-trees","tag-wading-birds","tag-water","tag-waterfowl","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sequoyah-nwr-great-blue-heron-canada-geese-mia-mcpherson-4471.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-HvL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":139004,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/01\/28\/january-journey-to-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":167261,"position":0},"title":"January 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Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Serenity at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sequoyah-nwr-serenity-mia-mcpherson-7317.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sequoyah-nwr-serenity-mia-mcpherson-7317.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sequoyah-nwr-serenity-mia-mcpherson-7317.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sequoyah-nwr-serenity-mia-mcpherson-7317.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not sure where 2025 went, but I know it seemed to be the holiday season a bit too fast. 2026 will appear in the blink of an eye.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Happy Holidays - Pink sunrise over Lower Scarborough Slough, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sequoyah-nwr-lower-scarborough-slough-pink-mia-mcpherson-3153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sequoyah-nwr-lower-scarborough-slough-pink-mia-mcpherson-3153.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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There are several sloughs at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In "Oklahoma"","block_context":{"text":"Oklahoma","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/oklahoma\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunrise at Lower Scarborough Slough, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sequoyah-nwr-lower-scarborough-slough-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-6813.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sequoyah-nwr-lower-scarborough-slough-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-6813.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sequoyah-nwr-lower-scarborough-slough-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-6813.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/sequoyah-nwr-lower-scarborough-slough-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-6813.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}