Morse Park is home to many species of wildlife. Most park users will see wildlife on any visit.
Our wildlife includes many types of songbirds, and depending on the season of the year, you can hear their songs all day.
Some very special birds like the bald eagle, our national symbol, visit our park occasionally soaring through the valley skies.
Other birds include the eastern wild turkey (one of my personal favorites) that can visit from time to time.
Eastern wild turkeys are usually associated with wildlands in Missouri. These large, ground-dwelling birds are a timid, wary bird that usually flee at the very sight of people and are off running or flying to safety.
But sometimes they will find their way into the city limits of Neosho and Morse Park.
Other creatures that we don’t often associate with our park would be a beaver. Many times, when I have been down along Hickory Creek with my grandkids, we will find sticks along the stream that have had the bark removed.
Beavers are herbivores meaning they eat plants, mostly being the inner bark of woody plants that grow along Hickory Creek.
I have only glimpsed a beaver as it retreated from me out of my sight.
Someone took this picture of a beaver sitting on the bridge on Coler Street one morning before many people showed up in the park.
Another common animal that can be seen in Morse Park is the eastern whitetail deer. Whitetail deer will flip their tail up when startled, exposing the white underside as a signal of alarm to anything that can see.
They also blow a snorting noise to intruders to frighten them away.
