Fall Meadow at Lake Springfield Boathouse (1)

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We visited the meadow near the Lake Springfield (Missouri) Boathouse last week  on a sunny, but relatively cool fall morning. Near the Boathouse, I noticed some beautyberry and asters.

The large cup plant has already been cut down - the stumps of the 4-angled square stems obvious.

We noticed that the purple martin houses had been taken down; there were big mowers in the area around the boathouse as we walked toward the meadow.

A lot of meadow plants have already produced seed. The goldenrods and asters are still blooming…and a few thistles.  

The area that becomes an overflow creek during heavy rains was dry but there were some interesting plants around it:

Invasive bush honeysuckle with lots of red berries.

Seed pods of mallows.

There was only one milkweed plant I saw in the meadow…and wondered what happened to the plants I had seen earlier in the season. Perhaps they fell over, and the other plants hid them?

On the other side of the visitor center, I did find some milkweed with bursting seed ponds. The plants had fallen over but the seeds were still spilling out and floating away.

The vines in the trees were easy to see. The leaves on both poison ivy and Virginia creeper turn red in the fall! The edge of the forest is full of trees with the vines growing up the trunks and into the higher branches.

Tomorrow’s post will be about the insects we saw.

Ring of Fire (vicariously)

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My husband and daughter decided months ago that they would make a road trip to view the 10/14 annular eclipse. The first-choice location was near Albuquerque NM…the backup location (in case of clouds) was San Antonio TX; both were one-day drive from where we live in Missouri. My daughter made hotel reservations in both locations. About a week before the eclipse, the forecast for Albuquerque was surprisingly cloudy so San Antonio become the preferred location. On the Wednesday before the Saturday eclipse, the forecast for San Antonio was looking cloudy too! So – we quickly searched for another location. The Midland-Odessa TX forecast was clear and the drive was about the same as it would have been to San Antonio…and there were places just off the Interstate with parks and hotels….good eclipse viewing amenities. My daughter made reservations in Odessa and cancelled the ones in Albuquerque and San Antonio. They left early Friday morning to drive to Odessa; I stayed at home to take care of the cats and be home for my sister’s weekend visit. When they got to the hotel, everyone checking in was there for the eclipse the next day.

On Saturday, they set up easily. It was clear but windy enough that my husband opted to just use his cameras rather than his solar telescope. He got his classic ‘ring of fire’ picture.

After the eclipse they drove to Carrollton TX and got food delivered as they visited with my parents. They headed home the next day and stopped at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge along the way. They haven’t shown me any wildlife pictures…just  one of “grasshopper” oil pumps that are on refuge.

It was a busy 3 days for them and for me. We’re planning to all travel to be in the path of the total eclipse on 4/8/2024. We could view it from my parents’ house in Carrollton TX…or maybe in the southeastern corner of Missouri which would be even closer!

Pokeweed Truce

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Pokeweed is a native plant…but it grows too readily and easily becomes a nuisance. In previous years, I have pulled it, cut it, and dug out its roots. This year was a truce year and I anticipate that next year there will be peace! My strategy this year was to let is grow if it came up in my backyard…and was not in the way. It came up in lots of places – probably planted by birds (they eat the purple berries and then poop out the seeds):

Near a rose bush. The plant is growing at the edge of a flower bed that has landscaping cloth with rock on top; it roots probably found the edge of the cloth and have gone deeper into the soil. It’s better than having something with thorns (like the rose bush) hanging over the patio.

At the edge of my wildflower garden. The plants shaded some of the garden when it is very hot….made it easier to keep the soil from completely drying out. The pokeweed never got very high but produced a lot of berries.

Under my largest pine. I didn’t realize that pokeweed leaves turn red in the fall. The stems are a beautiful magenta all summer long. The pine tree had the lower branches trimmed earlier in the year and the pokeweed grew up through the bed of pine needles and filled in the space underneath but not growing up into the pine branches, preserving the privacy of the yard. Lots of berries for the birds this fall.

Towering over/leaning on a bush (very tall and gangly). Half of the plant was blown over in July. I probaby should have cut the rest down but I wanted to see what it would do. It stayed mostly upright although some branches are draped over the bush. I liked the green, magenta, and purple colors with the duller reddish color of the bush in the background.

In the mound where a pine had to be removed. Hopefully the other native plants that I’ve added to the mound will take over next year. For this year, the pokeweed is protecting the young plants…a good thing. Maybe the birds have already started eating the purple berries.

Under the smaller pine with branches lower to the ground. I am encouraged enough about how the pokeweed fills in that I will probably trim off the lower branches of the tree next spring.

In a flower bed at the corner of the house. There was a pokeweed growing in the same place last year between the hosta and violets.  It is a ‘late bloomer’ and probably won’t have as many mature berries for the birds.

In a flower bed near our rhododendron. No berries at all because I tried to pull this one but must not have gotten all the roots….it looks very lush at this point but immature. It will be interesting to see if the leaves turn red at some point.

My strategy for next year will be to actively encourage the pokeweed under the 2 pines, cut or pull any that is getting tall enough to blow over easily (or comes up in the wrong place…which might include the mound where a pine tree was removed). I’ll probably have pokeweed in my yard going forward and consider it as a positive element of the landscaping.

Hydrangea Flowers and Magnolia Pods

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It won’t be long before we have afternoons blowing/raking/mulching leaves in my daughter’s yard…but until then I am enjoying the end of her summer yard when I visit there. The seed pods of the Southern Magnolia are full of red seeds right now. They always remind me of red M&Ms! The pods will eventually become a nuisance on the ground…but on the tree they are interesting – colorful, splitting to allow the seeds to escape- these are prehistoric flowering trees with seed pods that look very much like cones.

She encouraged me to cut the flowers from her Asian hydrangea since temperatures into the 30s were being forecast. There were 3 flower clusters (others too…but they were not mature enough to open if cut). I trimmed the lower leaves off right after I cut them and put the flowers in a large vase as soon as I got home. They’ve been on my office windowsill within line of sight from where I sit at my computer since then.

The flowers last for a long time – which gave me several opportunities to do some artsy photography with them over the past few days. What’s not to like with the gentle pink and blue…bright green! I managed some almost high key images….with smudges of color and screen grid in the background.  It was a good ‘rainy day’ activity.

Josey Ranch – September 2023

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My visit to Josey Ranch (Carrollton TX) was shortly after sunrise. The two resident swans were still asleep on the larger pond….but there was a reflection of morning light on the water…which made the photograph worth it.

My visit to Josey Ranch (Carrollton TX) was shortly after sunrise. The two resident swans were still asleep on the larger pond….but there was a reflection of morning light on the water…which made the photograph worth it.

A Great Egret was fishing in the shallows. The water is low…so the shallows are a larger area of the pond now.

The surprise of the morning was 2 juvenile Little Blue Herons. I had seen one at Josey Ranch in August but seeing 2 caused me to wonder if they had hatched nearby. They both were looking for breakfast in the shallows. These birds will probably be migrating to south Texas (or further south) soon. Or maybe these birds were only at Josey Ranch as a rest stop during their migration.

Both the Great Egret and one of the Little Blue Herons were hunting next to each other at one point! The image shows the relative size of the two birds.

Carrollton Yard – September 2023

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There were no 100-degree days during the visit to my parents in Carrollton TX in late September; the yard was recovering – coping much better with the highs in the 90s. The sprinklers were able to make up for the lack of rain. The orange spider lilies were beginning to bloom. They were part of the landscaping in my sister’s house purchased over 30 years ago; she has propagated them into several other family yards. The red yuccas are still making seed pods, but the ratio has shifted to mature (and open) pods; those plants were the start of red yuccas in other yards as well.

We cut some of the spider lilies to enjoy inside. I did some high key photography of them – the vase in a window to create the bright background behind the flowers.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – September 2023 (2)

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I saw more than birds at Hagerman in September. There were large numbers of dragonflies in the air. I managed to see one sitting on a bit of dried grass near the road; photographed it through my open car window (like I do almost everything along the road through the refuge). There seemed to be so many dragonflies; it’s a good sign that there is a healthy population at Hagerman; they’ll lay eggs in the ponds where the larvae will overwinter – food for fish.

I did get out to photograph a large piece of driftwood that was on an island in the deepest pond. I liked the curves and the mystery of how it ended up positioned the way it was. Were their branches buried in the silt that kept it from falling over?

Back at the butterfly garden, I photographed three types of butterflies. I had seen all of them on previous visits.

The Monarchs were more numerous this time and I realized that they were probably migrating south to Mexico for the winter.  Supposedly the ones that make the long journey are larger than the ones that live their whole life during the summer months – never making a migration. Will there still be Monarch’s coming through when I return at the end of October? Maybe. The first frost in the Hagerman area is usually not before mid-November.

There was a bumblebee enjoying the flowers. I tried to photograph it from different angles.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – September 2023 (1)

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It was a very hot day when I made the road trip from Missouri to Texas in September. It was over 90 degrees when I made the exit to go to Hagerman – thinking that maybe the government would shut down before I headed home, and I wasn’t sure if the refuge would be accessible then.

There were a few migrants at the refuge that I hadn’t seen since last spring: White-faced Ibis,

Neotropic Cormorants (evidently this bird is expanding its range), and

I didn’t see any of the migratory ducks…maybe they will be there next month,

There were the usual egrets and herons. A snowy egret strutted in the shallows.

Several of the great blue herons looked like juveniles.

Some of the egrets (great and snowy) and a great blue heron were enjoying feeding in grassy areas that had been flooded.

I saw a snag with at least 8 white birds in it.

I zoomed in to take as many pictures as I could of individual birds. There were snowy egrets,

Cattle egrets, and

A juvenile little blue heron!

A great blue heron and great egret were on a snag in the water – the heron had just gotten a fish….the egret looks on.

Hagerman was ready for more birds that were probably coming soon in increasing numbers…and some will stay for the winter. Hopefully I will see more of them when I go in October.

Tomorrow’s post will focus on the non-bird sightings at Hagerman in September.

Road trip to/from Carrollton TX

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I made my monthly trip to Carrollton in the last week of September. It was very hot on the drive down. When I stopped at the Texas Welcome Center after crossing the Red River from Oklahoma it was already in the 90s. I had been listening to a wider variety of music during the drive down – relying on other sources than my usual USB stick; it kept me more alert during the drive.

The usual check of the beautyberry at the welcome center revealed that the berries are almost all turned purple. I also realized that there seemed to be a lot more plants than last year. Hurray for the beautyberry surviving and thriving the extra hot days this past summer!

The trip home started a week later – a little before 6 AM. The color before sunrise dominated the horizon as I made my first stop about 7 at a truck stop north of Denison TX.

The completion of asphalt work on several stretches of my route through Oklahoma made the drive the smoothest I can remember….and my husband had barbeque ready when I got home. As usual – it was good to be home again.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 7, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Nature's great survivors: Flowering plants survived the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs – Ancestors of orchids, magnolia, and mint all shared Earth with the dinosaurs…and are thriving today.

Woman Uses Hidden Cameras to Get Candid Look at Birds in Her Backyard – Birds (and squirrel, chipmunk, and groundhog) at the food bowl.

Climate Change Hurting Water Quality in Rivers Worldwide – Cycles of heavy rainfall and drought are impacting water quality everywhere.

Large amounts of sedentary time linked with higher risk of dementia in older adults, study shows – The average American is sedentary for about 9.5 hours per day! This study found that the risk of dementia begins to rapidly increase after 10 hours spent sedentary each day for people over 60 years old, regardless of how the sedentary time was accumulated.

The puzzling link between air pollution and suicide - More than 700,000 people kill themselves worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). People in the US might be particularly troubled to learn that the suicides here have increased by around 40% over the past two decades….and the nation now has one of the highest rates of wealthy, developed countries. Suicide disproportionately affects men. In the US, around 80% of suicides last year were male. More research is needed to understand the link between air pollution and suicide…but we already know that "tiny, invisible particles of pollution penetrate deep into our lungs, bloodstream and bodies…and are responsible for about one-third of deaths from stroke, chronic respiratory disease, and lung cancer, as well as one quarter of deaths from heart attack."

Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old mummy in Peru – Long hair still preserved.

Older adults with digestive diseases experience higher rates of loneliness, depression - While life expectancy rates for older Americans are rising, nearly 40% of adults report living with a digestive disease of some kind.

A Chronic Itch: Burrowing Beneath the Skin - Approximately 20% of people suffer from chronic itch, which is medically defined as an itch lasting greater than six weeks. For many, there is no relief. Itch has historically been one of the most overlooked medical symptoms, reflected in the limited available treatment options, most of which have only been discovered recently.

Puffins Are Making a Comeback in Maine - The fifty-year effort that helped puffins rebound in Maine is cause for celebration!

Capturing carbon in savannas: new research examines role of grasses for controlling climate change - Grasses accounted for over half of the soil carbon content across tropical savannas, including soils directly beneath trees. In general, forests primarily store their carbon in the woody trunks and aboveground leaves. In contrast, a significant portion of carbon in grassy ecosystems, such as savannas and grasslands, is stored in the soil, primarily within the extensive root systems of the grasses as well as decaying organic matter. In the context of long-term carbon storage, carbon retained in soils proves to be more reliable, particularly for a vulnerable future marked by warming and increased likelihood of drought and wildfires.

Sophia M. Sachs Butterly House

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After a day at the Missouri Botanical Garden – we headed to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House near St. Louis MO the next morning. Its another facility that is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We were there a few minutes before it opened and walked around the outside gardens. It included a giant butterfly and caterpillar sculpture!

There was also a butterfly bench like the ones in Brookside Gardens in Maryland!

There were many fall plants blooming too – including cone flowers, butterfly weed, and goldenrod.

We entered the building as it opened. Everything had a butterfly theme – even a wall sculpture near the restrooms.

The conservatory is a year-round climate-controlled space for butterflies. We were familiar with many of the butterflies there because of our experiences at Brookside. Some of the butterflies were tagged – not sure why. We enjoyed watching the children with their families experience the butterflies – noticing butterflies in the air…looking to see them on the fruit or in the foliage.

The exit  from the conservatory leads to another garden with a water feature and sculpture of a child with butterflies on her hand and knee.

It was a good morning activity. We enjoyed photographing the gardens and butterflies (would be even more appealing in the winter when the conservatory would be pleasantly warm compared to outdoors) and we headed home afterward.

Missouri Botanical Garden – Chihuly

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I enjoyed the Chihuly glass exhibition at the Missouri Botanical Garden the second time as much as I did the first time…. photographing the pieces during the day and then in the evening. There were some differences between the two visits.

My husband was enjoying photographing them too, so the pacing of our visit was slower around the glass than it had been with my daughter (who did not bring a camera other than her phone).

It rained for about 30 minutes during the Chihuly Night event! We spent most of it in the visitor center then made a quick round of the pieces we wanted to see when it stopped – with lightning in the distance. It was not a leisurely stroll…rather an exhaustive power walk between the glass installations.

The lightning for the Chihuly night was not as robust. It seemed that the lights were configured at the beginning of the installation and then not maintained for the duration of the exhibition (i.e. some were poorly illuminated during the second visit).

I attempted to capture the structure within the glass more than I did the first time.

The Fiori boat has a lot of interesting shapes that I hadn’t noticed during the first visit!

Last time, I photographed the yellow glass on the rose garden arches…but didn’t realize that they were owned by the garden and not in the exhibit brochure. I remembered to look for the name of the piece in this second visit: Trellisses.

I’m glad we made the effort to go again…in September when the Chihuly Nights were still being offered. The exhibition will end in mid-October. Next time I visit the garden, I want to tour the Tower Grove House!

Missouri Botanical Garden – September 2023

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I visited the Missouri Botanical Garden for the second time – this time with my husband rather than my daughter. Both of us enjoy garden photography! We timed our visit to see the Chihuly glass exhibition before it ended…more on that in tomorrow’s post. Today I am focused on the garden itself. The month since my previous visit had brought some seasonal changes: Fall leaves were thick near the entrance and scattered elsewhere in the garden.

Fall crocus were blooming.

I like to experiment with light – the center of a flower very bright…the background black.

Sometimes there are plants that catch my attention and I take a single picture to capture what I saw.

Waterlilies are always worth close looks.

The Climatron houses plants that would not survive in Missouri weather. It even includes a walkway behind a waterfall!

There were bees and butterflies that were busy – but still enough for portraits.

The Japanese Garden is one of my favorites: the foliage changing color, very large koi, lanterns…zigzag walkway over the water.

It was a good day in the garden – not as hot as a month earlier!

Clouds at Sunrise

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My husband and I started a road trip to St. Louis just before dawn on a damp morning. I thought at first that the sunrise was going to be completely obliterated by clouds. My husband said it was a good thing since we were heading east and would have had the sun glaring in our faces.

After the sun was up for about 10 minutes – the color became spectacular and I started taking pictures, enjoying that on this road trip I was a passenger rather than the driver!

The clouds were prolonging the sunrise color --- partially blocking the sun…wrapping the disk in gray.

Later the color skewed toward the yellow….and the clouds made it just as interesting.

By the time the clouds cleared – the sun was up high enough for our visors to be effective. It was a great start to our road trip!

Zooming – September 2023

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The beauty of the early morning in Texas - Hagerman and Josey Ranch and my parents’ yard….the wildness of Shaw Nature Reserve (near St. Louis MO) in the early afternoon…the joys of nature in my neighborhood (Nixa MO). These are the locations where my selections of zoomed images for September were made. The month was very much between summer and fall – starting hot and getting a bit cooler as the month progressed, still very green but the occasional beginning of fall color. Enjoy the September slideshow!

Ten Little Celebrations – September 2023

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Welcoming cooler temperatures…the beginning of fall. Lots to celebrate!

Shaw Nature Reserve. A first visit…a short hike. Celebrating the place and an early fall day with my daughter.

Pawpaw. Celebrating a new fruit…and its native to North America. I planted the seeds; maybe they’ll come up next spring/summer and I’ll have pawpaws from my yard in 5-7 years.

Wood Duck in an Egret picture. I was taking a picture of an egret catching a fish but celebrated the wood duck in the background when I looked at the image on a big monitor!

Pineapple Whip. Celebrating a birthday with a unique-to-Springfield MO treat!

New addition for my travel computer. Celebrating a new mouse, mini-keyboard, and portable monitor to travel with my laptop. It will make packing easier and using my laptop more comfortable for my week in Texas every month.

Yellow/orange Watermelon. Cutting the watermelon, we got from our CSA revealed something different than the usual red! I celebrated a great watermelon and the memory of the yellow watermelon that my paternal grandparents grew (along with red ones) during my childhood.

Green Heron at the Neighborhood Pond. Surprise! The bird was hiding in plain sight, but I didn’t see it until it flew…and celebrated that I was able to photograph it in the place where it landed. Green herons are one of my favorite birds to watch because they can change their shape (extending or contracting their neck) so quickly.

Beautyberry. Buying a beautyberry for my yard had been on my list for a bit….I celebrated that I found one at the Shaw Nature Reserve’s Wildflower Festival.

Vaccinations. My husband and I celebrated that we could easily schedule getting both the updated flu and COVID-19 vaccinations…increasing our confidence of staying well as we travel more this fall.

5 Native Plants. I celebrated when I got the 5 new native plants in the ground…and they seem to be doing well in my yard.

Green Heron in the Neighborhood

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I took a walk around our neighborhood ponds on a pleasantly cool morning. I noticed the redbud tree that was damaged by a storm more than a month ago. One of the cut trunks was obviously not healthy and might have been why the tree was vulnerable to the wind. A small branch from another cut surface was already a ‘fall’ color rather than green…and became the subject of the most artsy image of the morning.

There were little fish in shallow (warmer) water. They probably have reduced the mosquito population!

Just after I photographed the fish, a green heron startled - flew up and away; fortunately, it did not go too far, and I had plenty of time to enjoy photographing the bird. Their coloring helps them blend in so well that they are often hard to spot so I take full advantage photographing the birds when I happen upon them. They change their shape…sometimes with a short neck…sometimes stretching out their neck (even though their neck is still thicker than many herons).

There was also a Great Blue Heron that I didn’t see until too late to photograph well – it is on the other side of the bridge in the image below.

There were turtles on the side of the pond at one point. The morning was still cool and they were soaking up the sun.

There were plants going to seed around the pond, the willow draping over the pathway, honeysuckle blooming, very young maple trees turning red, and grasses that were not totally green!

Overall – a pleasant walk….with the Green Heron as the highlight….the other bits and pieces providing the context.

Macro Maple

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The sucker growing at the base of one of our red maples is now in a small vase in my office….and became an opportunity for some macro photography! The leaves had a lot of red pigment along with the green. The new leaves are red…the newer stems are red…and sometimes injured areas are red as well. The new leaves are the most obvious. In reality – even the green leaves have the red pigment; it is just overwhelmed by the green of the chlorophyll – until fall when the chlorophyll dies and leaves the whole tree full of red leaves!

As I moved around the sucker, I found a tiny spider….too small for my macro set up to capture. I lost track of it…so now the tiny spider could be roaming my office!

Spiders on Deck

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We haven’t been out on our deck very much this summer. A pair of barn swallows built a nest on one of the walls and became frantically active to divert attention from the nest if we ventured out there. They are gone now, and we are planning to knock down the nest and scrub the area under it.

But - our steering clear of the area has resulted in spiders moving in! One funnel spider made its funnel between the cushion and back of a chair! It must not have been a good spot since the funnel is abandoned.

The same is true of the large web (maybe not a funnel) in the corner of a window. This one was successful in trapping a cicada…which might have been more than the spider could handle!

We have lots of funnel spiders in our yard…and they are often still inhabited. I photographed one after out sprinklers ran (water droplets) and got a closer view of the spider lurking in the funnel!

Our deck is a story off the ground but perhaps the spiders drift upward under some conditions - with a silken parachute!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 16, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Kitchen chemistry hacks explained – How many of these did you know before this article? I knew about lemon juice slowing browning of fruit…I’m going to try the ‘brown onions more quickly’ and ‘chop onions more comfortably.’

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Distributed Wind Power – Interesting update….and map of annual average wind speed at 30 m. There is so much potential in the center of the country. It would be interesting to see the map extended offshore…but maybe that kind of wind power is only used for wholesale generation rather than distributed wind power.

Dust: how the pursuit of power and profit has turned the world to powder – A review of the book about ‘tiny particles doing terrible things’ created by detonation of nuclear weapons, burning coal, and drying of lakes via irrigation. These tiny particles influence our environment, our health, and our relationship with the world around us. They move around the planet through the air…no one is ‘safe’ from them.

More small airports are being cut off from the air travel network. This is why - A shortage of pilots is partially to blame for major airlines' departure from smaller airports. But changing airline economics means the challenge facing regional airports could become insurmountable. Williamsport PA is the example used in the article.

Health evidence against gas and oil is piling up, as governments turn a blind eye – An Australian perspective…but seems to be applicable to many developed countries, including the US. The methane leaks, water contamination, air pollution…why do we continue to push for gas and oil development rather that pivoting to cleaner (and renewable) sources?

Wyoming and Utah Borderlands – A picture from the International Space Station. I remembered a trip to Utah in 2008 where we drove in the area with a Roadside Geology of Utah book explaining the surface geologic features!

New research explains 'Atlantification' of the Arctic Ocean – Changes coming in the Arctic as a 15-year cycle is ending….and the next phase could result in a faster pace of sea-ice loss.

Stone Case Holding Precious Items Found at Templo Mayor – 15 stone figures found at the temple complex of Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. The figures may have already been 1,000 years old when the Aztecs conquered the Mezcala people that carved them. Also in the case: two rattlesnake-shaped earrings, more than 180 green stone beads, snails, shells, and marine corals.

Workers like it when their employers talk about diversity and inclusion - Research has shown that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives improve creativity, innovation, productivity and organizational performance. One of the reasons DEI initiatives have a positive impact is because workers appreciate them. It’s about making sure everyone feels valued and included.

What Does It Take to Photograph a Bat Cave? – Photographer Stephen Alvarez….lots of specialized photographs.