"What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked." -Aldo Leopold
This stained adult Sandhill Crane is currently visiting some soy fields near St. Louis.
“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. The quality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words.”
-Aldo Leopold
“A Sand County Almanac And Sketches Here and There”
“Stained Adult Sandhill Crane”
Several weeks back Sarah and I jumped in the N.E.V. and decided to go put a few more Missouri Ozark water mills on our list. Armed with a copy George Suggs’ “Water Mills of the Missouri Ozarks”, we decided to go after a few that were closer to home. The first on the list for the day was the Byrnesville Mill. After doing some location scouting on Google and Google Maps, I decided to just tell the GPS to take us to the town of Byrnesville, then I would go from there. Of all the cool things, the GPS led us directly to the mill! If only all my destinations were this easy. We pulled into a large drive and I realized quickly we were on private property, with cool farm, pioneer and ruin type structures all around us. Looking around I see a white-haired gentlemen coming out of one of the buildings. We strike up a conversation and I let him know what we are looking for. He goes on to tell us some fascinating stories about the buildings and particularly the Byrnesville Mill. 
Jim had bought this mill in 1976 and converted it into a home where he raised a family. I couldn’t think of a better place to grow up! This was one of a dozen or more mills along a rather short stretch of the Big River. Elaborate dams, like the one pictured above, and other containment structures were built with most of these mills in order to efficiently harness the water’s power. The Big River is a remarkable waterway for Smallmouth Bass fishing and apparently it doesn’t get much better than right outside Jim’s back door. Talk about envy! Jim was most gracious and let us walk about the property, including his own personal bridge that the railways used to cross the Big River. The image below shows some of the fascinating objects one can find by exploring the property.
Further conversation with Jim led to the discovery that he also owned the nearby Cedar Hill Mill, which we had planned on visiting as well. Jim had purchased this mill in 1982 with plans on using it to generate and sell electricity. This plan did not work out and he has been doing a pretty good job of maintaining it since. They are currently brainstorming ways that the structure could be used for business.
I told Jim about the boom in micro/craft beers and brewery/restaurant style establishments in St. Louis during the past several years. This building is four stories with part of a river running through it. Would this not be the perfect place for a little micro brewery and pub!?!?
Seriously, just relocate the several thousand mud-daubers and the swallows, but leave everything else as is. I’ll even name the first brew: Cedar Hill Mill IPA. Easy.
It is interesting to read and hear about the changes that went through the life cycle of these water mills as diesel and electricity became much more efficient sources of power. This mill, built in 1876, was first built to mill grain for human consumption. Jim told me it was also used to mill grain for the pet-food trade and the energy captured was also utilized in the production of ice.
The majority of the water mill structures along this popular stretch of the Big River have fallen to time and ages. Likewise many of the dams have been breached as can be seen in the above picture. This was a popular spot on this Sunday afternoon as dozens of people swarm to this spot to swim and fish. Just as Jim allowed us access inside his mill to take photos, it comes as no surprise he allows his neighbors to use the dam and the river along his property. With the magic of long-exposure photography, you can see no signs of the several people who were moving along the dam when this image was taken.
Even though Sarah and I could not find a great place for a meal (always a goal of mine during travels) during this trip, meeting Jim and taking some images I’m somewhat happy with was a great way to spend the day. I can’t wait to visit Jim again, give him a print or two as thanks for allowing us to explore his properties and hopefully make some more memories.
Do I have a man-crush on David Essex? You’re damn right, and I’m not apologizing. I know a lot of people have strong feelings about what they want done with their bodily remains following their last breath. My personal philosophy was put very nicely by the comic, David Cross, “…I don’t care, because I can’t.” If I have any loved ones when I die, I hope they do whatever they think is best and most convenient for them. However, if they want to go through with a lot of trouble, instead of spending all that money on an over-priced box and funeral home and burial plot and deli sandwiches, here is something at least I would be entertained by.
I once read about a procedure that the hipsters in Europe are doing as an alternative to cremation. Lyophilization. This is just the fancy term for freeze-drying. In this hypothetically more environmentally friendly procedure, the body is freeze dried then thrown into a hopper filled with heavy ball bearings. Then the hopper is shaken by a giant paint shaker type apparatus until the remains are basically a fine powder. So, everything but the water is gone and I helped by slowing my carbon’s escape into the environment!
Okay, so if 60% of a human body is water weight, what to do with the 60 lbs of powdered Bill? That’s a great question. Here is what I think would be nice (no, snorting or ingesting of said product will not be considered). On a pleasant evening near sunset, hall my ass up to Elephant Rocks in as many Thomas Coffee cans as needed, gather whoever desires to be present and play David Essex’s “Rock On” on a boom box or giant speaker wall or whatever is handy. Then you can spread Bill-dust across the landscape while Rosie Perez screams “Billy!” over and over, a la White Men Can’t Jump. Like I said, I don’t really care what happens after I die, because I can’t. But, if nobody has any better ideas, I’m thinking this would be a pretty cool way to be sent off.
Here is a photo…
“Walled In”
Along with being a place of limitless compositions, another reason I love visiting and making pictures at Elephant Rocks is the variety of those potential compositions. The grander landscape shots are there; however, if you find yourself visiting on a late Saturday morning during the summer (why do most people venture to these places during the hottest times of the year?), you’ll find that these types of comps are not possible without catching little Johnny and his folks as well. Trust me little Johnny and his mother don’t give a damn that you have been sitting in the same spot for over an hour waiting for just the right light or clouds to move in. They’ll walk directly in front of your lens. At Elephant Rocks there is also great potential for the intimate landscapes. With these types of comps you can move right into the tight spaces and will have a much better chance of not having little Johnny and his booger-picking fingers in you final image. Do be careful though, as little Johnny and his siblings will likely be climbing on these rocks and might easily come into contact with your tripod, which might be precariously setup on the same rocks they’re interested in jumping on.
Part of my Missouri Ozarks grist mill series, this image shows the Dillard Mill in late afternoon light, watching over the Huzzah Creek as the small river works it’s way through a series of man-made impoundments. There has been a mill structure on this location since 1853, the current building was completed in 1908. This was the last stop of the day in a day trip Sarah and I took this spring. Although warm, the setting was perfect. The quaint, old, warm structure set against last years hay bales in the field immediately behind, the contrasts in water as it rushed down rocky barricades, stopping in motionless, clear ponds, and the chatter of birds like the Belted Kingfisher made us hate to get back into the car and take the drive back to the city.
This weekend I spent both mornings at Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary, arriving near dawn and walking around the trails for a few hours before the extreme heat of the day took over. Sarah got up early and came with me this morning. Saturday morning I was fortunate to spot this guy feasting on carcases of fish that succumbed to the poorly oxygenated waters of the shrinking, heated pools of the wetlands. This was my first opportunity at shooting a raccoon. Even at such an early morning hour, the back-light serves to give a sense of the heat and humidity that were already noticeable.
One of the photographic challenges of this location is trying to get shots of the song birds that live among the tall grasses. They usually stay pretty far from the trails and are usually hidden low in the vegetation. This Common Yellowthroat Warbler was close enough and partially obscured by the grasses.
One of the pleasure one can get from a summertime visit to RMBS is watching the Least Tern. I love watching these guys fish. This one is beginning the plunge into the water off of Ellis Island to grab a little fish.
Kudos to Sarah, who took a closer look at these guys. What looked like a bunch of tadpoles gulping at the surface of one of these rapidly vanishing pools was actually a nice-sized school of small catfish. If rains do not come soon, these guys have no chance.
Sarah also spotted this thistle in early bloom and asked that I take its picture. I haven’t done a lot of macro style shooting with the 400mm, but I know that using the super tele’s to do this can work magic. The focus isn’t perfect, but I was actually fighting the minimum focus distance. I need to try this with dragonflies and other large insects.
This morning there was actually a bit of cloud cover over the sun. I decided to try a little panning blur and thought this was an apt image to go along with the record breaking heat we’ve been experiencing. Stay cool everyone. I am sure looking forward to all the time I’ll have to spend in the greenhouse this week. ;=)
After a long hiatus from blogging, I decided to try this again. I was able to load this image with no problems. Hopefully this will continue and I can keep making posts.
This is probably my favorite image made during Sarah and my trip through the Shawnee region of southern Illinois this spring. Seeing some spectacular images online of this place, I couldn’t wait to get here. Garden of the Gods is located on the eastern side of the Shawnee, so this was our “final destination” as we progressed further from StL. And although we did see some nice spots, like Bell Smith Springs and Burden Falls, during this rather dry spring, GoG turned out to be the paramount stop.
We arrived with less than 30 minutes of light left during the first evening. We only saw a limited view of the exposed rocks and watched a pretty nice sunset, but had no real time for or notion of how to set up for a photograph. We drove back to the very nice cabin we had located near Eddyville, about a 30 minute drive from GoG, and stayed the night. I got up well before dawn and arrived back at GoG about a half hour before sun rise. Although I was not fortunate enough to be able to capture a spectacular sunset or sunrise during our brief visit, I was happy with the light presented the morning I made this image.
What I found fascinating is the apparent remoteness of this spot. Even though it is only about 30-45 minutes from some decent sized towns, this spot seemed more remote and “out of the way” than most spots I visit in the Ozarks. The morning I made this image I was alone except for one young man who seemed to be in his early twenties. I saw him in the parking lot with nothing but the clothes on his back. There were no other vehicles and he was pacing around acting oddly. I wondered if I should ask him if he needed some assistance or a ride, but something about him was weird. He didn’t seem to acknowledge me, so I didn’t confront him. I’m not sure if I did the right thing or not. I watched him lay down on a bench as I drove away.
As I believed I mentioned before, the one nice thing I learned was how close many of these spots in the Shawnee are to StL. GoG is only about 2.5 hours from our front door. For some reason I expected these spots to be a longer drive. I’m definitely excited to make some more visits to these spots and keep tracking that sweet light.
Today’s post spotlights a few images I took recently at the least well-known, but perhaps my favorite, of the Ste. Genevieve trio gem locations found in south-eastern Missouri, Hickory Canyons Natural Area. The other two nearby locations are Hawn State Park and Pickle Springs Natural Area. Much of the exposed rock in this area is known as LaMotte sandstone and was deposited around 500 million years ago under the Paleozoic sea, which covered this region except the igneous knobs of what are now called the St. Francois Mountains. Unlike the other sedimentary rocks – like dolomite and limestone that compose much of the Ozarks, sandstones are generally much more resistant to erosion. This results in rock features that are often quite spectacular to the eye and the canyons, bluffs and other exposed sandstone bedrock have become favorites for hikers, rock climbers and other travelers to this region.
Two short hikes are available at Hickory Canyons N.A. Both offer great views of the rock formations, including wet-weather waterfalls like the one shown below.
The overhangs and cracks created in these box canyons, gorges and cascades provide opportunities for ferns, mosses and lichens. In fact, these three spots mentioned above in Ste Genevieve Co are the only place the fern enthusiast need travel to in Missouri. The well-draining, sandy and acidic soils found here are perfect for species like wild-rose azalea, hay fern and rattlesnake orchid. White oak, hickories, sugar maples, short-leaf pine and flowering dogwood are the primary tree species found at this location. A few trips during spring time are definitely worth it to find some of these fantastic plants in bloom set against these dripping canyons and ephemeral cascades and waterfalls. The wild-rose azaleas bloomed about six weeks early this spring and I missed them. Oh well, something to look forward to next year.
As the glaciers of the last major ice age retreated, species that required lower temps and had higher water requirements moved back north as well. These canyons provide cooler and wetter environments for relict species like the one pictured above, the partridge berry. This evergreen vine-like tiny shrub can be found throughout the canyon and hollow floors along with lichens and mosses.
I’m finally taking a few of the images I made during my first visit to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge last autumn and putting them into a blog post. Living within miles of the Mississippi River Flyway – an ancestral route many migratory birds follow in their north-south seasonal movements – I have all sorts of options in visiting well-managed wetland areas to watch and photograph waterfowl. Of all these locations none has the opportunities for getting great looks at numbers and diversity of bird species that can be found at Squaw Creek NWR, located near Mound City in north-western Missouri, not too far from the Nebraska Border.
The big stars at Squaw Creek around Thanksgiving and surrounding weeks are the Snow Geese. For years I had read about and seen images of the more than one million birds that pass through this location every fall. At peak times more than 500,000 birds can be counted on the reserve at one time. I had images in mind that I hoped to make if I could find the birds present in these kinds of numbers. I really had little clue of where and when I needed to be set up and if I had the ammunition (lenses) to make the images I had in mind. I feel the photos I was able to get are of mixed success due to several reasons. I was quite lucky in the numbers of birds that showed up. A week before my visit the counts were only a little more than 10,000. The day I arrived the latest weekly count suggested there were more than 250,000 on the reserve. This is shy of the 500-600K that can be found during peek times, but for my first visit, it was quite a treat! Of the 1.5 days I had to spend here, one full day was very cloudy and dark, making bird photography particularly troublesome. Around noon on my last day the sky cleared and I was able to get some nice light. Hopefully I can spend a few days more during my next visit.
Snow Geese are not the only waterfowl that can be found in good numbers here. In almost every one of these types of images Greater White-fronted Geese, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Mallards and more can be found as well.
Squaw Creek NWR and its 7500 acres was established in 1935 just in time. Close to 98% of the original marshes and related wetlands that border the Missouri River in the state of Missouri have been destroyed or permanently altered – mostly for use as farmland. Thankfully sportsmen realized the importance for providing habitat for migrating and over-wintering waterfowl and a series of these man-made marshes were built near Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis. This image is actually a composite of two separate photographs – the foreground and the background, both taken in extremely cloudy and grey conditions. I was surprised by how well this blending worked and I feel it represents what it was like on this first day, the geese constantly taking off in large groups and others taking their place in the marshes. 
Waterfowl are not the only birds or wildlife that utilize the reserve. Although you can see more Bald Eagles in spots along the Mississippi River, I have never been able to get as close to these birds perched as I did during this visit. This is true with the wildlife in general. The auto-route roads were set perfectly in the reserve, in my opinion. Getting close enough to the wildlife can be troublesome from the roads at other places I visit, but here the roads are much better situated near the pools and the wildlife never seem to be overly stressed. During the time of my visit with cloudy weather and poor light, I was able to get closer to several duck species than I have ever been able to before. 
This White Ibis was actually a very late bird for this part of Missouri and it made a bit of noise in the MO birding community. This was also one of my best looks at this species. I had found it the day before and took some rather poor photos. I was happy to see it still in the same pool the next day when light was better. 
This image is probably my favorite from this trip. To me, it really captures the essence of the place and I believe this is what this area looked like when Lewis and Clark first laid eyes to this part of the country. The bluffs in the background are known as loess hills and are formed by the actions of glaciers. Along with draining the natural wetland habitats along the Big Muddy, European settlers also got busy destroying many of the impressive loess hills, using the fertile soil for numerous development and farming projects. Many of these features are still being harvested and destroyed to this day.
There are several more nationally well-known reserves like this throughout the country that scores of photographers, nature lovers, biologists and sportsmen flock to every year. I can’t imagine a spot being more suited for these activities than Squaw Creek NWR. I hope to make an annual pilgrimage to this location on Thanksgiving week.
If you make the visit and are looking for a nice place to eat, I highly recommend “Klub”. This is a great place to enjoy a late dinner after spending the day at the reserve, which is only about ten minutes away. They have a great menu using a lot of fresh, local ingredients. I ate here twice during my visit and I was quite surprised to find such a quality establishment in such a little town like Mound City.
Thanks for paying a visit. You can find more photographs taken from this location by visiting my Squaw Creek Flickr Set
Dedicated to my bros Brian K. and Jeff H. They’ll know what I mean. ;=)
The name “sorrel” comes from the sour-like taste these plants give. This taste comes from oxalic acid and these guys were the first source from which this compound was isolated. I have recently read that much like most of the forbs in the Ozarks these guys were used by Native Americans and early European settlers as a food source to spice up salads as well as having intended medicinal values. Don’t eat too much, however, as the concentrations of oxalate in these plants are even higher than in spinach and tea and apparently kidney stones could be a consequence.
Violet wood sorrel grows from tiny bulbs beginning in mid spring in the Ozarks and is usually found in acidic, rocky open woods, fallow fields, prairies and roadsides according to Steyermark. These guys will bloom multiple times across the growing season, usually following a cool rainy spell.
I spent most of yesterday hiking Hawn State Park, where these guys were one of the most abundant wildflower in bloom. I hiked all three loops, Whispering Pines North and South and the White Oak trail for the first time in one day. Including the connector trail I believe this was a bit more than 15 miles. With my 27 pound pack and lunch + water, let me tell you I felt it during the last five miles or so. I didn’t take the camera out much, being mostly interested in the hike and not seeing too much that interested me composition-wise anyway.
I’m still stunned about the schedule spring has taken and I can’t stop talking about it. I went to Hawn hoping to time the bloom of the wild azaleas, which usually do not start to bloom until the last week of April or the first week of May in the park. Yesterday I found only two or three bushes that were still in bloom along sheltered north-facing hillsides. The rest had bloomed and were nearly in full leaf! Everywhere I look vegetation is 4-6 weeks ahead of typical schedule. I was waiting to see if bird migration might be early as well. We have seen some evidence of this. There have been reports already of new early arrival state records of warblers and yesterday all the usual nesters seemed to be in the area and setting up territories.
This time of year at Hawn can be quite useful for the birder-by-ear. Yesterday, several hard-to-discern trillers could be found and compared in the field at one time. Within my hike I found the Pine and Worm-eating Warblers, the Chipping Sparrow the Dark-eyed Junco and Swamp Sparrow all singing their trill-like advertisements. Every spring it seems like I have to start my ear from scratch, the Worm-eating Warbler being the most distinctive to me. After a couple weeks I finally think I make some progress and then forget again soon after. Usually I can go by location; the Junco leaves pretty soon and the other two sparrows are usually found in more open, grassy habitats, which leaves the two warblers to discern. There, as its name suggests, the Pine is found in concentrations of the short-leaf pin in our region and the Worm-eating is more often found amongst deciduous tree tops.
Yesterday was a glorious day for hiking at Hawn S.P. As usual, I was surprised but pleased that I did not see more folks on the trails. If a day like that can’t tear you away from the couch I don’t know what can.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 