Bill Duncan – Page 55 – A Thousand Acres of Silphiums

Meeting new shut-ins in the St. Francois Mountains

A sharp drop of approximately 8 feet (to pool’s surface) ends one of the nicest series of shut-ins – located on private land in Madison and Iron Counties (location 1).

This year I was fortunate to be introduced to two new-for-me shut-ins in the southern region of the St. Francois Mountains. Both of these locations are currently on private land and with assistance from a couple of friends, it was quite a thrill to be able to visit and photograph these stunning geologic features.

We would of have liked to have more flowing water on our couple of visits to these shut-ins (loc. 1), however, these creeks are both partially spring-fed so there is always at least some flow.

What surprised me most about both of these locations was that they were not covered in Beveridge’s “Geologic Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri”. I am not sure if this was because he did not know of them or because he chose not to feature them for some reason. I sure hope it was the later.

This phot was taken at the same location as the previous image, but in the autumn.

Definitely wild country. We pushed through witch hazel and other streamside brush, taking deliberate steps over slick-as-ice rocks to find the next small section of cascades.

The tile-red rhyolite porphyry that makes up the majority of this streambed matches well against the warm tones of autumn foliage.

My recent delves into geology and astronomy have really been eye-opening, tying together everything else I know of natural history into place. There is so much more for me to learn, with Geology I know almost nothing, but it has been such an aid for me in remembering that most of what everyone worries over is so insignificant compared to the real that is right under our noses.

Lava-gas bubbles (lithophysae), thought to be formed by expanding gases prior to solidification into rock, can be seen on this rhyolite protrusion.

Talk about your tile-red rhyolite porphyry!

Don’t confuse this with lava flows from Kīlauea. This is ancient igneous rock that solidified approximately 1.5 billion years ago.

This creek bed at location 2 is located in Iron County. Here, the rock would be considered more of a purple porphyry and is nicely capped by royal fern (*Osmunda regalis*).

Found near the creek at location 2 was this splendid Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) growing against a bed of Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower). A nice October find.

This is all I have to share from these two locations for now. I am looking forward to visiting again with hopefully more water flow and at different season. Thanks for visiting.

-OZB

Wildlife photography from a boat

great egret, Photography from the boat, wildlife, wildlife photography

A Great Egret poses in front of early autumn colors.

Back in September I was fortunate to join the boat owners club when I picked up a single-seater canoe/kayak hybrid. After my typical dive into researching the best potential model for my usage and pocketbook, I was pretty certain it would suit my needs. Excited to give it a try, my first stop in getting it wet was an early morning vacation day at Creve Coeur Lake.

The “Discovery 119” hybrid – very stable and easy to move to and from the water.

On this first outing, only minutes from my house, I did not expect the photographic opportunities to be very abundant. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the looks at wildlife and photos I was able to get.

A Great Blue Heron, usually quite timid, was easy to get close enough to capture with a 400mm lens.

Maneuvering the boat into position while trying to get the photos was a bit of a chore and will definitely take more practice to get right. Facing your subjects is key and in still waters was usually doable before the subjects could complain.

This boat sits very shallowly in the water, allowing me to maneuver easily in the shallows wetlands found at the south end of the lake. I was often moving in less than three inches of water!

Green Herons tend to have a strong tolerance for humans in more populated settings, often allowing close looks.

It’s not every day that you can get this close to a juvenile Little Blue Heron.

The boat was stable enough for me to handhold track this LBHE in flight.

Birds were not the only ‘reptiles’ I was able to get close to on this outing. This is an age-induced melanistic male red-eared slider (*Trachemys scripta elegans*) who was bold enough to stay on his sunning perch after his smaller conspecifics had fled to the water.

This northern watersnake (*Nerodia sipedon sipedon*) was showing opaque eye scales, indicating it will be shedding its skin within a few days.

This wraps up the best of my keepers from my first day out in the boat. Needless to say I was quite satisfied with this activity and I am looking forward to getting out more often with it.

Thanks for visiting!

-Ozark Bill

Missouri Orchids – A Trio of Tresses

macro

*Spiranthes cernua* (nodding ladies tresses) found in Jefferson County, MO

I finished 2020 having found all but one species of Spiranthes orchid expected to be found in Missouri. Many thanks to John Oliver for giving me a bit of education and help in making correct identifications; however, any errors found here are my own and no one else should be blamed. I also want to thank John and Casey Galvin for giving me the clues as to where each species could be found. Identifying these was not as difficult as I originally expected, minus the exception pictured above.

Spiranthes cernua belongs to a species complex that is still being worked out. In addition, I have read that there may be up to 20 or more “races” within this particular species. Not that all of these races are found in Missouri, but generally, this species blooms with leaves. I had a hard time coming to the correct ID because the plants I had found had no leaves at bloom. It took me some time to find out that there is a race in Missouri that does indeed bloom without leaves being present. I will stop here as I cannot speak in more educated terms about this plant other than to say I that I found it stunning.

*Spiranthes magnicamporum* (Great Plains ladies tresses) photographed in Franklin County, MO

Found across much of northern and southwestern Missouri on limestone glades and other calcareous substrates, Spiranthes magnicamporum, or the Great Plains ladies tresses was only just recently separated from S. cernua. It is distinguished from S. cernua not only by a few morphological floral characteristics, but also by its fragrance. S. cernua is either fragrance free, or with only a hint of olfactory cues, while S. magnicamporum typically exudes a lot of fragrance. On just the right day one may be able to find it by nose before finding it by sight. I found it to have strong vanilla and coumarin hints.

*Spiranthes magnicamporum* (Great Plains ladies tresses) photographed in Jefferson County, MO

Spiranthes magnicamporum (Great Plains ladies tresses) photographed in Jefferson County, MO. Note the widely spreading lateral sepals that arch above most of the flowers, a floral trait that is distinctive to the species.

The flowers of the next Spiranthes, little ladies tresses (Spiranthes tuberosa) were described perfectly by Homoya as “jewelaceous”. Here he was referring to the jewel-like look that a magnified view of the flowers have. Many orchid flowers have this look, with each of the “jewels” being composed of individual cells. This is one of the daintiest of orchids found in the state. In Missouri, they are found in dry, sandstone habitats away from competition. Although quite small, when in bloom they should be easy to find as they stand virtually alone in brutal xeric habitat.

*Spiranthes tuberosa* (little ladies tresses) found on private sandstone glades in Jefferson County, MO.

Spiranthes tuberosa (little ladies tresses) being visited by an halctid bee, one of its primary pollinators.

Spiranthes tuberosa (little ladies tresses) with a crab spider, lying in wait for a solitary bee to visit.

A Pair of Prairie Platanthera

macro

*Platanthera lacera* (green fringed-orchid) – a sole individual found in Franklin County, MO.

Today I’m showing a couple of orchids from the Platanthera genus. The title of this post suggests these are both prairie obligates, however this is not true with the first species shown here – P. lacera, the green fringed-orchid. P. lacera most likely appears in more different habitat types than any other orchid in the state. You can find this orchid in places ranging from dry hay fields to fens to forest habitats. The sole individual I was able to find this year was on a reconstructed prairie in Franklin County, MO. Unfortunately, this plant was several days past peak bloom so, I’ll be looking for others in the coming seasons.

*Platanthera praeclara* (western prairie fringed orchid)

Sarah and I had quite a treat when we made a long day trip to north-western MO in mid-June of this year. We were able to find a few western prairie fringed-orchids just past peak bloom. This was a first for both of us. Platanthera praeclara is a globally endangered species and listed as an S1 species (critically imperiled) by the state of Missouri. This is just another of the many species in such a status due to the unregulated destruction of prairie habitat in the midwest for crop cultivation over the past 200 years. The large white flowers of this species are pollinated by nocturnal sphinx moths – a potential photography project in years to come.

A closeup of a single *Platanthera praeclara* flower.

-OZB

White-eyed Vireo Nest, Part Two

Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

White-eyed Vireo Nest – Part One

Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

May seems such a long time ago. I don’t know how I get so behind on photo processing, but, better late than never. Here is the first of what will probably be three videos with stills of the White-eyed Vireo nest found by Miguel Acosta at Weldon Spring C.A. this past spring. I hope you like it.

-OZB

A tale of two Saturniids

macro, wildlife photography

I typically don’t have very much luck finding caterpillars of the giant silk moths from the Saturnidae family. This past season was a little more successful. I found three polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) caterpillars and Sarah found the above luna moth caterpillar during our birthday hunting trip in mid-September. Larvae of these two species look very similar, but there are a few easy characteristics than can be used to distinguish between the two.

*Antheraea polyphemus* (polyphemus moth) caterpillar

Missouri Orchids – Corallorhiza odontorhiza (autumn coralroot)

macro, Missouri's Orchids, native plants

A rare open flower of *Corallorhiza odontorhiza* (autumn coralroot). Most plants of this species produce cleistogamous flowers that do not open, thus facilitating self-pollination.

Casey and I found three separate populations of Corallorhiza odontorhiza in early to mid September this year, each population consisting of just a few bunches of plants. Most plants of this species found in Missouri are cleistogamous, containing flowers that never open and thus forcing the plant to self-pollinate. This might account for the rather dull colors and patterns on flowers of this species when compared to its vernal-blooming relative, C. wisteriana. Of the three locations, we found only one bunch of plants, located in St. Louis County, that contained open (chasmogamous) flowers and these were slightly more showy than I expected them to be.

Chasmogamous flowers of Corallorhiza odontorhiza with obvious swollen ovaries.

Like C. wisteriana, this species is myco-heterotrophic, parasitizing mycorrhizal fungi to obtain carbon and other necessary nutrients. Consequently, this species never produces leaves. Both Corallorhiza species are found scattered throughout Missouri and can be found in a variety of habitats, but seem to prefer open woodlands on xeric to mesic soils.

*Corallorhiza odontorhiza*. These are cleistogamous flowering stems that Casey and I monitored from just after emergence. The flowers never opened and ovaries began to swell prior to the flowering stems reaching their full height.

-OZB

Missouri Orchids – Tipularia discolor (cranefly orchid)

macro, Missouri's Orchids, native plants

*Tipularia discolor*, the cranefly orchid so-called due to the appearance of the flowers to a hovering group of crane flies.

Tipularia discolor, or the ‘cranefly orchid,’ was first collected in Missouri in 1988 and new discoveries across the Midwest in recent decades suggest it is actively expanding its range. Similar to the puttyroot orchid (Aplectrum hyemale), this orchid blooms in the summer without the presence of any leaves. Leaves emerge in autumn and are usually completely withered by May. Both the common and genus names come from the apparent resemblance of the open flowers to that of crane flies in the genus Tipula. Moths in the family Noctuidae are the primary pollinators and use their proboscises to collect nectar from the long nectar spurs of the flowers.

This is the only species in the genus to be found in the Americas. Casey and I found these plants in Stoddard County on August 1st of this year.

*Tipularia discolor* blooms in tight bud. The nectar spurs are easy to discern at this stage of development.

-OZB

A few nesting Missouri birds from 2020

birds, Nesting Birds of Missouri, wildlife, wildlife photography

As usual, I am woefully behind on processing images this year, probably worse than usual actually. I’ve also not put much work into birds this year, a general trend over the past few years. Too much I’m interested in and not enough time. Anyway, here is some avian miscellany from 2020 so far.

Cerulean Warbler photographed at Weldon Spring C.A.

My quest is to get the perfect Cerulean Warbler shot. These are not it, but getting closer. Better luck next year.

This pair of Blue-grey Gnatcatchers were also photographed this spring at Weldon Spring Conservation Area.

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher (female), Weldon Springs CA

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher (male), Weldon Springs CA

A pair of Louisiana Waterthrush were usually easy to find in a territory that the trail ran through.

Louisiana Waterthrush, Weldon Springs C.A.

This Horned Lark was found back in March at Riverlands.

Horned Lark, Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary

I was happy to fins this Hairy Woodpecker nest this past spring, but, unfortunately, the parents never got used to my presence so I didn’t spend much time here.

Hairy Woodpecker bringing food to nest, Beckemeier Conservation Area

Back in April, Casey and I visited a hotspot for the small population of Swainson’s Hawks in Greene County. These hawks are rare in Missouri and nesting pairs are limited to the southwestern portion of the state.

While waiting for more interesting subjects, Killdeer can sometimes get close enough to make it worthwhile. This one was strutting in some pretty good light.

Finally, this Red-winged Blackbird was captured establishing his territory outside the Audubon Center in early spring.

-OZB