"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
The Webster Groves Nature Study Society’s (WGNSS) Nature Photography Group headed to the LaRue Pine Hills in mid-October to visit the famous LaRue Rd, better known as the “Snake Road.” Our targets for the day were snakes, of course, along with any other herps that we could be fortunate enough to find. Unsurprisingly, the snake of the day was the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus), of which we found close to 15 individuals. We found several different frog species and a real good number of cave salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga).
Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus)
Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans)
Green Tree Frog (Dryophytes cinereus)
Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga)
Cave Salamanders (Eurycea lucifuga)
A short ways from the main road, we came across a small grotto. Looking closely with a light, I was able to find at least five cave salamanders resting on different shelves. After about 15 minutes on my knees, working out how to best light and photograph these guys, I finally focused my attention towards the back end of this small cave. There I noticed a medium-sized cottonmouth with its head raised that was apparently watching me the entire time, about a foot or so behind the salamanders.
Cave Salamanders and an unexpected guest. Can you find the cottonmouth?
We were joined by our friend, Stacia Novy, on this trip, who provided an unexpected treat! She brought along her two Aplomado Falcons that we had an opportunity to photograph, pet, and watch eat. Unfortunately, strong winds and a few soaring Bald Eagles that would not leave the area limited the amount of flight time the birds had, but we really appreciated the opportunity.
A couple photos of Stacia with her bird
Afterwards, the group headed to one of my favorite breweries – Scratch in Ava Illinois. Stacia brough one of the Falcons to the outside location and we had a most unique partner to go along with our wood-fired pizzas and beer.
Back in early June of this year, the WGNSS Nature Photography Group travelled east to Pyramid State Recreation Area in Perry County, Illinois. Here we met with Stacia Novy, a wildlife biologist working with Southern Illinois University. Stacia’s goals are to find and identify grassland bird species nests, collect morphometric, embryonic and maturation data on eggs and nestlings, and to document fledging and depredation rates. Stacia is a true professional and she took care in how we approached nests and got our photographs. She finds dozens of nests each year and collects important data used for conservation and habitat management decisions.
Stacia Novy (on ladder) collecting data on eggs and nestlings
Approximately 60% of all of North America’s grasslands have been destroyed due to agriculture and other development purposes. Unsurprisingly, grassland species in general are the most at risk birds from this loss of habitat. The numbers of these obligate grassland species have declined by 40% since 1970.
An egg buoyancy/density test is performed to determine egg age and potential viability
Due to high incidence of predation, grassland bird species must be quite careful about where and how they place their nests. Stacia showed us the types of vegetation different species like to use and how they attempt to camouflage their nests. It takes a lot of work and diligence to find these nests and we appreciated Stacia sharing some of these with us.
Stacia measures eggs
Here are some of the photos I took with my cellphone of some of the species we were fortunate to be able to see.
A Brown Thrasher parent staying on the nest until the last minute
Inside the Brown Thrasher nest
A Gray Catbird’s nest
Another Gray Catbird nest we found this day with newly hatched chicks
Beautiful eggs inside a Redwing Blackbird nest
The even more startingly-blue eggs of the Dickcissel
The same Dickcissel nest days later. Photo by Stacia Novy.
The nest of one of my top five favorite birds – the Bell’s Vireo
Bell’s Vireo eggs
The same Bell’s Vireo nest days later. Photo by Stacia Novy.
I took another trip recently to Carlyle Lake and had a blast photographing these American White Pelicans. There were far more than 1,000 of these giant birds, coming and going from the dam’s spillway.
A couple of friends and I went to visit some sand and gravel hill prairies in central Illinois yesterday. Although it is a delight to visit those places and their unique floral communities, we didn’t find a lot to make us pull out the cameras. We took a short break from walking through the prairies in near perfect weather for an August day and did a little cat hunting in the nearby Sand Ridge State Forest. Along with some hungry mosquitos we happened across this cute little one feeding on a species of red oak. This is the silk moth Antheraea polyphemus. This species is among the largest caterpillars to be found in our area, but this guy was pretty tiny. I believe this is a 2nd instar.
On a couple of successive Saturdays in mid-February, I had the pleasure to find myself at an old favorite spot to practice my high-speed action photography on some of the cutest little predators that I can imagine. In a spot more popular with fisher folk, I setup immediately behind the spillway of the Carlyle Lake damn with high hopes of shooting the Bonaparte’s Gulls that winter in this area.
Faster than greased lightingLooking for shadBonnies everywhere!Adjusting for an easier swallow
On my first Saturday visit, these cute little “Bonnies” represented at least 75% of the gull species taking advantage of the stunned gizzard and threadfin shad that come pouring through the spillway. This was great! Although photographing Ring-billed Gulls is always good for practice, they don’t excite me very much at all. What wasn’t great on this first day was the light, which I would describe as something like the sloppy end of a morning’s constitutional. Thank goodness for modern cameras with much improved high ISO performance and autofocus systems!
Photographing Bonnies while hunting like this is a real test of a photographer’s skills and their photographic gear. These guys are faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind. They have to be with the ever present Ring-billed Gulls nearby waiting to steal an easy meal.
A Ring-Billed Gull attempting to take the Bonaparte’s Gull’s fish. Typically the Ring-billed are much too slow once the Bonnie has their catch.
The photos I’ve shared so far all showed adult winter-plumaged Bonaparte’s Gulls. First-year winter birds are east to distinguish from the adults with their black tail bands and “M”-shaped black markings on their wing tops. These first year birds are every bit the skilled fishers that the adults are as you can see below.
On my next visit a week later, the skies were clear and I was now challenged with a pretty strong mid-day light coming into the spillway. I felt that this still should afford more speed and a bit better image quality than I had on my previous visit. Unfortunately, the Bonnies must have moved elsewhere. Most of the gulls present were Ring-billed and I only counted four Bonnies during the hour or so I was there.
Wildlife photographers looking for a fun and fast-paced challenge that has no chance of interfering with their photographic subjects should really consider visiting this location.
Miguel and I were offered a very special treat back in April when our new friends and gracious hosts, Rick and Jill, offered to show us a very unique and amazing animal, the Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis). The Illinois chorus frog is a species of study for Rick and his students, who are hard at work trying to document the life history and ecological details of this species of conservation concern. Existing in only a handful of counties scattered across Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, this frog is classified as G3, meaning it is vulnerable to extinction. The primary forces causing the decline of this species is land development, primarily from agriculture.
Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis)
The Illinois chorus frog requires sandy wetlands. These types of areas are being lost due to drainage efforts for agriculture. The scattered remnants of these habitats are increasingly becoming isolated, likely limiting geneflow between pocketed populations.
Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis) attempting to back itself under the sand
The natural history of this species is incredible. Due to the quick draining nature of their preferred sandy habitat, these frogs spend 90% of their lives below ground. Their breeding season typically begins in February, where they take advantage of water from icy thaws and early spring rains to breed in ephemeral pools. By May, the frogs have buried themselves in underground tunnels that they dig with muscular forearms. Unlike most other frog species that spend large amounts of time in subterranean environments, the Illinois chorus frog is known to feed, eating worms and small invertebrates.
Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis). Here you can see the muscular forearms that these frogs need to burrow underground tunnels where they spend the majority of their lives.
Organizations like the University of Illinois, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Heartland Conservancy are doing a lot of work in a number of places to discover more about their ecological needs and protecting and managing habitat these frogs need.
Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis)
Another great thing Rick and Jill showed us were Illinois chorus frog tadpoles that were in artificial breeding “ponds” that were setup for them. As the hundreds of tadpoles we saw suggest, they were doing really well here.
Ever since seeing the photo of Disonycha discoidea in Arthur Evans’ “Beetles of Eastern North America,” I have been wanting to find and photograph this gorgeous Chrysomelid. I have looked for years for this species around St. Louis and southeastern Missouri, and even planted one of its host plants, Passiflora incarnata, in our yard hoping to possibly attract them.
Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)
Just a couple weeks ago, my friend, Pete, posted a bunch of picks from his botany trip to southern Illinois on Facebook. As I perused through his collection of fascinating plants he found, I stopped at a photo of several beetles that were on a grape vine. In this photo was a single D. discoidea. Getting a little upset, I messaged Pete to see if he could tell me exactly where he had found this. He was at Giant City State Park and because of smartphone technology, he forwarded me his geotagged photo and I had access to exactly where he had taken the picture.
Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)
However, I knew this was a big risk and I didn’t get my hopes up. First, Pete had taken his photo approximately a week before Sarah and I took the 2.5 hour drive south. In addition, the beetle he photographed was on a grapevine, not their typical host plant. Was this just an accidental occurrence of this beetle or could they use grapes as an alternative host? Nothing in the literature suggested that this occurred with this species; apparently, it is monophagous and only uses members of the Passiflora to feed.
We decided it was worth the drive. Giant City State Park is a high quality area and I knew that if we struck out we wouldn’t have to try hard to find something else of interest. We found Pete’s spot of original find pretty easily and started searching. After a couple hours of looking as hard as we could among the grape and poison ivy we decided we weren’t going to find the species there. Utilizing smartphone technology again, I thought it might be a good idea to look for Passiflora plants that had been documented in iNaturalist within the park. My phone signal was pretty poor, so we drove to one of the highest points we could find and I found a single spot that had these plants documented.
Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)
These plants were found in a poor scrub prairie habitat along with blackberry and even more poison ivy. We started looking, finding and searching between 50 and 100 of these short plants. We looked very closely and I had a chance to try my DIY collapsible beat sheets that I made over the winter. No luck. I couldn’t believe it. I really thought we had a good chance. We knew the species had been found in the park and here we were within a sizeable population of the host plants. You’ve seen the photos already, so obviously we found our target. And, of course, insect finder extraordinaire, Sarah, was the one to find the beetle on a ragged, half-eaten P. incarnata plant. I immediately got to work photographing from a safe distance. One of the reasons they call them flea beetles is that they will jump great distances upon being disturbed. Ultimately, we found four individuals all on the same plant. Thankfully, this species is quite large for a flea beetle and I didn’t need to get too close that higher magnifications would require.
The aposematic colored Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)
So what’s up with that coloration? This species exhibits aposematism, also known as warning coloration. This is the same reason that unpalatable or downright toxic species like monarchs and milkweed bugs along with stinging predators like yellowjackets or velvet ants show warning colorations. Disonycha discoidea picks up cyanogenic glycosides from its Passiflora host plant, making it distasteful or toxic to would-be predators. By evolving this aposematism, the insects can advertise this and avoid the predators that would be on the lookout for an easy meal. In the tropics, a group of butterflies known as the heliconiines also acquire these toxic compounds from the larval feeding on Passiflora.
Disonycha discoidea (passionflower flea beetle)
It was great to finally find this target species. The larvae of this species is also quite photogenic. If I find the time to make a return visit this summer, I would love to find a few of them as well.
Today I’m happy to provide a platform for renowned nature photographer and friend, Casey Galvin, to share his words and fantastic landscape photography from lesser known areas between the coasts. This article is exactly my philosophy when it comes to landscape photography – what little I do of that these days. I am much more interested in finding hidden gems without a plane trip or a multiday car ride. This is actually much tougher to do than placing your tripod in the holes dugout by the throngs of photographers chasing the iconic landscape subjects. Casey doesn’t usually present his works in an online format, so prepare yourself for a real treat! What follows are the writings and photographs of Casey.
When one thinks of great landscapes, Missouri and the two other Midwest states, Iowa and Illinois, do not come to mind. With the great American West along with coastal states available to most landscape photographers it is easy to fly over or drive through these three states without a thought of stopping. What makes this area special, most landscape photographers have never taken the time to be here in the Midwest. You make images no one else has, unlike in the western USA. However, because of this anyone who does stop and take the time to explore will find something that most people do not think of photographing. These three states have unique and special geological sites and plenty of water resources (rivers, creek, lakes, world class springs and seepage areas) and open landscapes.
Elephant Rocks State Park Iron County, Missouri
This being the heart of Tallgrass Prairie, there are still remnants left of this rarest of North American biomes. These systems were lost because it is some of the most productive farmland in the world, sand and gravel mining took others and conversion to urban development took the rest. Most people do not understand these grasslands probably because they have never experienced a true prairie. Unfortunately, there are not many large areas that are left untouched, but one can still find several remnants that are 1000 acres or even larger. This is where the buffalo roamed in large herds and in some locations, one can still find these animals ranging freely. The other nice feature for a photographer when visiting these sites is that you will most likely be the only one at that location. I have been on many a prairie for hours and have never seen anyone else.
Nachusa Grasslands Franklin Grove, Illinois
Like the West, where they get super blooms with the heavy winter rains, as long as the rains are steady, Tallgrass Prairies get super blooms at least once a month in the growing season. These systems are made for hot, dry weather. May brings profusions of paintbrush (Orabanche coccina), in June coneflowers rule (Echinacea pallida or if you are lucky in prairies near the Ozarks, E. paradoxa), in July blazing star (Liatris pycnostachia) takes over. Autumn is dominated by yellow composites, gentians and late Liatris species.
Helton Prairie Natural Area Harrison County, Missouri
Savanna, another biome type, is usually tied to the prairie. This is the transitional biome between prairie and forest, and here you will find a mix of species from both. I have found that you can get good to great photographs on these lands, but because it does take work, you can develop photographic skills you can use elsewhere in the world. These can be difficult landscapes because of the open space
Kankakee Sands Kankakee County, Illinois
There are also unique geological features found in this region. The Saint Francois Mountains in SE Missouri are extinct volcanoes and ancient lava flows. Most have been exposed for over one billion years. With its acid soils it make for great plant diversity. When a river or creek flows through one of the lava flows you have what Missouri calls a shut-in (water is restricted or shut-in to a narrower passage due to the slow-to-erode nature of the underlying granite). These are extremely attractive to photograph in all seasons. Unfortunately, some of the more attractive ones are well visited. So unless you’re early or late in the day you may find yourself in large crowds. These are not tall mountains, being eroded for eons, but this is still mountainous country.
Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park Reynold’s County, Missouri
In southern Missouri there is also a unique set of monadnocks, an example being Caney Mountain Conservation Area – a remote area was once one of the last bastions for deer and turkey in the eastern USA.
Caney Mountain Conservation Area Ozark County, Missouri
In southern Illinois the Shawnee National Forest with its limestone and sandstone escarpments (Greater and Lesser Shawnee Hills and Ozarks) can make for nice areas to explore photographically. Garden of the Gods is very scenic. Wet weather waterfalls are abundant (yes, Illinois is not flat here). La Rue Pine Hills ecological area not only has tall limestone bluffs. Below them is one of the most floristically rich areas in the Midwest with over 1200+ plant species. According to Robert Mohlenbrock, an authority on the flora of Illinois, the Shawnee NF is more diverse than the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The area south of the Shawnee Hills also has some of the best southern swamps remaining in North America.
Ghost Dance Falls Shawnee National Forest, Illinois
Along the west coast of Iowa and NW Missouri is another unique landform. The Loess Hills made up of windblown dust (loess soil) from the last glaciation. These type of hills are found only in three locations in the world and this being the only one in North America. The plants and animals found here are similar to those found nearly 100 miles west in Kansas and Nebraska. This is another type of tallgrass prairie with disjunct populations of mixed grass prairie species.
Broken Kettle Grasslands Preserve Plymouth County, Iowa
Forest covers the southern one-third of Missouri and the Shawnee NF in Illinois. Spring and autumn bring many landscape opportunities especially along the rivers and other water features. Wildflowers abound here through the growing seasons in the forest and in the spring and on rocky glades (opening between the woodlands) throughout the growing season. These are some of the more diverse forests in the country, with several species restricted to the Ozark Plateau. This is also a world class birding area.
Chalk Bluff, Ozark Scenic Riverways Shannon County, Missouri
Water features are abundant as stated prior. This is one feature that many areas in the country lack. Even in deep droughts, the larger springs still have plenty of output keeping many rivers flowing well deep into the autumn. Every 10 to 20 years there comes a drought where the biggest of rivers have levels that fall enough to be able to walk to some of the islands that are within them, allowing us to get images that might be harder to access without a boat.
Carver Creek Shut-ins Iron County, Missouri
I have spent many years studying and exploring these areas, through all four seasons. It is well worth the time to visit and explore.
A Thousand Acres of Silphiums 