Tag: kansas

Purple Pineapple Passion!

macro, native plants

Just across the border into Kansas, Pete and I found Eryngium leavenworthii (Leavenworth’s Eryngo). Along with species like rattlesnake master and creeping eryngo, this is quite a diverse and fascinating genus.

The level of purple varies in individual plants, but as you can see in the following photos, virtually every part of the plant – stems, leaves, bracts and flowers, have some bit of purple.

Eryngium leavenworthii (Leavenworth’s Eryngo)
Even the anthers and filaments of Eryngium leavenworthii are blue/purple.

The flowers of these plants were really drawing in the pollinators. Here are just a few of the insects we observed visiting.

A long-horned bee, probably in the genus Melissodes, visits Eryngium leavenworthii.
A bee fly (Bombylius sp.) and some beetles nectaring on Eryngium leavenworthii.

This plant does well on poor, dry soils and they are apparently very deer resistant. I might have to introduce these to the garden if I can find them available in a local nursery.

Thanks for stopping by!
-OZB

2022 Kansas Trip – Ferruginous Hawk

birds, wildlife, wildlife photography

I was definitely on the lookout for Ferruginous Hawks during our visit to western Kansas last year and we were fortunate to have one fly directly over us as we visited a badlands monument. What I didn’t expect is to be able to see an active nest. This was at a private ranch where we had the opportunity to see and photograph Lesser Prairie Chicken leks. The rancher was understandably weary of getting too close or staying too long, so we took our shots from a good distance from the vehicle windows.

Ferruginous Hawk
Active Ferruginous Hawk nest on cliff’s edge

2022 Kansas Trip – Long-billed Dowitcher

birds, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, wildlife, wildlife photography

We didn’t have a great deal of diversity in the shorebirds during this early season trip to the “central coast,” but, we had great numbers in the early migrating species like the Long-billed Dowitcher. There may have been some Short-billed Dowitchers mixed in here but none that we could confirm identity. The LBDO uses the central flyway predominantly while the SBDO primarily moves along the coasts during spring migration.

2022 Kansas Trip – Lesser Prairie Chickens

Bird Species of Conservation Concern, birds, wildlife, wildlife photography

With this crazy summer, full of a time-consuming work project and trying to keep establishing plants alive in the yard, there has been very little time for birding trips. Casey organized this trip from mid April of 2022 and it was definitely memorable. I still have hundreds of photos to process, but here are a few from our first stop, a couple of Lesser Prairie Chicken Leks in western Kansas.

Return to the Kingdom of Quivira

Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, wildlife

I have previously discussed and shared a number of our photos from previous trips to Quivira NWR.  Steve and I recently returned from a short trip to central Kansas and I wanted to share a quick photo.  Last year we had sure looks and photos of Hudsonian Godwits.  This year one of the highlights of the trip was finding a group of 23 Marbled Godwits.

Marbled Godwit
Marbled Godwit

We were a bit earlier this year than last and this combined with a longer, cooler spring, bird species diversity and overall numbers were a tad lower.  Constant abusing winds made the cool temperatures nearly unbearable to sustain for long, especially with two dudes who dressed for spring.  But, we just worked a little harder and made the best use of good light, higher temps and calmer winds when we could find them.  Another unforgettable trip.