missouri – Page 70 – A Thousand Acres of Silphiums

First Bloodroot of the Year!

Putting close to 15 miles on the trails this glorious weekend, I was noticing just how delayed spring was this year compared with the past several. Harbinger of Spring is about at its peak at the St. Louis latitude, and Spring Beauty and Cutleaf Toothwort are a few days to a week before their peak will be here. But, it is coming. I saw thousands of these plants pushing there way up through the leaf litter along with Dutchman’s Breeches (very cute little buds, I must say). I finally tried the rhizome of the Toothwort today while on a hike at LaBarque Creek C.A. near Eureka. A member of the mustard family, the Toothwort’s small, fleshy and crisp rhizome has a tooth-like appearance, hence its common name. Another colloquial name associated with this plant is Pepper root, also in description of the rhizome. I found the taste to have hints of horseradish and green onion, with a little peppery heat. The perfect size and flavor makes me think it would be perfect in a variety of dishes, including stir-fry and salads. But since it would require killing a lot of plants, I doubt I will make a habit of it.

As I was coming to the last mile or so of my hike today, I thought I would once again strike out on my first Bloodroot of the season. But, just in time, I saw a single, fully-opened bloom a couple of feet from the creek. This was the only subject I photographed all weekend, but it was still a grand couple days for a walk.

“First Bloodroot of the Year!″

***Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, ISO 200, f/22, 1/15 sec***

PSP Video

Uncategorized, wildlife

I have finally got the video to a point where I can post it online. I lost a lot of quality in the process, but baby steps I guess…

Mondays are for the Birds – Trumpeter Swan

Mondays Are For The Birds

“Take that, Monday!”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/7.1, 1/2000 sec

A Hike Down Rocky Creek

Go Take A Hike, landscape, Nature Log, wildlife

I have been wanting to make the hike down Rocky Creek to its confluence with the Current since I read about the idea in Louis C. White’s Ozark Hideways. This past Saturday, Steve and I were both aching to get on the trails, to be with nature on a beautiful late winter’s day. This hike was high on the ever-growing list of potential day-hikes, so we decided that this was the day for this one. As was the plan, we started at the Rocky Falls N.A. parking lot. We found that the water level in Rocky Creek was a bit higher than we expected. While this is fantastic if your goal is to get some nice flowing water shots, it can make for some wetter than desired hiking and stream crossing. Although this stream is not officially in the St. Francois Mountains, the exposed red rhyolite reminds me of the scenery there to the north-east. We would see three of the best shut-in areas to be found in the Missouri Ozarks, with Rocky Creek Falls being first. This image was taken on a previous visit.

“Rocky Creek Falls″

Technical details: Canon EOS 50D camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 23mm,* ISO 100, f/16, 1/4 sec*

The first half mile or so of the hike is spent walking alongside the creek, past an impressive beaver-pond until this little side-spur hooks into the Ozark Trail. A right turn leads to Stegall Mountain, one of the “higher” peaks in Missouri and Peck Ranch C.A. We turned left to keep along with Rocky Creek and head ultimately to the Current River. The OZT comes and goes from within sight of the stream. When possible, Steve and I strayed from the trail and kept close to the stream. About a half mile from the Hwy NN crossing, we came across the next series of major shut-ins, those at the base of Buzzard Mountain. The photo below was made on a previous visit.

“Buzzard Mountain Shut-Ins″

Technical details: Canon EOS 50D camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 22mm,* ISO 250, f/14, 1/20 sec*

Continuing past these beautiful formations of rock vs. water we followed the stream. It was difficult to make progress, as around every bend there were shelves of exposed, upraised porphyry. These ~ 3.5 billion year old “benches” were perfect traps for lounging and loafing, snacking and passing the time philosophizing, all the while listening to the ever present sounds of the crystal-clear water fighting its endless battle downstream. This image was made in between our breaks.

“Another World″

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX DG, ISO 100, f/14, manual blend of two exposures

A mile or two past Buzzard Mountain we came across the third and last of the major shut-ins along Rocky Creek. These shut-ins are at the base of Mill Mountain, and the Klepzig Mill can still be found here. Somehow, after several visits I have still not photographed the mill structure. Oh well, another excuse to return. Below is a photo of the shut-ins made on a prior visit to the area.

“Mill Mountain Shut-Ins″

Technical details: Canon EOS 50D camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 24mm,* ISO 250, f/16, 1/25 sec*

About here we left the OZT to continue east with the stream towards its rendezvous with the Current. The vast majority of the course of the stream has a very shallow base; in most places it can be forded without wetting your knees. Once in awhile, pools deep enough to swim in would come about. These pools held some decent sized fish and looked quite inviting for a swim. Near one of these we stopped for a bite, including some tuna sandwiches that Steve brought along. At one point Steve missed his mouth and a chunk of tuna landed in the water along a shallow shelf. We watched to see if a fish would come along for a free bite. No fish found this piece, but in a few minutes this guy, smelling the oils leaching from the fish presumably, came out of the depths to scavenge our waste.

“Spothanded Crayfish″

***Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, ISO 400, f/4, 1/60 sec***

Did you know…? The Missouri Ozarks are home to 25 species of Crayfish, seven of which are found nowhere else. The ancient geology of the Ozark region has created spatially isolated streams, supporting varied aquatic habitats based on bedrock and erosional composition. This has enabled high speciation rates of crayfish and other aquatic and riparian animals.

The Spothanded Crayfish is known to have specific color and other morphological differences between populations in Missouri. In the western populations, such as this one found in the Current River watershed, the species is greenish in color and contains the dark spots on the base of the pincers, while populations in the eastern drainages of the Meramec and Black Rivers usually do not show the spots and have red or orange tinted pincers.

Read more about the Spothanded Crayfish or any other of Missouri’s Crayfish by checking out this wonderful guide: The Crayfishes of Missouri, by William Pflieger.

Another two or three miles of stream-side bushwhacking, trail and forest road hiking and we found ourselves at the confluence, the now flat and tranquil Rocky Creek dumping its waters into the Current River. The hike back was quicker and partially under the cover of darkness. A highlight of our return was very close looks of an American Woodcock that we heard wobbling among the dry leaves near the trail. A favorite of mine.

We finished the day by grabbing a couple of pies at Saso’s in nearby Ellington. The pies were fine, but no homemade baklava was on hand… 😦

I’ll end with the late-afternoon view we had from the point of the confluence. Rocky Creek is moving in from the right. The sun was pushing its last of the day onto the hills and was partially obscured by rapidly-moving clouds. This resulted in the dynamic light across the landscape on the opposite bank of the Current. I decided to go with a bit of a pictorialist treatment, but I am not completely convinced it was the best direction to go. I used the clarity slider in ACR RAW to give the image a softer, less defined appearance, hopefully bringing attention to the changing tones as well as to the calmness of the water, which is juxtaposed by the images made upstream that were placed earlier in this post.

Well, I hope this wasn’t boring, and perhaps makes you wish to witness some of these locations for yourself. Until next time, make like a camper and go take a hike.

“A Place in My Heart″

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 96mm, ISO 125, f/10, 1/13 sec

Location Spotlight: North America’s Most Endangered Ecosystem, Tallgrass Prairie – Part II

birds, landscape, location spotlight, sunset/sunrise, Uncategorized, wildlife

So, a week or two after the weekend trip that Steve and I made to SWMO Sarah told me she had a hankering to go on a bird/photo trip to the same area. She didn’t have to ask me twice. 😉 We loaded up the N.E.V. even though we were getting reports that the world had ended the day prior due to a dumping of snow and ice. Not really knowing what to expect, I shoveled enough of the ice and snow to back out of our driveway and hit the road. We were expecting to travel the whole way doing 30 mph or so and we knew we might even be forced to turn back if the conditions were too dicey. Well, I guess it goes to show how unused to driving in winter weather we have become in this state, because once we got outside StL County, the roads were perfect the entire trip! We did make our way north for a stopover in KC for some BBQ before heading back home, and they did get a foot or more of that weird white stuff, but by the time we made it there on Sunday, the roads were in pretty fair shape.

Okay, enough about our life, get with the picture making and depressing conservation talk, right? We arrived at PSP with about a half day’s worth of light remaining to do some birding from the car, watch the bison, shoot some landscapes and visit the visitor’s center. Dana was there, but he seemed pretty busy so we didn’t stop to chat this time. The park was beautiful! They had obviously received more of the “freezing rain” type of precipitation (on the east side of the state it was mostly “sleet” and snow), as nearly all the vegetation was enveloped in ice. The look of the prairie was captivating as I hope I recorded in some of these images. The sky was partially cloudy and moving quickly, and every five minutes the lighting changed dramatically pulling the eye this way and that from our vantage point from top of one of the higher hills. After throwing a handful of fruits, nuts, grains and grubs into my mouth, I put the gear together, jumped onto the hood of the car and made this image…

“Welcome Back to Prairie State Park″

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 29mm,* ISO 100, f/16, manual blend of two exposures*

Sunlight was bouncing around the ice-encased grasses and branches. The light did very little to battle the frigid temperatures and cruel winds on this lookout. Sarah shot this closeup of what the prairie looked like. I can’t say for certain, but I think this made it a little more difficult for the Harriers, Shrikes and Kestrels to catch their rodent prey.

“Mighty Mouse’s Fortress of Solitude″

Technical details: Panasonic DMC-FZ50 Camera, 28mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, by Sarah Duncan

Don’t think I forgot about the bison. Although we could watch them from afar during this visit, they were not close enough to the roads to take any photos. Here’s one from the previous trip. This is far from an artistic or technically perfect shot. But, shooting at dusk with a 500mm and getting something usable with 1/40 second is pretty nice. The rig was on a tripod, there was almost no wind, I used “live-view” and a remote cord to release the shutter.

“The Inquisitor”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1250, f/5.6, 1/40 sec

I’m still astounded by how much the bison will move in a day. There isn’t a spot in the park that does not show signs of them. Even though they were quite a distance away, the tracks we found in the snow declared they had been where we stood at least 12 hours previously.

“The Forgotten Herd”

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 33mm,* ISO 100, f/16, 1/40 sec*

I know what you’ll think about this next image. “Oh my! That pathetic creature must have stood outside under 17F and 30 mph winds for too long. It must have been a painful death, his face being all contorted in that death-mask.” Nope. That is me…smiling. It’s true. I’m not sure, maybe it’s too many years of corporate America taking their toll. Perhaps it’s the self-imposed, lifetime ban on cigarettes, Ben and Jerry’s and pig’s feet, but this is apparently how I smile now. I’ve tried this in front of the mirror a few times since I saw this, and I’ve decided I won’t be doing it any longer.

“Pathetic Creature″

Technical details: Panasonic DMC-FZ50 Camera, 50mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/640 sec, by Sarah Duncan

One of the more abundant bird species we observed during our visits in the prairies was the Northern Harrier. As pictured below, their method of hunting is to fly low over the grasslands while listening for their prey. These birds have keen hearing and specially developed facial disks like those of owls that help amplify sounds by directing them towards the ear.

“Icy Heavens”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/4000 sec

If I could do this, I wouldn’t have those crusty, woolen sleeves on these cold and windy days! Look closely and you can see an example of something that plagues this herd. Dana told us that they have a pretty bad time with conjunctivitis. This has resulted in many of the animals having cataracts in one or both eyes as can be seen in this bull. Good thing they have poor vision to start with?

“Blind in One Eye, Can’t See Out the Other”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/640 sec

On our second day in SWMO, Sarah and I were dedicated to visiting a few prairies that we had not previously visited. This was tough, because it meant leaving PSP. But, we rose early and headed about 40 minutes north-east to the town of El Dorado Springs. Our primary stops were two of the largest, eastern-most native tall-grass prairies – Taberville Prairie C.A. and Wah’Kon-Tah Prairie (Nature Conservancy and MO Dept of Conservation). Because of the frigid temperatures, our hikes through these areas were limited and we spent most of our time birding from the car. Wah’Kon-Tah, a term used by the Osage Indians to describe the “god-like” spiritual presence or life force that inhabits all things, was hilly and quite attractive. A quick morning hike through a portion of Taberville resulted in very few birds, but many tracks were spotted, including coyote, in the fresh snow.

We also visited a couple of smaller prairies that were mere minutes away. During a detour across snow and ice-covered farm roads to visit the backside of Monegaw Prairie C.A., we found our best bird of the day, a Loggerhead Shrike. It was actively hunting while moving along a barbed-wire fence.

“Loggerhead Shrike, February 2013”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/6400 sec

Another stop was the small, rectangular and down-right charming Schwartz Prairie. This slice of prairie is owned and managed by the Missouri Prairie Foundation and is named for conservationists, Charles and Elizabeth Schwartz. The Schwartzes worked directly towards prairie chicken conservation and were a fascinating couple. Not only were they active conservationists, they were authors, film-makers and illustrators. Libby and Charles were responsible for the superb field guide, Wild Mammals of Missouri, and Charles was the illustrator of Leopold’s landmark A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There. I am looking forward to doing some more research on this couple and hopefully picking up some of their harder to find books and videos. This photo of an Eastern Meadowlark was taken at Schwartz Prairie.

“Prairie Land Ethic”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec

So, that covers most of the highlights regarding the experiences and images I wanted to share from our recent prairie adventures. A grand total of three short winter days are not nearly enough. I am very much looking forward to future visits to the western side of the state, to witness these endangered habitats during the growing season.

“Whatever else prairie is—grass, sky, wind—it is most of all a paradigm of infinity, a clearing full of many things except boundaries, and its power comes from its apparent limitlessness; there is no such thing as a small prairie any more than there is a little ocean, and the consequence of both is this challenge: try to take yourself seriously out here, you bipedal plodder, you complacent cartoon.”

-William Least Heat-Moon-

“Frozen Oceans of Grass”

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 37mm,* ISO 100, f/14, manual blend of two exposures*

Shaw Nature Reserve – Photo of the Month

birds

One of my first serious bird photos I made, showing a Red-bellied Woodpecker taking advantage of some Black Gum berries, was honored as March’s “Photo of the Month” by SNR.

“Red-bellied Woodpecker”

Technical details: Canon EOS 50D camera, EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM +1.4x @ 280mm, ISO 400, f/6.7, 1/750 sec

Location Spotlight: North America’s Most Endangered Ecosystem, Tallgrass Prairie – Part I

birds, landscape, location spotlight, Uncategorized, wildlife

I’m rooted in the prairie four generations deep, and those brown hills make the spirit rise in me. It’s the land I do my dreaming in, the place where I’ve found peace. Can you tell me why it is I’m going to leave?

-Candace Savage-

Ozark Bill has been most fortunate during the past few weeks. I have been able to visit some public prairie lands in south-western Missouri during two overnight trips. The first, and topic of this post, was a trip that Steve and I took to Prairie State Park, near Lamar, MO. We had planned on visiting a potential five prairie remnants, but we soon discovered that our 1.5 days was a bare minimum to get to know PSP, so that was as far as we got. A couple weeks later, Sarah and I made a similar trip. Back to PSP and as well we visited a few prairies in the El Dorado Springs neighborhood. That will be the subject of part two of this spotlight.

Did you know? As the title alludes, Missouri has less than 1% of its pre-European settlement 155 million acres of prairie remaining. Thanks to John Deere and his insidious prairie-busting invention, 99% of all tall-grass prairie was forever lost in less than 200 years of intensive agriculture. Most of the land encompassing the 3700 acres of what is now called Prairie State Park is composed of original tall-grass prairie. The reason it escaped the plow? For the same reason much of the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas – the top soil contains large quantities of rock, which made it too difficult to plow. Instead, ranchers have used these areas to graze domestic cattle. Since we also wiped the American Bison off the map, this was something of a benefit to this ecosystem, as the tall-grass prairie benefits from grazing and fire disturbances.

Okay, enough of the depressing legacy our glorious westward expansion. There must be something left to celebrate considering we were willing to spend nearly two thousand miles in the car. Yes there is, and I hope to show what I can of what there is still to find by taking a winter trip to Missouri’s remnant prairies.

“Betwixt & Between”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/640 sec

I can’t see a way of knowing the prairie without making multiple trips across the calendar. Each of the green months will have a totally different blooming forb (more than 800 species in total) composition; similarly, each month of the calendar will have a new wildlife mix as migration consistently shuffles bird species. The image of the bison above was named for the utterly fascinating behavior that these free-ranging animals demonstrated as Steve and I moved around the trails of PSP. Signs on the drive into the park kept us focused on the fact that these were in fact wild-animals with unpredictable tendencies and not to get too close to them. Well, this puzzled me, to say the least. So, we asked for clarification from the nice fellow named Dana Hoisington, the visitor’s center naturalist. He gave us the detail we were looking for: 100 yards. Okay, so while we where traversing the hills of the tall-grass, soaking up the breath-taking scenery and doing our best to find some interesting birds, we will gladly steer clear by maintaining the advised restriction from these one to two ton herbivores that can move at speeds up to 35 mph. If we must.

We left the visitor’s center no more than an hour of arriving at PSP, hiking up the hill of what looked to be a pleasant, long hike. In less than five minutes we came across two groups of the herd, both on opposite sides of the trail we were traversing. The larger group comprised nearly 40 animals, the smaller came to about 10-15. How aware they were! They watched us with what appeared to be great curiosity, never lowering their gaze. As we headed up the hill, in between the two groups, we noticed they were slowly moving towards us. Curious. They did not seem spooked, defensive or aggressive, so we decided to make our slow but steady progress up the hill, away from the visitor’s center. We quickly realized that we would probably not be able to make it between the two groups before their progression would result in the three of our groups “meeting up”. We decided to move back the way we came a bit, thinking that maybe the two groups were uncomfortable with the idea of being “split up” by two bipeds carrying too much optical equipment. Imagine our increasingly apparent consternation at the fact that the two groups were now both moving towards us, NOT towards each other! It seemed like someone forgot to tell the bison the 100 yard rule! We increased our pace back to the visitor’s center at the same time that Dana was climbing the hill to assist us! He told us this was very odd behavior that he had not observed before.

“Tons of Fun”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/800 sec

The shot above was taken right before we really decided it was time to retreat. They did not seem aggressive at all, but down right fascinated. It would have been an irresponsible experiment, for sure, but I would love to have known what would have happened if we stayed still and let them continue towards us. We eventually made our way around this coalesced herd and were able to get a nice walk through a good portion of the park. The real puzzling part of their behavior is that during other instances of walking towards similarly sized groups, they had a totally opposite reaction of running. Yes, running, galloping, I’m not sure the correct name, but wow. After observing this, the silent question each of us had about what would we do if these limber bulks decided to charge us became mostly academic. I do not believe there would be much that could have been done. Ideas did come up: raise arms and tripods over head and yell with deep voice, play matador and dodge at last minute, roll into ball and protect head…. After seeing these guys slowly trod between feeding stations at places like Lone Elk Park, I am still astonished at observing the speeds at which they can move! Next time I will need to remember to watch “Dances with Wolves” before I do this.

“Terrestrial Thunder”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec

Being able to witness the sound and feeling of small numbers of these animals thundering across the hills makes one wonder what it would have been like to observe endless thousands doing so across the great plains 200 years ago. Shortly after spooking this group we came across the skeletal remains of two bison, minus the skulls. It was interesting to observe the elongated vertebrate, located in the hump, that help support the huge, muscular neck of these animals. An adult male bison’s head can weigh up to 500lbs, so it seems obvious the need for such support.

“Harris’s Sparrow, February 2013”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/7.1, 1/200 sec

Harris’s Sparrow winter’s in a narrow band across the great plains and is rather common in western MO. We were able to spot what must have been near 50 around PSP during our visit. This was a new one for my bird species photograph list and a lifer for Steve. The animal pictured above is a juvenile and does not yet have the characteristics black mask of the adults.

When we thought of the birds we had a chance to find and photograph during this visit an obvious short list came to mind: Greater Prairie Chicken, Prairie Falcon, Merlin, Rough-legged Hawk, Short-Eared Owl, Harris’s Sparrow. For me, two species were at the top of that list, GPCH and PRFA. I thought that at this time of year and the relative scarcity that we would have less than a 2% chance of finding Prairie Chicken and a much smaller chance at making photographs.

With a statewide population that once was a million or more birds, the GPCH flock in Missouri is now an estimated 500 birds. The historical range of this species ran from the Atlantic coast, north to the lake states and well into central Canada, south into the Arkansas Ozarks and as far south as Texas. The current range is now mostly centered around the middle plains states, including the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas, and the species as a whole is estimated to be around 450K birds and considered vulnerable. The Atlantic coast race, known as the “Heath Hen” went extinct in 1932 and the TX coast race, “Attwater’s Prairie Chicken” is now known as the most critically endangered bird in the United States.

Great efforts are being put forth to help save Missouri’s GPCH flock; however, many believe it may likely be too little, too late. Hunting has been banned for nearly 100 years, so why the problems? Loss of habitat. Tall-grass prairie and similar ecosystems are what these birds require and they need a minimum of between 10,000 and 20,000 acres of unfragmented native prairie habitat. There are simply no contiguous tracks of private or public prairies in MO that will provide this kind of area needed. In addition, a series of well done investigations from Kansas State University discovered that most GPCH hens would avoid nesting or rearing young within 1/4 mile of power lines and trees and 1/3 of a mile from roads. Considering most prairie tracks in MO are less than 2500 acres and that most of these are cut with roads or interspersed with private farm or ranch lands, it is no wonder that the flock has continued to dwindle.

Not all hope is lost for the future of the GPCH in Missouri! Proper management of habitat is currently ongoing at the Nature Conservancy’s Dunn Ranch in north-west MO. Combined with the nearly 8000 acres of the nearby Neal Smith NWR across the boarder in Iowa, this mostly contiguous prairie stretch may keep the GPCH nesting in the Show-Me State for future generations to witness.

So, did we find the birds?

“Greater Prairie Chickens in Flight, February 2013”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1000, f/5, 1/1000 sec

Yes! Hiking through a rather nondescript section of the prairie, all of a sudden we flushed a couple of birds. As I mentioned earlier, I did not really expect that we would be fortunate enough to spot them during winter, so I tried to turn them into anything else. Quail, doves, anything but GPCH. As Steve and I talked it through and looked at my first batch of crappy images I was able to shoot off, it seemed more and more unlikely they could be anything but GPCH. As we closed within 100 yards or so we stopped to see if we could find them using the scope and my big camera lens. I felt our chances would be very slim here as well. What would the chances be of finding these birds that can camouflage so well in the prairie vegetation? In a relatively short time I was shocked to hear Stephen proclaim, “I think I found one!” This was a great job from someone not completely accustomed to using a scope for birding. I was able to find the bird in my camera and squeezed a few shots and discovered the bird was watching us! Can you find him in the photo below?

“Where’s Waldo?”

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1000, f/5, 1/640 sec

This cover’s some of the highlights and a few images made during our brief visit. I will continue to post images from this trip on Flickr and I will look forward to sharing stories and more photographs from the trip Sarah and I made back to this region a couple of weeks later. Much of the information I presented in this post and further reading can be found in these great publications:

“Public Prairies of Missouri 3rd Ed” 1999. Free Publication by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“Prairie: A Natural History” 2004. Candace Savage. Greystone Books.
“Save the Last Dance: A Story of North American Grassland Grouse” 2012. Noppadol Paothong. Noppadol Paothong Photograpy LLC.

A Couple of Different Birds at Riverlands

birds, Uncategorized, wildlife

I spent the AM hours at Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary and Columbia Bottom C.A. yesterday. I mostly ran into lots of the usual: waterfowl, American Kestrels, Harriers, Eagles and an assortment of Sparrows. Two birds at RMBS were a bit unusual. The first was this juvenile, “Krider’s morph” light phase Red-Tailed Hawk. I watched him at this perch for a while until one of the resident Eagles decided it was time for him to leave the tree. I looked for him the rest of the morning, both at RMBS and CBCA, but never spotted him again.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/640 sec

The other bird that drew my attention was this guy below. I am making no sure statements as to what this one is. It mostly reminds me of an aberrant Canada Goose, i.e. partial leucistic. However, the orange legs remind me of a Greater White-fronted Goose. Perhaps a mix of some kind? Hopefully the experts can shed some light…

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/2000 sec

Birding Up and Down Highway 79

birds, wildlife

On a rare Saturday off from work Sarah decided she wanted to join me in a birding trip up the Mississippi flyway following Highway 79. Lately, we have not done as many of these trips together as we once did, so this was a rare treat and I expected she would bring her typical luck and skills at finding the interesting birds. I was not mistaken. We hit the road early and made our leisurely way up north following a breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Our goals were to ultimately hit Lock and Dam 24 in Clarksville to see if there was enough ice over the river to bring the Eagles in significant numbers. What makes this trip so nice is that you rarely drive more than ten miles without having a nice place along the river to stop and look for birds and other wildlife.

Our first stop was the Winfield Dam where we looked for the American Avocet that apparently is happy to overwinter here. We did not find this bird, but were happy to watch the Northern Shoveler and American Pelican that were quite active in the nearby slough. Also unseen were the dozens of Common Snipe that were there a few weeks prior during my last trip up this way. Leaving the dam we headed back north and made mostly unproductive stops at BK Leach C.A., Clarence Cannon NWR and a few other locations. With most shallow waters frozen, not many waterfowl or marsh birds were apparent, but raptors, particularly Red-Tailed Hawk, American Kestral and Northern Harrier were abundant. We were able to watch as a coyote crossed across this “frozen waste”, amazed at the sight of him running full-speed over frozen water while not loosing a bit of speed. He was a healthy looking animal, which we love seeing on our excursions.

Arriving at Clarksville we were rather alarmed to discover that we had arrived at “Eagle Days”, meaning that finding parking and ample real estate to set up for photography near the river would not be easy. We were able to see that the eagles were not present in great numbers around the dam, so this made our decision easy to continue heading north. The drive between Clarksville and Louisiana is scenic. If you are in the area stop at the Village of the Blue Rose as a bed and breakfast or a one-stop restaurant. You will not be disappointed.

For the past several years highway 79 has ended just north of Louisiana, major rerouting/new bridge? have kept the direct route to Ted Shanks C.A. closed. We decided to give it a try and were pleased to see the road was now open. Although mostly frozen, it was nevertheless nice to finally drive through this large wetland/forest area. Other than several Bald Eagle, no birds of note were observed. I was finally able to photograph a lovely Fox Squirrel. She was satisfied sitting out in the open collecting some sun-rays on this nice winter day. However, as the shadow of an eagle literally passed on top of her, she quickly scurried into his knot-home and cautiously peaked out to see if the coast was clear.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/7.1, 1/1250 sec

Leaving Ted Shanks we headed a few miles further north and turned around in the city of Hannibal. Going back towards home and snacking in the car we made similar stops. I had planned to spend the last couple hours of daylight at BK Leach C.A. and hopefully spot the Short-eared Owl that I have heard were really working the area. The problem was that BK Leach covers a lot of ground and we were not sure where the greatest likelihood for success might be for spotting them. Ultimately we decided to drive slowly through areas where the habitat seemed most to their liking: area of shrub and grass, agricultural fields – especially those that were recently left to fallow. So this is what we did and this is when the fun started. As usual I was driving a bit too fast for our situation (I’m always afraid we are missing something down the road) when Sarah yelled, “stop, what the hell is that?”. Looking out the windshield of my side I looked down and watched as a pair of Ring-necked Pheasant stared curiously back up at us. This was my first view of this exotic, naturalized species. Unfortunately, I could not get a photograph of the female, but she was every bit as beautiful as the brightly colored male, although quite different in appearance.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/7.1, 1/500 sec

After a few seconds in the relative open these two moved deeper into the grass until they were just barely out of sight. We could hear them clucking and vocalizing back and forth, but we decided to move on and look for the owls, knowing we could likely spot them later. Just mere minutes following our decision to move forward once again Sarah pointed down the road on the driver’s side and asked is that a bird? With unaided vision it appeared to be a jumble of dried leaves suspended a foot or two above the thick grass. As I got the binoculars on it, it turned into a SEOW! How easy was that!? We made our way slowly down the road, stopping now and then to make sure we at least got documentary photographs. This photo shows the first bird in the same position in which we found it, bathed in the glorious warm light from the late-day, winter’s sun just a few inches above the tops of the Lincoln Hills.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec

SEOW are reportedly the most diurnal/crepuscular species of owl to be found in Missouri. They can often be spotted hunted during the day and are usually easily observed at dawn and dusk. Shortly after this image was taken the sun was mostly covered by what little cloud cover existed. Typical. This meant that ISO would have to go up while shutter speed went down. This created the challenge of keeping the new lens steady in order to come at all close to a reasonably sharp image. It also meant trying to get closer and that auto-focus on birds in flight would be problematic at best. I also came to the conclusion that a much more stable and professional bean-bag support will be needed to shoot from the vehicle’s window.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 640, f/6.3, 1/500 sec

The photo above shows the characteristic feather-covered legs and feet of these birds. SEOW are also well known for their style of flight; they slowly and methodically beat their wings in a rhythm and pattern quite reminiscent of moths. Previous to this day, my one experience with this species was watching a far-off silhouette flying in this manner as the last light of the day ended. This day was definitely more satisfying.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 800, f/6.3, 1/500 sec

Not long after seeing the first owl we began to see giant moths silently gliding across the landscape. They would land for several minutes on a perch, often signs placed along the road, and then take to wing. Once Sarah and I watched as one tried for a pray item, but came up empty-taloned. They were not the only predators in the area. Northern Harrier, aka “Marsh Hawk” are the daytime counterpart of the SEOW. They both fill the same basic niche, gliding low and silent over the terrain, listening for the sounds of rustling rodents. In fact, because they so often come into contact with one another, squabbles and violence sometimes occurs. NOHA are known for stealing food from the owls and sometimes even killing and eating them. The image below shows a Harrier in flight. These guys are one of my nemesis birds. Keenly aware of their surroundings, they have a knack for staying far enough away to avoid being able to get the perfect photograph.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1600, f/5, 1/640 sec

I could not believe how active these birds were. How dynamic the scene presented. Oh, if the last hour of the sun were allow to shine and not be covered by the clouds and hills! We counted at least six SEOW and probably as many NOHA within sight of our vehicle. The SEOW not only have to keep an eye out for the Marsh Hawk, but each other. We saw constant apparent aggressive behavior among up to three birds in flight at a time. For several minutes, we watched and photographed the bird pictured below against the Lincoln Hills. The bird’s head rarely stopped moving as it scanned and watched all the flying raptors surrounding it. No wonder they were using anything as a possible perch!

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1000, f/5, 1/160 sec

A question of ethics. Wildlife photographers have a reputation, often deservedly, of using questionable practices in getting their images. This has been a growing concern of mine lately. I by no means consider myself perfect in this regard, and I realize that some of my activities could be seen as unethical by others. I do, however, feel there is a line of continuum in certain practices used by photographers, or other nature observers. For instance, using flash photography on owls is seen by the majority of wildlife photographers to be off limits, but some will use fill-flash to capture images of diurnal birds. I have dabbled with this in the past and in my opinion the use of flash has a definite effect on their behavior a significant amount of time. Therefore, I will not use artificial lighting to capture wildlife. Similarly, most, but unfortunately, not all photographers consider the use of live bait to attract raptors as taboo. But, we will use fruit and seed to attract species that feed on such.

I bring this up because of something Sarah and I observed last night. I am somewhat embarrassed that I had never heard or read about this technique. When Sarah and I stopped to watch and shoot the first couple of owls, we saw that ~0.5 miles or so down the road was a car that appeared to be on an owl that was on a perch no more than 30″ from the car! We were jealous, but being very eager not to disturb the bird or the photographer we made sure to stay far away. Twenty minutes later we realize the bird had not moved once off its perch. What luck we thought! Even with sometimes two other owls buzzing by it time and again, the owl stayed put. We finally inched close enough to realize the owl was indeed a pretty well done decoy and the photographer was outside the car sitting against it shooting the owls as they strafed by the perched fake.

I had to do some internet searching to finally figure out what was going on. Now I do feel guilty about sometimes causing a perched bird to flush as I inch closer, but this bird was perched inches from a road. These roads do have traffic from hunters and general wildlife watchers and are constantly being exposed to vehicles when they perch near the road like this. I will also use some voice playback, as minimal as possible, and phishing to attract birds closer for a picture. I am not quite certain about this practice of decoys, but it does taste of going past that invisible ethical line to me. Is it as bad as using live bait to attract an owl or other raptor, or getting within 10 feet of a Barn Owl and using flash to get a photo? Probably not. I plan on asking some veteran and respected birders and photographers what they think. Please let me know your opinion. On a further note, when driving by this guy who was using the decoy, for some reason he gave us the stink-eye. I’m not sure what that was about, maybe he thought we were taking advantage of his hard work?

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1000, f/5, 1/250 sec

In my humble opinion the photo of a SEOW perched on a sign or post has become a bit cliche’, but this is still probably my favorite image from the day. Any time you can watch a bird like this so close, to see that detail and be able to capture it with your camera is very special. I think this photo depicts how special these Conservation Areas are for providing the necessary habitat that these species needs.

This photo will also always remind me of a particularly memorable moment. This image was taken at near 5:00, well past lunch and damn-near dinner time. Now, I am perfectly used to eating fruits and nuts for most of the day, you know, “hippie food”, and then having a hearty dinner. Well Sarah’s stomach was definitely not made aware of this and just when we were closer to one of these owls than at any other time, her stomach decided to stage a vocal protest. It was loud and it was continuous! I was becoming legitimately concerned it might disturb this beautiful animal! So she and I of course started chuckling. The more we tried to stop, the worse it came. Thankfully, I don’t think the bird took any more notice than before.

So ended a fantastic day. The sun setting behind the Lincoln Hills lit up the clouds in a dramatic, fiery sky. We did not try to find a spot to make a sunset shot, but preferred to watch as we slowly drove away from the owls and harriers as they went about their living in the Mississippi flood plain.

Technical details: Canon EOS 7D camera, EF500mm f/4.5L USM lens, ISO 1000, f/5, 1/640 sec

A Warm Winter’s Day in the St. Francois

"monochrome", Go Take A Hike, landscape, Uncategorized, wildlife

With forecasted highs near 60F, there was no question what I would be doing this past Saturday. The only problem was where to take a hike! Being mid-January and a warm, sunny day, I knew that Lower Rock Creek would not disappoint. As expected, the Ozark Witch Hazel was in full bloom and beautifully fragrant. The sky was completely clear and the lighting harsh for much photography of the many water features the area has to offer, but of course I had to try. Ultimately I just tried to enjoy the hike and experience the wilderness that life continually rips from my fingertips. There were a good number of ice formations still left on north-facing canyon walls and this particular patch was beginning to melt, releasing its maker into a mirror-like pool that ultimately fell down this drop and married with the rest of the stream. I looked for ways to get closer to these formations but could not find a safe passage.

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 40mm, ISO 200, f/11, manual blend of two exposures

On the way upstream, I stayed off the trail as much as possible; I preferred following the creek bed although wet and icy rocks often made this a challenge. A couple of times near bends I was forced to go up and over a ridge because of lack of good foot or handholds above the creek. After about three hours of rock hopping with my 30lb pack, fatigue started to creep in and I twisted my ankle bad enough to cause a minor sprain/strain. This was very close to this wonderful swimming hole, so I pulled my boot and sock off and dunked my foot into this spring-fed water… for about 30 seconds.

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF17-40mm f/4L USM @ 25mm, ISO 100, f/11, manual blend of two exposures

On the way back downstream I followed the trail most of the way, shedding layers as the temperature rose over 5oF. Along the route I was fortunate to spot a coupling couple of Eastern Garter Snakes. These light-bodied snakes, much like grasshoppers and Morning Cloak Butterflies, will often wake up and see what’s happening on a warm winter day. And usually, the males have something other than food in mind. As can be seen in this image, the female was about two thirds larger than her mate. Following a successful copulation, the female can store sperm until closer to the warmer months, and many snake species can and do copulate several times and will actively select sperm of her choosing. I tried my best not to disturb this pair too much. They were rather laid back and didn’t seem to be alarmed, even when I lowered the diffuser mere inches from them. When I left the male was still busily making his intentions known, while she kept her eye and tongue focused in my direction.

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, ISO 400, f/11, 1/40 sec

After having some lunch at the car I tried my best at finding the John James Audubon Trail that I have been wanting to visit for a while. After some fruitless searching I was unable to find a single trail-head, placard, sign or blaze marker that I was confident in. Unless I hear otherwise I will consider this a defunct trail. So I decided to visit the Castor River Shut-ins and spend the remainder of the daylight hopping around on even more rocks. The lighting was still rather poor and I had little inspiration for finding a composition so I experimented a bit, focusing on the effect of minute changes in exposure time on capturing the movement of flowing waters.

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 60mm, ISO 320, f/7.1, 1/13 sec

Technical details: Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 80mm, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/40 sec