Ducklings

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On the same morning as I photographed the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at the Josey Ranch Pocket Prairie, I noticed some almost grown Mallard ducks on the nearby pond with their mom. There may have been more than four in the brood originally, but 4 surviving past the stage where turtles can drown them is wonderful to see. They looked good in the morning light.

On the shore I saw a female duck in some taller grass. She looked very alert…and soon I saw why.

Ducklings! They must have been the second wave of young this season. The little ones were very active and heading toward the water.

I took a video – observing the mother trying to keep the ducklings close to the shore…probably aware of the turtles lurking in the pond. It was a breezy day, and the ducklings didn’t always stay in a tight group! It is surprising how quickly they move….how they can maneuver through the tall grass and bob in water shallow enough that the mother is standing. There were 5 of them. I’ll look again for the group in late July which I will be back in the Josey Ranch (Carrollton TX) area.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

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I saw scissor-tailed flycatchers flying along the roadside in my April and May road trips between Missouri and Texas. The bird is easily identified because of its long tail. I saw several in Oklahoma at first – to be expected since it is the the state bird. Then I saw several on the May morning I visited Hagerman. I could never photograph them because I was driving. I finally got lucky in June and spotted one getting breakfast the morning I went to the Josey Ranch Pocket Prairie in June.

The bird was sitting on a snag…periodically leaving to swoop over the grass…then would return to the snag. It was a breezy day and the long tail seemed to me a bit of a disadvantage; the movements of the bird to catch insects in flight were very dramatic. It was great to simply stand and watch the bird. Being able to finally photograph the bird was the highpoint of my morning!

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – June 2023

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It was hotter and dustier than May on the afternoon I was at Hagerman…a stop on the road trip between my home and Carrollton TX. The riot of wildflowers of May has shifted toward thistles and sunflowers and lotus…with the May flowers producing seed.

There were three types of egrets I saw: cattle and snowy…

And then a great egret on a snag - scratching.

The black vultures were on the ground. They didn’t appear to be around feeding. They were just in a group at the edge of one of the ponds…socializing.

The butterfly garden near the visitor center has a wider variety of flowers still blooming.

And they were attracting butterflies. I watched one getting nectar from a cone flower.

There were several other kinds around too…and I saw one butterfly laying eggs on a plant that didn’t have any flowers (must have been the plant that the caterpillars like to eat). I had a pleasant conversation with a woman as we both enjoyed the garden; she was about my age, had bought a butterfly kit for a granddaughter (the caterpillar had successfully developed into a butterfly that was released), and was part of the rotation caring for her elderly father in his home…a wonderful chance encounter that made the road trip unique!

There were bees in the butterfly garden too. One was taking a break on a bench…an easy picture!

Denison, Texas Travel Center – June 2023

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The Beautyberry was blooming at the Texas travel center on US 75 (entering the state from Oklahoma). I searched for the flowers since I knew the plants were growing there…remembering the purple berries I’d seen last fall. The buds and flowers are very small…easy to overlook among the foliage. This is a plant I will check every month to observe how the berries develop!

Some of the wildflowers that were blooming last month have already started to make seeds but there are new rounds of flowers.

It was hotter and, as I walked along the sidewalk with plants leaning into the walkway, I felt like there were biting insects around my ankles! I took pictures quickly – noticed insects on some of the flowers.

I headed back to the car to continue my road trip to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge and Carrollton.

Sunflowers

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The plant-of-the-month I chose for June is the sunflower. They’ll be blooming for most of the summer, but late May and June is when they begin. I saw them at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge near Sherman TX and at Josey Ranch’s Pocket Prairie. They are large plants…sometimes grow in groups…dominating prairie type spaces.

I like them from every perspective and maturity. Even on windy days, I can get zoomed pictures. I like the structure of the buds when they are green…and then when the yellow petals begin to peek through. The bud structure can still be seen in the back view of the flower. Sometimes the petals are wrinkle free…sometimes they look like crepe paper. The flowers turn toward the sun so it is not uncommon to have a plant full of flowers with brown centers in view….or the stem and petals extending from bud remnants of the back of the flower.

The plants attract insects…and later will provide food for birds.

There is a lot to like about the sunny sunflower!

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 17, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Humans taking a toll on Yellowstone wildlife - In recent days two black bears have been killed by motorists, an elk and a bison were also hit by vehicles, a newborn elk calf was picked up by motorists concerned for its fate, and a bison calf had to be put down after a visitor tried to help it out of the Lamar River so it could catch up with its mother. I remember that the park had good signage trying to educate people….seems that it isn’t as effective as I assumed it would be.

See the Rare Albino Echidna Spotted in Australia – It’s been named (Raffie) and photographed…evidently still in the wild! A piece of trivia from the article: a baby echidna is a puggle.

Tune in to the Great Salt Lake kestrel cam – Take a look…they hatched on May 17th…and they are growing up fast.

Scientists target human stomach cells for diabetes therapy – Still very much in research phase…but it would certainly improve the lives of a lot of people if it can be developed into a treatment!

This New Device Generates Electricity from Thin Air – Evidently the device can be made from any material that can be punctured with ultra-small holes. Too good to be true….or competitive with established clean energy sources like wind and solar?

Super low-cost smartphone attachment brings blood pressure monitoring to your fingertips – A clip that fits over the phone’s camera and flash…an app. It costs about 80 cents to make but the cost could be as low at 10 cents when manufactured at scale. Evidently it does not need to be calibrated either! I wonder if cuffs will become a thing of the past very quickly!

What we know about the health risks of ultra-processed foods – Research teasing out what exactly about ultra-processed food is bad. I’ve been trying to reduce ultra-processed food…so have been following the advice in this article for at about a year: if you're considering eating a packaged food, read the ingredient list…If you really have no idea what some of those ingredients are, it probably went too far.

You can make carbon dioxide filters with a 3D printer – Printing a hydrogel material that holds carbonic anhydrase (an enzyme that turns carbon dioxide and water into bicarbonate).

Nepal Won’t Move the Mount Everest Base Camp for Now, Despite Risks – Everest’s highest glacier has lost half its mass since the 1990s because of higher temperatures. It may only be a few years before the camp needs to move.

Colombia’s ‘cocaine hippo’ population is even bigger than scientists thought – Wild descendants of the hippos introduced in Columbia by Pablo Escobar….considered the largest invasive animal in the world. There are probably 181-215 of them in Columbia. Several strategies are being tried: contraception administered via dart, castration, exporting the animal to sanctuaries abroad. Culling appears to be the only strategy that can save the biodiversity of Columbia.

Carrollton Yard – May 2023

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My parent’s yard was transitioning from spring to summer when I was there in late May. My sister had taken away the naked lady lily leaves that had turned brown; the bulbs have the stored energy for their bloom later in the summer. I put the stainless-steel iris I bought at the Springfield Artsfest in the hydrangea plot. It looked like it belonged there and will provide some color visible from the garden room during the winter.

The Queen Anne’s Lace is beginning to boom…and the cosmos. In the front yard the red yucca is the most colorful. The daisies are dispersing their seeds. The ferns are lush and there are still fiddleheads unfurling.

The lamb’s ear is blooming. When I got home, the ones in my yard were too!

Now I am beginning to think about whether I want to propagate some of these plants in my yard. My challenge right now is a lack of gardening space and the need to clear out plants that didn’t make it through the winter in some of the beds. On the plus side…that clearing could leave some places that I could plant some Carrollton transplants.

Pocket Prairie and Josey Ranch – May 2023

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The Pocket Prairie at Josey ranch was blooming when I was there in May. The gardeners have worked hard to help it recover after last summer’s heat/drought. It will take a few years to fill in between the clumps that were planted new this year.

My favorites are the sunflowers. I like them from every angle!

The goslings that I noticed in April were in the same area in May. They have grown….and there are only 3 of the 5 left. Even though there are 2 diligent adults nearby, predators still take a toll. I wondered what the top predator would be in this urban park…maybe turtles…maybe unleashed dogs?

On the larger pond, there were mallard ducklings. There were 5 of them with a female. The males steer clear…seemed to be in all male groups.

The grackles were active and noisy.

They didn’t seem to disturb the great egret’s concentration as it searched for breakfast.

The swans were across the pond from where I stood. There seemed to be a lot of feathers on the shore. I wondered if the swans were molting or if something had attacked one of them.

I’ll be back in Carrollton by mid-June….looking forward to more sunflowers!

Hagerman Wildflowers – May 2023

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The wildflowers were abundant at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in May…and the cloudy weather didn’t impact photography of them as it did for the birds. I enjoyed taking some assemblages of flowers in the roadside meadows.

Most of my images were zoomed in shots of single species – queen Anne’s lace, amaranth, coneflower, butterfly weed, milkweed….and more.

Some of the plants had insects on them too…an added attraction.

I experimented with some high key images too…the advantage of a cloudy sky.

The redbud near the visitor center is one of my favorite trees to photograph – an easy access specimen for macro photography.

I’m looking forward to seeing the changes when I visit the refuge in June. Some of the flowers will last through the summer….others will be done with their blooms for the year. Being able to visit a refuge like Hagerman every month is one of the best things about 2023 (so far)!

Hagerman Birds – May 2023

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I made the best of cloudy days both times I was at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in May. Photographing birds was frustrating because of the light and I thought while I was there that I wouldn’t like any of the images…but they turned out better than I expected in several cases. The egrets were still around: Great Egrets

And Snowy Egrets (seemingly a lot more of them about).

I enjoyed the light around a snowy egret on the second morning…it was changing very quickly with the sun coming in and out of clouds as it was getting higher in the sky (it was still within an hour of sunrise).

I learned on my first visit to scan the high points of the meadow for birds...seeing a dickcissel was my most immediate success.

There were a lot of red-winded blackbirds. I saw one perched on an amaranth close to the road and he stayed put for a portrait, a defiant look, a little bow (but he was still watching me), and then a screech to let everyone know it was his turf!

The second morning I saw that there was a group of egrets on one of the ponds and they were leaving just as I was arriving! Did they roost there…or just get their breakfast?

There were great blue herons as well.

There was a preening red-shoulder hawk on a snag.

May was not a great month for bird photography on the days I went to Hagerman…but not a total loss either. This image is my favorite of the morning.

Denison (Texas) Travel Center Wildflowers – May 2023

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The welcome center entering Texas from Oklahoma on US75 was an opportunity for some macro photography of Texas wildflowers. The beds are easily accessible from paved walkways! My Bluetooth shutter remote was on the lanyard with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e); that made it a lot easier to hold the phone steady to get close views of the flowers.

There were other people going in and out of the visitor center. I was the only one among the flowers. I spent about 10 minutes photographing…a bit more just enjoying the place…appreciating the care the gardeners take with the plantings.

It will be interesting to see how much has changed when I am there in June….and maybe I should take a few landscape shots too.

Springfield Botanical Gardens – May 2023

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After my sister and I left the Japanese Stroll Garden, we drove the short distance to the Springfield Botanical Gardens botanical center parking lot.

I enjoyed the rain garden and beds near the building…particularly the different kinds of Hens and Chicks plants they had. Maybe I will eventually have some of these in the rock bed near my front porch.

We walked down to the hosta garden and back. I noticed the signs warning about ticks/Lyme disease for the first time (my daughter insists they have been around the garden previously); I guess Lyme disease is a problem in Missouri as it was in Maryland even though I don’t notice the over population of deer (and deer ticks) being as high as in Maryland.

Next time I go to the gardens, I will look more at the butterfly garden and daylilies!

Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden – May 2023

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The Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden was the first part of the Springfield Botanical Gardens we walked during my sister’s visit. The cherry trees, that were blooming last time I visited, have their green foliage now and the summer flowers are beginning to bloom. Yellow flag irises are blooming along the edges of most of the ponds. I always photograph the lanterns!

 This time I noticed the pine in the meditation garden…with larger rounded stones. My sister and I made small cairns on the posts of the garden (mine is pictured below).

There was a bird to observe too: a yellow crowned night heron…looking for breakfast at the edge of a small island in one of the ponds. We stayed far enough away from the bird – it ignored us! I experimented with a blurred foreground (grass) in one of the pictures.

Overall – an enjoyable stroll…and then we headed over to the main garden intent on seeing some of the areas my sister had not seen the last time she came to Springfield (when we moved to the area last June). That’s the topic of tomorrow’s post….

Ten Little Celebrations – May 2023

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I picked my 10 little celebrations for May…then grouped them in to 3 categories: playing tourist (5), emotional experience (3) and getting outdoors (2). There was a lot to celebrate in May!

ArtsFest in Springfield. An interesting event and great weather too. We went with my daughter and son-in-law. I had heard about it in previous years from my daughter but it was my first time to experience it. It was a way to celebrate great spring weather and the artists of the area.

Springfield Botanical Gardens/Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden. Another way to celebrate springtime…savor the flowers…the new growth everywhere.

Fantastic Caverns. The easiest way to tour a cave…riding on a tram. I celebrated that this one had visible fossils in the ceiling that were visible too.

Springfield Art Museum. I celebrated the pottery/ceramics which is the focus of one of the exhibits now. Somehow art that has the potential to be something functional always appeals to me.  

World of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium. Celebrating the improvements in presentation of taxidermied specimens (meticulous attention to the depiction of the ecosystem around the animal)….and best aquarium in this part of the country!

Mother’s Day. A hearty breakfast then a hike alongside a meadow with my daughter…celebrating the relationship (and motherhood).


A sister’s successful surgery. Health of ourselves and people we have close relationships is always somewhat emotion. It’s great to be able to celebrate a procedure that was successful.

In-range blood work results. I celebrated some recent blood work that indicated that everything being checked was in the normal range. As we get older, we tend to be more aware that there could be some challenges ahead…and it is reassuring when the results indicate everything is still fine.

Coopers hawk over the Pocket Prairie. It’s always startling to see a raptor in a suburban area. I heard the racket of other birds before I saw the hawk swoop over the pocket prairie at Josey Ranch and into the neighborhood across the street. I celebrated that these small hawks evidently have thrived in that environment.

Rhododendron Flowering. I missed the rhododendron blooming last year…was thrilled when the flowers opened. It was a big part of the celebration of spring in our back yard!

Zooming – May 2023

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So many photography opportunities in May…flowers are blooming, birds are out and about, we traveled to Pensacola FL and played tourist close to home when my sister visited. The first pictures are from Pensacola…then from Texas (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge and Carrollton)…then close to home (Lake Springfield, Fantastic Caverns, and World of Wildlife). It was a busy month!

I use the zoom feature on my Canon Powershot SX70 HS for almost every picture. My goal is to compose the image in a way that I don’t need to modify it later. The strategy saves time and focuses my creative energy while I am in the field when I can almost always try another shot – get exactly what I want.

Springfield Art Museum

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I’ve been to the Springfield Art Museum several times. There are new exhibits often enough to make it a great activity anytime but particularly on a hot afternoon or a rainy day. I always enjoy seeing the Chihuly piece (glass) in the foyer and Anne Lindberg’s tilted sky (Egyptian cotton thread stretched over a hallway) again.

The first gallery we walked through had appealing vessels – my two favorites are the ones with wavy decorations that reminded me of prairie grasses/flowers.

I experimented with different perspectives of the fountain in the courtyard. My favorite is probably the most magnified…the way the water flattens and swirls once it makes the leap from above.

In another gallery, ceramic swirls caught my attention. Some were 3-D spirals…others more complex interlocked curves.

As we walked outside, we noticed the plantings done to control erosion now that the renovation along Fassnight Creek has been completed.

A butterfly and ladybug were enjoying them too!

Every visit to the museum includes something new – new exhibits or just noticing something that I didn’t during the previous visit.

13 'The Spell of…. ' (eBooks)

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The Spell of… books were published in the early 1900s by L.C. Page and Company of Boston – travel books with a few colored plates and drawings…more photographs…of the places they are about. Often the endpapers have scenic drawings. I’ve selected 13 that I have browsed recently for the slice of place and time they represent.

Mason, Caroline Atwater - The Spell of Italy (1909)

Hallays, Andre - The spell of Alsace (1919)

McCrackan, William D. - The spell of Tyrol (1914)

 Anderson, Isabel - The spell of Japan (1914)

Addison, Julia de Wolf - The Spell of England (1912)

Call, Frank Oliver -  The Spell of French Canada (1926)

 Mills, Enos A. - The Spell of the Rockies  (1911)

Call, Frank Oliver - The Spell of Acadia (1930)

McCrackan, William D. - The Spell of the Italian Lakes (1918)

 Mansfield, Milburg Fracisco - The spell of Algeria and Tunisia (1924)

Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium

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The Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium is next to the Bass Pro Shops National Headquarters in Springfield, MO. It’s a place we passed by frequently over the past year but had not toured; the visit from my sister was a good prompt to finally buy tickets!

My main interest was the Aquarium but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the museum portion – history of hunting, fishing, and conservation with sculpture, taxidermy animals/models in realistic habitats, paintings, artifacts (fishing lures, taxidermy versions of ‘largest’ bears, boats). The animal exhibits were a much-improved version of the Natural History museums I toured as a child and I found myself picking up details of the scenes….enjoying them more than I would a zoo where the animals so often look stressed and uncomfortable.

The aquarium has a living fish, of course, but there were also models of animals too. The sperm whale with giant squid was one of the first that I noticed. There were models of different kinds of sharks on the wall – making it easier to notice the shape and size differences.

One of the larger tanks had a ‘shipwreck’ theme. I took a few pictures as we walked through the aquarium areas. The octopus tank seemed small for the animal…hopefully there was another space that gave it more room to move about.

The jellyfish were probably my favorite exhibit. Their shape and movement are somehow calming…and I’m always surprised at how different they can look.

There was also a smaller exhibit with different kinds of coral.

Toward the end of our tour, there was an area for lesser flamingo and a great egret. It was relatively dark. I liked the picture I took of the egret…but I wondered if the birds were rescues since a dark habitat is not what I associate with these birds. Earlier on we had seen some great horned owls that were rescued birds. Their habitat allowed them to be well away from the people and they seemed calm enough…but probably very different than they were in the wild.

Overall – an interesting place but I’d rather be outdoors. Next time we have someone visiting, I want to visit Dogwood Canyon Nature Park.

Fantastic Caverns

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Local sightseeing prompted by a visitor from out-of-town visitors….we did it a lot when we lived in the Virginia-DC-Maryland area between 1983 and 2022…and we are doing the same now that we live near Springfield, MO. I’ll be posting about some of the places we shared with our guest.

Fantastic Caverns is north of Springfield. It’s a ride-thru cave so works for people that aren’t sure they want to walk a lot. It was discovered during the Civil War (by a dog and then the landowner) but kept secret until after the Civil War. It has always been privately owned (including the land above the cave). The ride-thru tours started in 1962 and have helped preserve the formations – keeping them in view while reducing the risk of people touching them.

Picture taking is allowed and the lighting – while not overly bright – is enough to get interesting images. I used the ‘night scene’ setting on my camera; it worked well when the tram was stopped (since it takes multiple images and then stacks them in the camera for a final image).

There were fossils visible in the ceiling at one stop: starfish and crinoids (Cheerio looking nodules).

Outside there were trays of popcorn for the squirrels and birds between some of the tall trees (popcorn was available inside for people)…

And the peonies were beginning to bloom.

We didn’t hike the trail down to where the water exits the cave this time.

We bought a season pass since we thought we might come back to do the hike and enjoy the cave again.

Lessons learned for us:

  • We were there for the 9:45 tour. When we returned there were a lot of students there (a great field trip for the end of school…and it might be for summer camps as well). We’ll go early when we go next time. They open at 8 AM.

  • It’s a viable activity for a rainy day (if it hasn’t been raining for a long time…the cave has flooded occasionally over the years).

  • The cave is 60 degrees year round….a good activity for a hot summer afternoon!

Lake Springfield Boathouse Meadow

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The two Purple Martin houses near the Lake Springfield Boathouse are very active; there are always birds visible from the balconies. The houses are in the mowed area close to the boathouse and parking area – convenient for the birds to swoop over the meadow or out over the lake. It is very challenging to get the eyes visible with the dark coloring of the feathers!

A little further along the path and across from the meadow...there are periodic bluebird houses. One of the houses was being used by a tree swallow…another by an Eastern Bluebird that was still supplementing the nest inside.

The multiflora roses were blooming under the trees….a non-native plant that was promoted years ago, but is now generally viewed as invasive.

The meadow was mostly green….with a few plants beginning to flower The milkweed was up but not yet blooming.

I was glad I had by bridge camera with its optical zoom to photograph some insects. There were a few butterflies, but I didn’t manage to photograph any of them; they seemed to be moving about in a frenzy.

Many of the places where water makes it way down to the lake have scoured banks…the water trickling through the bottom of a ditch except right after a rain when the banks are eroded making ditch deeper/wider. There was one that was different with lots of vegetation on the banks – not eroded at all. I wondered if it was a new route for the water.

My phone and Bluetooth remote shutter control were used for some macro shots.

I was glad the boathouse had a small store since I had forgotten my water bottle. The day had started humid and a little cool, but the sun was out and the temperature rose pretty fast – an excellent morning to observe the meadow (glad we didn’t wait for the afternoon).