Learning about Missouri Geology – March 2025

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We took two road trips over the past month --- opportunities to observe Missouri geology along the roadsides! My copy of Roadside Geology to Missouri has been a good reference.

The first was from our home near Springfield MO to St. Louis. Interstate 44 dominates the route and there are plenty of roadcuts first on the Springfield Plateau then the slightly lower Salem Plateau…finally down the northeastern flank of the Ozark Dome close to St. Louis. Our day trip was on a sunny day, so it was easy to take pictures.

One of the most interesting road cuts is at the north side of the rest stop near mile marker 235. The Roadside Geology book says – “Tilted blocks of Pennsylvanian sandstone and shale….are part of a down-dropped block of rocks along a fault zone or a filled-sink structure, or perhaps both.” I took pictures from the south side of the road as we were going toward St. Louis

And then one as we passed by on the return.

We noticed caves and state parks along the way and are planning a ‘field trip’ in April to see some of those.

The second was from our home near Springfield MO to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City MO. The route took us from the Springfield Plateau to the Salem Plateau…then the Osage Plains as we turned toward Kansas City and crossed the Missouri River…finally to the Glaciated Plains of Northern Missouri. The day was sunny, making photographs of road cuts as my husband drove possible. I even got two pictures of the roadcut near out home as we set out!

The road cuts were less pronounced as we got further along…and more crumbly. On a botanical note – the sycamores are easy to spot this time of year.

I was so busy photographing overpasses and the bridge at Kansas City that I didn’t realize the bridge was over the Missouri River!

The Loess Bluffs (in this case roadcuts) look very different than the roadcuts further south. The loess here is from the edges of glaciers of the last ice age. Plants sometime can take root…but often sluff off and the loess is revealed again.

And then we reversed toward home.

Cedar Gap Conservation Area

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My daughter and I took an early spring hike at Cedar Gap Conservation Area near Seymour MO this week. It is about 45 minutes from where we live along good highway…to a 2-lane road that heads into the country side for less than a mile before it turns to a gravel road, and crosses some railroad tracks just before the small parking lot. The Cedar Gap Plateau is the second highest point in the State of Missouri! Three watersheds begin from the plateau: Gasconade River, Finley River, and Bryant Creek.

WThe trail is downhill to a stream – the headwaters of Bryant Creek. The trail is gravel that is sometimes large enough and loose enough that going downhill is considerably harder than going uphill!

We noticed some redbuds with buds developing but not open year. I stopped to photograph a small nest left from last season and some very green moss.   

It was not long. Before we heard trickling water! The water stairsteps down over rock ledges into pools…some clogged with leaves and others clear to the rock at the bottom of the stream. It has not been a wet winter or early spring so there was not a lot of water.

We saw a few wildflowers coming up through the leaves left from last fall.

I attempted to photograph some water striders. Their shadows show up more than the insects.

I walked a little further up to take a picture of overhang and realized that water was dribbling off the top…maybe evaporating before it reached the stream.

We hiked back up the trail the way we had come. The hike is a loop, but I wasn’t sure that we were half way around….and didn’t want a longer hike. I made stops on the way up (a steep trail) but felt surer footed than when we walked down. My last picture was of trees on top of the highest area…still like winter…but we know they will leaf out soon.

My daughter and I enjoyed a Mexican food lunch in Seymour before we drove home.

My daughter and I enjoyed a Mexican food lunch in Seymour before we drove home. The grand finale of the trip: as we drove toward my daughter’s house in Springfield, we saw two bald eagles soaring overhead. Fortunately, we were stopped at a red light so we both were able to safely see them!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 22, 2025

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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.

In This Storied Egyptian City, Rising Seas are Causing Buildings to Crumble – Alexandria, Egypt. Since 2001, 290 building have collapsed as the rising water table weakens soil and erodes foundations. There are other historic coastal cities with the same problem.

Astronomers Discover 128 New Moons Orbiting Saturn, Cementing the Planet’s Title of ‘Moon King’ – The total number of moons of Saturn is now 274….almost twice as many as all the rest of the moons in our solar system combined.

Microplastics could be fueling antibiotic resistance - Microplastics -- tiny shards of plastic debris -- are all over the planet. They have made their way up food chains, accumulated in oceans, clustered in clouds and on mountains, and been found inside our bodies at alarming rates. Scientists have been racing to uncover the unforeseen impacts of so much plastic in and around us. One recent discovery: bacteria exposed to microplastics became resistant to multiple types of antibiotics commonly used to treat infections. They say this is especially concerning for people in high-density, impoverished areas like refugee settlements, where discarded plastic piles up and bacterial infections spread easily.

How the Development of the Camera Changed Our World - From glass plates to paper prints to digital photograph imaging, the photo revolution's intention remains the same—to immortalize our world.

Alphonse Mucha Helped Define Art Nouveau. A New Show Explores His Lasting Influence – Mucha was undeniably revered in his day, when his posters and advertisements were widely disseminated. His posters lined the streets, and his illustrations graced the covers of major magazines. And to feed the public demand for his work, Mucha even produced smaller posters printed in publications, allowing people to bring his ornately detailed lithographs home without having to rely on the luck of finding one in the wild. The special exhibit will be at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, Missouri, April 11–August 30, 2026….maybe I will plan a road trip for next spring!

'You look up and see light coming through': The divers venturing under the ice in the name of science - In a remote corner of Lapland, northern Finland…a lake with 28 in. layer of ice with a hole cut in it. Divers are tethered to the surface using a safety rope, with a handler on the surface communicating with the diver via rope signals. The training here on the frozen lake is practice for work that will be done out on the sea ice of the Arctic and Antarctic, where there are added dangers – large seals sometimes gather at the dive holes, preventing divers from leaving the water. In 2017, Alf Norkko, a professor of marine research at the University of Helsinki, and his team discovered big changes on the seafloor under Antarctic sea ice since their previous diving expedition in the same area in 2009.  "There was a remarkable increase in the abundance of life," he says. Norkko says that he and his fellow scientists are so dedicated to this work because they are aware of the urgency of climate change. At present, there is a race afoot to understand it, and to respond to it.

Grave of Roman Twins Excavated in Croatia – Twins that died between birth and 2 months…placed face to face. Suffered malnutrition before birth. Infant mortality was as high as 30% in Roman societies.

Particulate matter levels in air exceed WHO limits in majority of world's big cities - Fewer than one in five global cities met World Health Organization air pollution standards (for PM2.5) in 2024 with Central and South Asia accounting for the nine most polluted metropolitan areas on Earth. Los Angeles and Ontario, California are the most polluted in the US.  Mayaguez, Puerto Rico had the cleanest air of any metro area around the world. Man-made activities such as fossil fuel burning for transportation, generating electricity and domestic heating, industrial processes, fireworks and smoking were the largest sources of pollutant PM2.5, but that natural sources including wildfires, dust, pollen and dirt also contributed to particulate loads in the air.

China’s First Domestic Cats Took the Silk Road 1,400 Years Ago, New Study Finds - The Tang Dynasty (618–907 C.E.), from which the oldest cat in the study hails, saw peak activity along the legendary trade network, which boosted the exchange of goods and ideas between China, India, and Persia. It’s not improbable that merchants from the West could have carried cats on their journey to East Asia.

Can Toxic Mining Waste Help Remove CO2 from the Atmosphere? - On the coast of Newfoundland, waste from a shuttered asbestos mine has been a troubling source of contamination for decades. Now, a company plans to process the waste to draw CO2 from the air — one of several projects worldwide that aim to turn this liability into an asset. A 2022 report by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory estimated that existing asbestos tailings in Canada and the United States could remove up to 750 million tons of CO2 in total — while also removing an environmental health hazard.

Our Yard – March 2025

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The crocus and maple are in bloom! The first blooms of spring 2025.

The daffodils and irises are up – but there are no bud stalks yet.

The rhododendron is full of buds that seemingly made it unscathed through the very low temperatures we had in February.

The shortleaf pine is beginning to drop some cones. I’ll pick them up to avoid mowing over them…and take them to my sister to use for craft projects with her grandson.

Our big wind chime tells us that it is windy outside most of the time – typical for March. It is large enough to sound like distant church bells.

The hens and chicks seem to have grown over the winter. I need to clean up the debris around them…maybe take out more rocks so they can expand more easily.

The only yard work I’ve done so far is cutting some ‘trash trees’ that were growing up into the holly, beginning to trim the yew hedge to make mulch for areas I don’t want grass to grow, and transplanted an eastern redcedar that came up too near our patio to a place where there is enough room for it to grow and provide privacy to the patio as I take remove non-native Japanese barberry bushes.

There is still plenty to do in the yard but I am doing it in sessions of less than an hour…building up for when I start mowing!

Geology Course Experiences – March 2025

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Over the past month, the online geology course I am taking has proceeded with 4 more chapters of the textbook, an added role-playing activity on flooding, and a field trip being scheduled for early April! So far, the most thought-provoking chapter has been on water pollution. It is a topic I’ve learned about over a period of years but having a well-organized chapter tie everything I know together was almost overwhelming. The moves to reduce efforts to improve or preserve water quality at the Federal level while I was reading the chapter made the challenges we face near term and into the future even more troubling.

In the lab, there were sedimentary and metamorphic rocks to look at and then some different kinds of labs…looking a cross sections and oceanography. I skipped one of the labs because it was raining, and I decided I didn’t want to be out and about – a benefit of being a retired person. I took pictures of the rocks we looked at in the lab and made ‘flashcards’ for myself to help me learn to recognize them. Of course – the HCl test and scratch plates are also needed for identification too.

 I met my daughter for lunch after most of the lab sessions before heading back home.

Project FeederWatch – March 2025

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We are seeing more robins! They aren’t at our feeders but are not far away in our yard and trees. It is a welcome sign of spring. There are red-winged blackbirds at the feeders sometimes…and we always hear them. I hope there is enough vegetation around our stormwater pond to encourage their nesting. Our winter visitors are still around as well. Grackles are showing up more frequently. Of course, the squirrel appears to lap up any spilled seeds.

The doves seem to have increased in numbers but it may just be that they are pairing up, so we are seeing then in twos.

We left our suet feeder empty for a couple of weeks and are seeing a lot fewer starlings. Our other feeders (squirrel proof) almost close with the weight of the starlings so they don’t get much seed from them.

My husband and I have enjoyed our weekly sessions watching the feeder…will be sad when the program ends at the end of April…will sign up again to do it in the fall.

Previous FeederWatch posts

Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge (3)

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The trumpeter swans were in groups around the masses of snow geese at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge. They were easy to spot because of their size and their distinctive shape. Even when they are snoozing, they look different that snow geese.

They do make trumpet-like sounds too. There was a quartet that were interacting and making their sounds…sustaining their activity long enough for me to get a video!

There were a few instances where I couldn’t resist some botanical photographs. A large silver maple already blooming

And a dried stalk from last season with a backdrop of a metal fence.

There were several ducks at a distance that I photographed – good enough for id but not great pictures: Redhead

Common Goldeneye

Bufflehead

We saw mallards, pintails, ring-necked duck, and northern shoveler…but too far away to photograph. I saw a pied-billed grebe, but didn’t get a good picture.

The trip to Loess Bluffs was a learning experience with my new bridge camera. I am noticing that the Nikon Coolpix P950 autofocus does not seem to be as good as my old Canon Powershot SX70 HS….but perhaps I am still learning how to effectively use the Nikon. It is disappointing that the new camera is not already obviously better than the old…but I am determined to continue the learning curve with it rather than reverting to my old camera. I am anticipating a few more disappointing field sessions near term.

Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge (2)

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While the snow geese dominated the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge in terms of numbers, there were other things to see. There were many muskrat mounds, and we saw the animals swimming closer to the wildlife loop road than the snow geese. I only saw one group out of the water on a mound that looked like it was deteriorating. I couldn’t tell whether they were trying to rebuild it or just stopping there for a snack!

We heard many red-winged blackbirds. Some males might have been beginning to claim a territory, but others were still in flocks that would rise up and fly around in a murmuration. My favorite picture shows how long the claw are. It doesn’t look like the bird is gripping the twig as much as it might on a windy day.

A red-winged blackbird nest (probably from last season) was in the reeds.

There were at least two hooded merganser pairs that we saw on our morning visit. The males seemed more likely to startle and fly off…coming back to the female after a few seconds!

I took a picture of one of the bald eagle nests on our afternoon at the refuge….and then in the morning. There appears to be an eagle head visible (not in focus) in the morning picture (click on the image below to get a larger version).

More tomorrow about the other birds we saw….and the plants! There was a lot of see at Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge.

Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge (1)

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My husband and I drove up to Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge last weekend – hoping to see a lot of snow geese. Their migration has begun and the ponds near the visitor center were full of thousands of birds when we arrived. A group would startle, and a lot of birds would rise off the water, swirl around over the pond and come back down not far away. There were three bald eagles that we saw around the wildlife loop road – but they seemed to be just watching rather than hunting for a meal.

As we headed to the hotel later in the afternoon, I researched snow geese migration and found that they often fly at night. We did notice that there were groups of geese that seemed to be flying away from the ponds as we were leaving. When we arrived a little before sunrise the next morning, there were much fewer snow geese than when we had left! It was very different than our experience at Bosque del Apache in December where the snow geese are there for the winter – not migrating through. As the sun came up and the smaller number of geese on the ponds begin to move about…with trumpeter swans around the edges of the group…we noticed that there were snow geese flying in! Perhaps they had been flying all night. Ribbons of birds in the sky kept coming the rest of the morning.

I took a picture from the visitor center with a lot of snow geese over the ponds.

From the lookout deck – I took pictures of birds in the water, the bridge over an irrigation dish to provide access to the wildlife loop, the bluffs (vegetation covered…loess underneath from the glaciation of the area) back toward the visitor’s center, birds in the air…and one final picture with snow geese and tumpeter swans.

I’ll be posting about other birds, muskrats, and some plants in two more posts in the next few days.

Note: We did see a few dead birds in the water. They looked like snow geese. The visitor center was not open so I wasn’t able to ask about the disease most prevalent right now (I suspect bird flu or avian cholera).

1 Month with my Nikon Coolpix P950

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I haven’t used the camera as much as I thought I would – weather caused the cancellation of one trip, and another was dominated by macro photography where I prefer my phone. My learning curve is just taking off! I am still not as proficient with the Nikon Coolpix P950 as I was with my old Canon Powershot SX70 HS….but I am determined to get there and beyond.  

There were plenty of opportunities for through-the-window bird photograph even with the multiple rounds of winter weather over the past month.

We did make a quick walk around some areas of the Springfield Botanical Garden on a cold afternoon. I’ve made a goal to try to be there at least once a month for the rest of this year. I liked the colors of the witch hazel and succulents and cedar…the textures of winter in all the images.  

Climatron and Linnean House at Missouri Botanical Garden

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After the Orchid Show and Arid House, we headed to two other conservatory structures: Climatron and Linnean House at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The two high points for me in the Climatron were

A cycad with fruit (there was a sign that cautioned to not eat the fruit!) and

Two Chihuly glass pieces (these are ones that are owned by MBC….not a special exhibit).

Of course, there are always other things to see. This time I rushed a bit because my husband was looking for bench that wasn’t wet!

The walk to the Linnean House was our longest one outdoors…and it was a cold one.

My favorite image is of a palm….the way the stem connects to the pleated part of the leaf always fascinates me.

There was a Girl Scout troop in the building with an MBC staff member….a field trip; we saw some of the same people we’d seen at the Orchid Show there too. There was plenty of space for everyone to enjoy the plants that were there.

Shoenberg Arid House at Missouri Botanical Garden

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After enjoying the orchid show, we headed to the Shoenburg Arid House at Missouri Botanical Garden. It was a short walk, but we realized that the breeze made if feel even colder than the temperature. It felt good to get into a warm building again. The air was surprisingly moist – maybe because the plants had been recently sprinkled.

There were cactus and aloes and yuccas…almost every plant had sharp points some place! A few of the cactus were blooming. It is not a large building so the plantings are relatively dense – closer together than they would be in their natural environment.

It was my first time to visit this conservatory since it opened in 2024 after a renovation…transitioning from temperate to arid plants. I liked that it is multi-level (a long ramp or stairs) and the central court. It is a get place to showcase arid plants.

Orchid Show at Missouri Botanical Garden

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We made a road trip to St. Louis last weekend for the Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is just over a 3-hour drive from our house…with some interesting road cuts along the way (more on that in another post). The temperature was in the 30s so our plan was to see the orchids then browsed the other conservatories rather than spending time wandering through the outdoor garden area. Our membership in the Springfield Botanical Garden gained us free entrance. The Orchid show was in the Emerson Conservatory, so we didn’t even need to go outside for it.

There were orchids everywhere. Some of my favorites: orange ones in sunlight (my mother’s favorite color was orange…a good memory prompt),

Shapes that had me wondering about what kind of pollinator the flower needed,

Small and delicate,

Ones that seem to have alien faces…and elaborate ‘fashion,’

Clusters of spirals.

I used my phone (iPhone 15 Pro Max) on a lanyard and an external clicker - was pleased with how well it did. There were other people using their phones too. One lady was making a video which was going to be dizzying to look at because she was moving the phone so quickly. I talked to a lady that was doing excellent macro compositions with her phone….no other amenities. Another person that I talked to had lived in DC for 20 years but had grown up in St. Louis and had lived closed to the Missouri Botanical Garden for a few years when she visited almost every day. She had moved away but had made the effort to return with her mother for the orchid show.

Almost all the slipper orchids were low…the better to see into the slipper. I found myself taking mostly macro images although I also took some small landscapes and some plants that were providing greenery around the orchids.  Enjoy the slide carousel of orchids!

Tomorrow’s post will be focused on the other conservatories at Missouri Botanical Garden.

Project FeederWatch – February 2025

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Our fourth month of weekly Project FeederWatch counting continued with our regulars: white-crowned sparrows, white throated sparrows, house finches, gold finches, cardinals, dark eyed juncos and mourning doves….and unfortunately starlings. The chickadees, Carolina wren, titmouse, and downy woodpecker are occasional visitors.

We had two surprises recently –

  • A fox sparrow showed up on a very cold, snowy day and ate for almost our whole observing time…and stayed in the area for the duration of the very cold weather.

  • A red shouldered hawk made an appearance in our yard. I think it lives in our neighborhood, but I hadn’t seen it come as close to our feeders before. All the birds around our feeders disappeared well before we saw the hawk swooping in from the direction of the pond. I’m not sure which one raised the alarm but they scattered very quickly.

When snow is on the ground, it seems like  the birds are more frenzied at the feeders and any seed that has spilled onto the ground below. They need calories to keep themselves warm! The Caroline wren never seems to be around when it is very cold and I wonder where it stays….hope it survived.

Previous FeederWatch posts

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 1, 2025

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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.

Scientists Investigate Smell of Egyptian Mummies – A systematic study of the smells of 9 Ancient Egyptian mummified bodies. Odors are from pine, cedar, juniper, frankincense and myrrh.

'Healthy' vitamin B12 levels not enough to ward off neuro decline – The conclusion: “we need to invest in more research about the underlying biology of B12 insufficiency, since it may be a preventable cause of cognitive decline.”

Rethinking Fire-Resistant Landscaping: Which Trees Should We Plant? – After the recent wildfires across Southern California - Experts recommend replacing highly flammable trees with fire-resistant alternatives such as oak, sycamore, toyon, lemonade berry, and lilac. While the idea of removing iconic palm trees may be met with resistance, fire safety advocates argue that proactive changes in landscaping are necessary to adapt to the increasing wildfire risks in California.

Floods Swamp Tennessee – Satellite image from February 17 of the flooding after the February 15-16 storm. The area of western Kentucky to the north had more severe flooding….but clouds prevented a similar image on the 17th.

Learn COVID pandemic lessons — before it’s too late - “The science will deliver if we have a new emerging infectious disease,” says Joanne Liu, a pediatric emergency-medicine specialist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and a former international president of the medical-aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders). “I think it will be the people who aren’t going to deliver…..None of us thought about the case scenario in which we would have leaders and a large part of the population that do not believe in science.” Yet that scenario is here. It means that researchers in public health and infectious diseases must work closely with social scientists who have been studying how another disease — misinformation — spreads and how best to counter it.

In many countries, people breathe the cleanest air in centuries. What can the rest of the world learn from this? – Lots of graphs….focused on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions….and the relationship to coal and catalytic converters.

The Science of Snakehead Slime - One of this fish’s most reported habits is its ability to move about on land. The answer, according to new research, may lie at least in part with another of the snakehead’s infamous features: its slime.

Wide-Eyed Fly Wins the 2024 Royal Entomological Society Photography Competition – Macro photography of insects…great work my amateur photographers. My favorite was the ladybird larva feeding on a colony of aphids.

How much protein do you really need to get strong? – A concerning take away: In 2018, a nonprofit group called the Clean Label Project, based in Broomfield, Colorado, released a report about toxins in popular brands of protein powders in the US. Researchers screened 134 products for 130 types of toxins and found that many protein powders contained heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury), bisphenol-A (or BPA, which is used to manufacture plastic), pesticides, or other contaminants with links to cancer and other health conditions. Interestingly, one certified "organic" product had twice the contaminants of non-certified ones. Plant-based protein powders were the most contaminated, while egg and whey-based powders were found to be the cleanest.

Dust from Car Brakes More Harmful than Exhaust – Brake dust evidently causes greater injury to lung cells than diesel exhaust. Brake pads on the market now include copper which can aggravate asthma when inhaled. Note: the shift to electric vehicles could curb pollution from brake pads. Most electric cars use regenerative braking that limits the need for conventional brake pads.

Very Cold Weather

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Last week we had snow and some very cold days with temperatures in the single digits (on both sides of 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately we had been paying attention to the forecast and could simple stay indoors for 3 days!

I took some pictures through the window on the second morning. There was still snow caught in the holly trees around our bird feeders…and there was enough breeze to move our wind chimes. Later in the day most of the snow had been knocked out of the trees.

In the afternoon, I opened the door to our deck for a few seconds to get a picture of the chairs with snow drifts. The wind was still redistributing the snow; when the sun was out, it looked like there was glitter in the air.

I bundled up and went out to assess our driveway…no melting even though the sun had been out for most of the morning. The temperatures were too low.

I shoveled about a third of our driveway before a neighbor came home and walked over to ask if I wanted him to use his snow blower on the rest of it. Yes!!! He said he had gone to Kansas City to buy it a last month and I am now thinking we might need to do something like that too!

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2025

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February was busier than usual this year – a combination of a class, a new role for me in the Missouri Master Naturalist chapter, and some significant volunteer hours. It all made for plenty of little celebrations.

Owl Pellets. Having 28 children busily dissecting owl pellets – finding and identifying tiny bones. I celebrated that we picked something they all seemed to enjoy doing all the way to the end of our time (and a little beyond).

A new protein drink. Another whey-based protein drink that already has lactase added…worth celebrating for the convenience (and also because it is not as thick or expensive as the one I had been buying).

Niece going to have another baby. My sisters and I celebrated that there will be another baby in the family next fall. My sister that is the grandmother shared the news with us almost as soon as she found out.

Snowy Feeder Watch day. I celebrated the extra birds that came to our feeders when snow was on the ground.

Seeing lots of Northern Harriers. I celebrated seeing Northern Harriers on our field trip to Lockwood MO. We’d seen them before in New Mexico but not as many…and it’s thrilling to see them closer to where we live.

Lunch with my daughter. My daughter and I have been meeting for lunch a Student Union dining room after my geology class. It feels celebratory every time we meet (and we generally have dessert too).

Finding witch hazel. I celebrated when I found a witch hazel in bloom at the Springfield Botanical Garden…even though I was hoping to see more of them.

Grandniece and grandnephew. I celebrated seeing my sister’s grandchildren when I went to Dallas to visit my father. One is just learning to crawl, and the other is reasonably adept at recognizing/saying colors.

Snow day. A day of staying indoors due to weather – always a time to celebrate. The day seems like a serendipity block of time that I had not anticipated.

Soup. Soup is my favorite meal on cold days. I celebrated finding a quick and tasty one made from ingredients in my freezer: turkey meatballs, corn, broccoli, and edamame….a little seasoning and sometimes left over spaghetti sauce…delicious.  

Zooming – February 2025

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There seems to be more going on this winter than usual. Most of the pictures I selected to represent February were taken within a 100-mile radius of home in Nixa MO…except for a few at the Josey Ranch ponds in Carrollton TX. There were some warm days…and some snow. Some of the bulbs are coming up --- growing slowing in the still frigid temperatures that keep coming. Enjoy the February slideshow!

Learning about Missouri Geology – February 2025

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The geology class/lecture I am taking at Missouri State University is providing good background in general geology…but I am most interested in the geology of Missouri…trying to be more aware of the geologic features around me.

My copy of Roadside Geology to Missouri has been a good reference. On the drive from Nixa to Branson, MO, my husband’s navigation system took a scenic route (to avoid a construction area); the two-lane road was predominately downhill and followed Woods Fork over to US 65.

The road cuts are spectacular along US 65 with one of the tallest marking the margin of the Springfield Plateau…and then the Salem Plateau as we continued south. There are layers of limestone, dolomite, and shale. There were frozen ‘waterfalls’ from some of the cuts. The day was sunny, so it was easy to get pictures of the cuts as we moved past.

We stopped at the Branson Scenic Overlook downstream from the dam that created Table Rock Lake. The overlook area was the first proposed location for Table Rock Dam. There were evidently too many cracks and faults in the rocks to build it at this location. The dam was built in the 1950s and spans the White River creating the deepest lake in Missouri.

The view for the overlook shows Branson and the lake in the distance but I was more interested in the river immediately below…the bare trees and remnants of snow…ripples in the cold water.

Our field trip to the prairies near Lockwood MO (from Springfield) took us from the Springfield Plateau to the Osage Plains. It was a very cloudy day, so I took few pictures - I did notice the flattening out as we drove around farmland with parcels being maintained as prairie. There were low rolling hills. There was a significant windfarm….indicating that the wind there is reliable enough to make it worthwhile.

The final geology adventure in February was the monthly Missouri Master Naturalist meeting. The topic for the month was Missouri Geology!

Previous Missouri Geology posts

Josey Ranch – February 2025

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The weather was cold and mostly cloudy…but I headed to Josey Ranch for a nature fix – and to gain more experience with my new camera (Nikon Coolpix P950). The last time I visited was back in September, but I expected to see a lot of birds that are in Texas during for the winter. The pond between the library and the senior living complex was almost empty. I photographed a feather and a dandelion almost ready to bloom before I headed over to the other pond.

There were a lot of birds: American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Canada Geese, Greater Scaup, American Coot, and Ring-billed Gull (many immature).

There were pigeons and crows on the tall lights over the ball fields.

Surprisingly there were cormorants on the poles as well!

I headed back toward the larger pond and my car…noticing some mistletoe in a tree along the way.

There were a pair of Great Egrets that interacted and then flew away from each other. The breeding plumage is beginning to be obvious.

A group of mallards and domestic duck hybrids were on a small pond. One hybrid was mostly black but had a green head!

Back at the larger pond I saw sleeping Ruddy Ducks.

I got a better view of a cormorant on the pond. It seems to have some characteristics of a Double-Crested (bare skin in front of the eye) and the white line of the Neotropic. I read that there are instances of hybrids in the areas where the two species interact….and north Texas might be one of those places!

The cold and wind had me regretting wearing leggings rather than jeans….it was time to head back to the car.