Missouri Master Naturalist Orientation

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I went to an orientation session about becoming a Missouri Master Naturalist last week. The meeting was held at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center (the building in the Botanical Gardens). I spent a few minutes photographing some flowers (one with a bumblebee) in the Master Gardeners area before I went into the building.

The session was an overview of the process to become a Missouri Master Naturalist and then an informal time to talk to people that were already Missouri Master Naturalists. It was a learning experience….confirmed my decision to start the training and participate as soon as I can in volunteer opportunities. I’ve already noticed some differences between the way Maryland and Missouri implemented their Master Naturalist program…but the idea at the core is same and there are a lot of commonalities in the types of training and volunteering – which is the motivation for me! I’m excited to get started in September. It is the same type feeling I had toward the end of summer during my school years.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – September 2023 (2)

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I saw more than birds at Hagerman in September. There were large numbers of dragonflies in the air. I managed to see one sitting on a bit of dried grass near the road; photographed it through my open car window (like I do almost everything along the road through the refuge). There seemed to be so many dragonflies; it’s a good sign that there is a healthy population at Hagerman; they’ll lay eggs in the ponds where the larvae will overwinter – food for fish.

I did get out to photograph a large piece of driftwood that was on an island in the deepest pond. I liked the curves and the mystery of how it ended up positioned the way it was. Were their branches buried in the silt that kept it from falling over?

Back at the butterfly garden, I photographed three types of butterflies. I had seen all of them on previous visits.

The Monarchs were more numerous this time and I realized that they were probably migrating south to Mexico for the winter.  Supposedly the ones that make the long journey are larger than the ones that live their whole life during the summer months – never making a migration. Will there still be Monarch’s coming through when I return at the end of October? Maybe. The first frost in the Hagerman area is usually not before mid-November.

There was a bumblebee enjoying the flowers. I tried to photograph it from different angles.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 9, 2022

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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.

Bonsai trees tell of winters past – An elfin forest of hemlocks on the outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park…and they hold the history of 4 centuries of winters in their growth rings.

See the vibrant, long overlooked colors of classical sculptures – Greco-Roman marble sculptures were covered in bright hues (polychromy) originally!

Pioneering recycling turns mixed waste into premium plastics with no climate impact – Wouldn’t it be great if suddenly mixed waste could replace fossil raw materials for ALL plastic production?

Understanding horseshoe crabs at Cape Cod National Seashore – A short video about a research project just starting.

Get a Sneak Preview of the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year Finalists – Capturing birds in action…rather than portraits.

Invasive species taking over some American forests - Amur honeysuckle (a shrub from Asia) is a big culprit. Callery Pear (the ‘wild’ version of the Bradford pear) is a close second.  I just cut down a Callery Pear that was growing in the front bed of my new house in Missouri…almost obliterating a crepe myrtle! Other foreign species that have become problematic: porcelain berry, tree of heaven, winged euonymus, European buckthorn, Oriental bittersweet, common privet and lesser periwinkle...Norway maple, Amur cork tree and white poplar along with herbaceous species such as lesser celandine, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed and Japanese stilt grass.

A Surprisingly High Number of Wildfires Are Caused by Electrocuted Birds – Awful….good that there is a way to reduce the carnage…at less cost than the consequences of the fires.

Rural areas near coast will bear the brunt of US sea-level rise – Analysis focused on the Chesapeake Bay…marshes forming where forest and farmland is today.

Once-Common California Bumble Bees Have Gone Missing – The survey did not find the formerly abundant Western bumble bee. The last statewide survey was conducted 40 years go…and a lot has happened in that time: habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. None of the species were doing well. Big problem – since bumble bees help pollinate $3 billion worth of crops in the US each year (including tomatoes, peppers, and cranberries).

Scientist war of links between soil pollution and heart disease – The author of the study commented: “Until we know more, it seems sensible to wear a face mask to limit exposure to windblown dust, filter water to remove contaminants, and buy food grown in healthy soil."

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 23, 2021

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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.

Roman noblewoman’s tomb reveals secrets of ancient concrete resilience – This research has application to the future: transitioning to Roman-like concrete could reduce the energy emissions of concrete production and installation by 85%...and improve the longevity of concrete by orders of magnitude.

How to bring more clean energy into our homes – It’s hard to know what to do that will make the most difference in decarbonization. Electrification is good…as long as the energy used to create the electricity is renewable. This article is explaining one attempt to make it simpler…but it doesn’t seem like it goes far enough.

Does the world need more sharks? – Evidently when sharks decline, herbivores increase and seagrass declines….resulting in less carbon sequestration in sea vegetation. So – more sharks would improve our climate change situation!

The incredible opportunity of community schoolyards – Transforming paved public schoolyard by adding trees, gardens and stormwater management systems and opening them to the public after hours….what’s not to like? It is good for children and the community…and reduces the heat island around the school.

Recycled concrete and CO2 from the air are made into a new building material – Potentially another way to reduce the energy and emissions to produce concrete…but there is still a challenge to make it strong enough for all the current places we use concrete - to make calcium carbonate concrete viable in the future.

10 Writing Awards for Cool Green Science – Some of the 10 have probably be in my gleanings before…but they are worth looking at again.

We need to talk about your gas stove, your health and climate change – 35 years ago, I thought gas stoves were wonderful….but I haven’t had one since 1986, and I won’t buy a house in the future with one (or I will replace it immediately). My current house does have a gas hot water heater and furnace…but I plan to jettison those too. And I don’t want a gas fireplace either!

Clean air matters for a healthy brain – I check the Air Quality Index on Weather.com and there are too many days that the PMI2.5 level is ‘yellow’ where I live now in Maryland. I try to not spend a lot of time outdoors on those days.  It’s another something to think about when/if I move out of the area.

The American Bumblebee Has Vanished From Eight States – The 8 states are: Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon. That doesn’t mean other places are much better. They have declined 99% in New York; 50% in the Midwest and Southeast.

Large scale solar parks cool surrounding land – The observation is interesting. I wonder if the solar parks that I’ve seen frequently around airports in the US are large enough to make up for the heat island effect of all the concrete and asphalt surfaces of the airports.

Zooming – September 2021

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The joys of a camera with optical zoom (rather than a phone with just digital zoom) --- I see more detail through the camera than I can see with my eyes! There were several times I was out and about looking for opportunities for high key and pushing the limits of the optics. Several of those experiments were successful enough to be included in this month’s collection.

Enjoy the slideshow for the September zoomed images!

Brookside Gardens in September 2021 -Insects

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While I was watching for hummingbirds at Brookside Gardens, there was ample time to photograph the antics of bumblebees in the same flowerbed. They were all over the blue/purple plants.

Further back – there was a bush that was attractive to tiger swallowtails. I haven’t seen as many of them as I usually do this year, so I was pleased to photograph a female (with blue on the lower part of the wing) and a male with battered wings.

I also photographed two skippers – one in the same area as the bees and butterflies, the other in the rose garden. They look like they are the same species male and female (looking at the difference in the end of abdomen).

All the insect pictures are using the zoom on the camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) rather than trying to use a macro lens. The insects are too far into the beds to get close enough for macro work…and I like having more depth of field and blurring of the background. The second image of the skipper (on the rose bud and new leaves) is my favorite insect image of the morning!)

Zooming – September 2019

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The images I selected for this month reflected the season and many of the places visited during the month. Season reminders…

  • The flowers of autumn like sunflowers and autumn crocus,

  • Hummingbirds eating to fatten up for migration,

  • Seed pods of the golden rain, maple, buckeye, and dogwood trees

Reflections of the places I visited:

  • Patuxent Research Refuge (north tract) – sunflower and hummingbird,

  • Longwood Gardens – waterlily, sunflower, tower,

  • Brookside Gardens – insects and flowers and tree seeds,

  • Mount Vernon – the greenhouse and beautyberry

Overall it was a good month for getting outdoors to capture the beauty of summer and early fall. I am anticipating a lot of leaf photography for October.

Enjoy the September 2019 slide show – hurray for cameras with good zoom lenses!

Brookside Gardens Bugs

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There were not that many bugs out and about last Saturday morning before my shift at Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy. I photographed three…and was thrilled with the variety:

A funnel spider waiting patiently (and visibly) at the top of the funnel. Usually they are hidden in the depths. The spider had built its web on the evergreen shrubs near the conservatory. There must have been lots of spiders around judging from the number of webs but this was the only one showing itself.

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A froghopper (as a nymph back in the spring it was a spittlebug) on a milkweed plant. I was looking for monarch caterpillars but didn’t find any. Back in July 2016, I’d found one on the milkweed plant at my house and posted about it.

A bumblebee enjoyed the bounty of the milkweeds in bloom. The plants at my house are already full of pods, flowers dried and falling away. From of photographic standpoint I always judge a bee picture a success if it includes the head and back rather than the butt!

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