Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area

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A sunny fall day…the Identifying Woody Plants Class spent a couple of hours at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area – adding 9 more woody plants to our list and seeing others that were already on the list and we practised our ID skills for them; there are now 78 woody plants that we should recognize and be able to supply the common name, family, and scientific name!

We encountered an Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) – a tree we’d seen in previous classes - that had leaves that hadn’t fallen before the first hard frost. All of us began to realize how changed identification was going to be without leaves on the trees!

The first new one was Box Elder (Acer negundo) – the only maple with compound leaves. ID is helped by its green branches.

The second new tree was Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) – still with leaves and one I had seen recently in a Missouri Master Naturalist field trip. The picture I took was of a male but there were female trees with red fruit that we saw at Busiek.

 American Sycamores (Platanus occidentalis) were growing along the dry creek bed…another tree that we reviewed. The very large leaves were still mostly on the tree.

The third new tree was the Carolina willow (Salix caroliniana)…also growing close the dry creek bed. Its leaves are a little bigger that the Black Willow’s…and the stipules tend to stay on rather than falling off. It still had leaves…everyone realized it was a willow of some kind.

I couldn’t resist taking some pictures from the dried creek bed. The fall color is a bit muted this year because it has been so dry here. I noticed some wasp apartments on one of the bridge support columns.

Another review tree – the honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthus) – and I finally got some pictures of thorns. I also picked up a seed pod to put in the tree educational trunk I am creating for Missouri Master Naturalist.

The fourth new tree was the Chinkapin oak (Quercus meuhlenbergii). I didn’t get any good pictures of it!

The same was true of the fifth new plant – a vine: Greenbrier (Smilax). Supposedly it might be something that will be easier to see and ID in the winter because the stems stay green….and the thorns would be on the vine too – to mistaking it for a grape (Vitis).

Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) was the sixth addition for the day. The plants did not have the distinctive seed heads because they tend to get cut down frequently so that they don’t take over the area where they are growing.

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) was our seventh new plant. The fruits looked beautiful, but no one was willing to try them quite yet. I am glad I have planted some in my yard and hope to enjoy them at perfect ripeness in the future.

The eighth new plant was a native woody grass/bamboo: giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea).

The ninth (and last) new plant for the day was an Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides). Most of the leaves were gone…but the one we looked at was a huge tree with deeply grooved bark and buds ready to go for next spring.

It was a good walk and a transition point for the way we will begin to identify trees by characteristics other than their leaves.

Solar Eclipse – Part 1

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We traveled from our home near Springfield MO to Poplar Bluff MO for the solar eclipse on April 8th. There was a flurry of activity on the day before the event to finalize our destination; the weather forecast was the key driver for us to choose Poplar Bluff (along with Whitely Park being a good location that was not included as part of the event planning by the city).

We left our house at 5:30 AM to pick up our daughter and son-in-law before heading east; it wasn’t long before sunrise. I took some pictures of it through the windshield of the car (my husband did all the driving).

We did not encounter any heavy traffic during our morning drive…got to the park 2 hours before the first contact…plenty of time for set up and looking around the park. We set up on an asphalt parking lot that never completely filled up so we spilled over onto the two spaces on either side of where we were parked next to a fenced soccer field.

I walked around to look at a few low growing plants…

And trees that were just beginning to leaf out. I realized that the trees did no have enough foliage to make projected crescent patterns onto the ground as happened when we were in Loup City, Nebraska for the August 2017 solar eclipse.

On the ground – I noted roots of a sycamore, seed pods of sweet gums (from last year and green ones from this year) and a clump of green (probably a weed) surrounded by brown thatch.

There were birds about:

Two purple martin houses that were beginning to be populated. One had a pair of house sparrows too; I wondered how long it would take for the purple martins to evict them.

A starling in the grass – keeping an eye on the sky.

And a group of robins in a tree without leaves but lots of twigs that made it hard to get a good image.

I took most of my eclipse pictures with my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HX) on a tripod with a solar filter taped to the camera body to cover the lens until totality). I had eclipse glasses that I wore to look at the sun with my eyes and put over the camera on my iPhone to take one picture. I’ll post my eclipse pictures on Sunday along with some my husband took…stay tuned for that.

Lake Springfield – February 2024

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It was a warm day in February when we opted to visit the Lake Springfield (Missouri) Boathouse area. The meadow has been mowed….no standing vegetation from last summer that might have included interesting seed pods. There were people in small boats on the water.

The most numerous birds were Canada geese although there was an occasional duck.

I enjoyed the exercise walking along the paved trail even though there was not much to photograph – savoring that there probably would not be too many February days as balmy.  Then I decided to try some experiments with my Canon Powershot SX-70 HS bridge camera using the top of a large sycamore at the edge of the lake as my subject

I experimented with the Creative Filters mode using art bold, water painting, and grainy black and white. The filters make quite a difference! The art bold is supposed to ‘make subjects look more substantial, like subjects in oil paintings.’ It certainly differentiates the colors in the bark of the sycamore.

A landscape showing the lake with a few geese also looked quite different using the art bold effect.

Overall – a good outing for exercise…and OK for photography too!

Winter Meadow

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Last week, my husband and I picked a sunny morning to walk in the Lake Springfield Boathouse area. It is an easy drive from our house along curvy 2 lane roads. It was cold enough for a jacket but the winds from the previous day were gone – so not uncomfortable. The place was very different that our previous visit back in September (see posts (1) and (2)). Now the lush meadow is full of dried vegetation…providing a very different photographic opportunity. It was so sunny that it was challenging to see the camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) screen or view finder!

In one of the open areas along the paved path, there was a gingko tree….complete with a few leaves from last season and the distinctive buds for next spring.

Back at the boathouse – I took a picture of a youngish sycamore near the water. Tomorrow I’ll post about the birds we saw on our walk.

Icy Morning

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I was surprised when I looked at the forest behind our house one morning: the forecast was for the temperature to be above freezing overnight and into the morning but there was ice accumulating on the trees! I took some pictures: The sycamore

The red maple

The pines

The tulip poplar

I went downstairs to check the thermometer we have measuring the temperature on our deck – taking some pictures of the azalea near our front porch (always some good color in ice and snow) as I got the bottom of the stairs.

The thermometer was reporting 35.5 degrees Fahrenheit…so the forecast was correct, but the rain was cold enough to freeze to the branches! It was a good morning to be indoors and enjoy the icy scene. By the afternoon the ice was completely gone, and the sun came out.

Foggy Forest

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One morning it was warm enough to be foggy and wet in the forest rather than frosty and snowy. The fog softened the view from my office window. It’s a view of winter that could also be early spring. But I know it’s not early spring in February; this day is a brief respite from mornings below freezing. The taller trees in the background are tulip poplars. The tree to the right in front of them with the darker trunk is a red maple. The branches even more in the foreground on the left is a sycamore.

Zooming in on the sycamore….the droplets of water condensed from the fog are evident on the small branches. The wet branches are more colorful when they are wet; when they are dry the cracking, curling bark is brown or grey and the smooth parts are white. In the wet, it is easier to see that there are chloroplasts in the smooth parts….the tree can make sugars even in winter!

First Snow this Winter

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Our first snow of the season came this week…and it was about 6 inches that fell from the wee hours of the morning until about noon. The temperature hovered around 30 degrees.

I did little photography projects throughout the morning. The accumulation between 7:30 and 10 AM shows in the pictures below.

I stood in the open garage door to photograph the scene from the front of our house about sunrise while it was snowing heavily and leaned out to take a close picture of the holly growing at the corner of our house.

Later I went out on our covered/screened deck and opened the door to take pictures of the sycamore – old leaves, tangle of branches, and the snow clinging to the texture of the peeling bark.

The snow was sticking to near vertical surfaces of the deck.

I did some experimental pictures of the maple and a cedar through the screen (the screens were catching snow too). It made a counted cross stitch effect!

I heard a wren singing when I was in my office and looked for it…found it under the bench…and watching for a space at the feeder to open.

I also noticed some crows cleaning up around the base of the feeder out in the yard.

My husband too a picture of the deck. The feeder was periodically full of birds throughout the morning!

I made our traditional peppermint snow ice cream after most of the snow had fallen…skimming off the top layer of snow into a big bowl and then adding milk, pieces of peppermint candy, sugar, and vanilla. Mixed with my electric mixer. Yummy! I was not as successful at another traditional activity: photographing snowflakes. At first it was too warm and then it seemed like the flakes were all breaking on impact with my chilled plate. Maybe I’ll have better luck with the next snow.

Zooming – November 2021

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Three locations for my zoomed image collection this month: Maryland (home), Texas (Carrollton), Missouri (Springfield). Enjoy the slideshow of the whole group then look below for thumbnails by location!

Maryland

Texas

Missouri

Mowing Leaves

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There were several days with no rain…conditions were finally right to mow the leaves. There were a lot more leaves than our usual because no mowing occurred in the two weeks I was gone to Texas and the trees in the back of the house seemed to drop all their leaves over a couple of days instead of weeks. I did a before and after picture of the back yard.

The maple and sycamore leaves were thick back there with some oak leaves that had blown over the house or from a neighbors’ trees. Some of the sycamore leaves were bigger than dinner plates and were thick enough to make a different sound when the lawn mower chopped them up. I had raked a pile of them off the deck (there is one corner that they seem to collect in) and others from under the deck since I didn’t want to mow the ferns that are growing there.

Mowing over the areas of thickest leaves must have thrown up a lot of dust because I found my eyes itching and coughed several times. I need goggles and a mask! Maybe I’ll remember for the leaf mowing next fall.

Tree Trimming

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One of our ‘get ready for winter’ projects this fall was to get 2 trees trimmed. One of our neighbors made a well-timed comment about their arborist; we got an estimate…and the work was done a few weeks later. They did projects for several of our neighbors on the same day! The tree concerning me the most was a sycamore that shades the west corner of our house – making it much cooler in the summer. The problem was the branches that were brushing the side of the house and the roof (and skylight). I wanted to keep the tree…but not let it damage my house! I took some before and after pictures. The crew did a great job taking off the problematic branches and balancing the tree.

The other tree was our thundercloud plum – purchased about 18 years ago – just before the previous 17-year cicada emergence. It was small enough to cover with netting which protected during that first challenge. It had been damaged in the center by a branch that broke in an ice storm about 10 years ago; the trimming made that hole show more but now all the dead branches are out and the hole will begin to fill in. It will also be much easier to mow around it!

The work only took about an hour since the crew had great equipment (and knew what they were doing). The branches that were cut were shredded into a truck. As I walked around afterward – I photographed fall aspects of our trees. The red maple in our backyard is always the last to turn and drop its leaves; I like that I have longer to enjoy it.

The sycamore has lost a lot of leaves already. Many of them are very large. The Virginia Creeper growing on the trunk is turning red.

The tulip poplars leaves turn yellow but this year they are going from yellow to brown very quickly…often while the leaves are still on the tree. We get the leaves in our yard but the very large trees  are in the forest.

Overall – our fall tree trimming project was an easy success…and now we can focus on not letting the falling leaves build up too much on the grass. My strategy is to mow the leaves into the yard as much as possible rather than expending energy raking!

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!

High Key at Conowingo

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On Sunday morning we left our house about 7:30 AM to drive to Conowingo – about a 1.5 hour drive from where we live. Below the dam is our favorite place to see bald eagles. This is not the best time of year, but it was a sunny fall morning – a good time for a short daytrip.  

There were some black vultures on top of a car parked near the entrance gate at Conowingo Fisherman’s Park. I had heard about it happening but hadn’t see it before. There didn’t seem to be many photographers along the fence however there were cormorants and gulls over and on the water. There were more cars than usual but apparently the owners were mostly there for fishing. We saw several with very large catfish (looked like the invasive flathead catfish). The spillways on the far side of the dam were active…but it didn’t seem like there was much water churn on our side of the river.

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I had just started surveying the abutment, rocks and island with my bridge camera mounted on a monopod, when the battery connection problem that I had experienced previously began. I had to take the camera off the monopod and remove the foot to open the battery compartment and try to increase the thickness of the paper wedge I had been using to hold the battery more firmly on the contacts. I put everything back together and it still didn’t work consistently. I was able to see an adult bald eagle on the abutment and a great blue heron on a spit of rocks and gulls flying over the water --- but the camera would not work for long enough to get a good picture. So – I gave up and pulled out my small Point and Shoot (Canon Powershot SX730 HS). I was very disappointed in what I could do with less zoom than the bridge camera. So --- I opted to try some high key pictures. My first subject was large sycamore with branches that hang over the water. The color variation in the leaves was more visible with the background mostly bright white although I did one with the water partially visible.

My favorite is the one below with the foliage in the lower right corner. I can image this in a presentation with some words in the upper left!

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Next --- I chose to photograph the electrical towers. I was not aware of the blue (vignetting) in the upper corners until I looked at it on the monitor at home….but I like the little bit of color!

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One of the towers on the island in the river contained a surprise that I didn’t see until it was on the larger screen: a bald eagle standing on a nest! It is not a good eagle shot…the bird is facing away and blurry….too far away for the Point and Shoot to get a crisp image. But it shows how the eagles use of the manmade structures!

Overall – I was pleased with the morning…even though it was quite different than I’d planned!

Precursors to Fall

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It is not fall yet but we already have a few leaves falling; the majority are oak or sycamore. There are always the precursors to the big fall that happens in a few months…usually reaching a crescendo in October in our part of Maryland.

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There is always one corner of our deck where the leaves accumulate. The wind sweeps them into the corner and the only way they leave is with some effort on our part with a broom or rake. Right now - they are mostly sycamore leaves but later the tulip poplar leaves will be there too.

The sycamore leaves are sometimes bigger than dinner plates this time of year. The big ones have been growing all summer. There are still smaller, younger ones on the tree….and sometimes they fall off while they are still green. I noticed an odd leaf that was very dark around the edges…not the normal look to a sycamore leaf on the ground and I’m not sure what caused it.

The oak leaves are changing color on the tree – looking glorious in morning light.

There are some unusual looks for the oak leaves too – green at the stem area then brown in the upper part of the leaf or green in the center and brown around the edges. These leaves might indicate the tree is somehow challenged – hopefully something it will recover from.

I am trying to separate what is normal for our trees and what I might notice that is an indication of climate change. One thing I am starting to monitor is when the big last big swirl of leaves happens from the tulip poplar; in fall of 1994 (the year we moved into this house), it occurred on Halloween. I wonder when it will be this year.

Yard Work

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My husband maintains the lawn part of the yard while I am away – but the bushes and flower beds are left for me to get back in control when I return. The milkweed was dominating the front flowerbeds….but there were no caterpillars (or signs that there had been caterpillars) on the plants; it was time to cut them down. There were some black eyed susans that came up through the day lily leaves beginning to bloom.

With the milkweed gone, the black eyed susans show up more. In my next round I’ll do my annual cutting of the day lily leaves to have fresh green ones growing until first frost.

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The Virginia Creeper is growing better than ever on the oak tree. I am leaving it alone this season.

I trimmed the Virginia Creeper growing into a window ledge. There were some ants underneath the leaves on the ledge….not good. I’ll monitor to keep it lower than the ledge for the rest of the season.

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The plant has suction cups that hold it to tree trunks and bricks…not as damaging as rootlets that some other vines have. I still cut the vines on the exterior of the basement because they were about to reach the siding and I did not want them to grow on or under the siding.

While I was cutting the milkweed – I noticed several things to photograph: 1) blooming mint. I have harvested it in years past but am opting to just let it grow among the day lily leaves now.

2) an insect exploring the nine-bark bush. I love the varying leaf color on the bush. It is growing well now, and I am reluctant to trim it because I like the lush and colorful new growth!

3) a zoomed images of a black-eyed susan flower.

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Our tiny holly has berries this year; they’ll start to turn red soon. I cut back the growth of the old bush (dying) behind the holly to maximize the space for the young bush.

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The ferns and grapevine are growing better than ever before under the deck. We are trying not to bother them although I worry about accidently rolling over them when I get the wheel barrow in and out.

The second morning of yard work, I took two wheelbarrows of trimmings from the chaos garden. There is one cone flower there….otherwise it is lemon balm gone wild, some blackberry canes, other invasives….leaves and sticks from the sycamore. There is still more to do in the coming weeks.

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The sycamore is already dropping its leaves…which is normal. The ones on the yard will be chewed up when we mow the yard. The ones on the stairs to the deck will be swept off and onto the yard before we mow.

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When I was taking the last load back to the brush pile at the edge of the forest, I found a red maple leave on the ground – already looking very much as all the leaves will look in upcoming months.

My goal is to work in the yard for 2 hours a week….trying to get it done first thing in the morning – when the temperature is the lowest of the day.

Cicada Aftermath

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The Brood X adult cicadas are gone; the outdoors is quiet in comparison to the way it was a month ago. The trees are showing the impact of the large numbers of cicadas that emerged this year…but not all the trees were impacted the same. Our oak seems to have the most small-stem breakage from the cicada eggs deposited under the bark…the larvae hatching and dropping to the ground. The stems split and the leaves past the split die. The condition is called ‘flagging.’

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Some of the leaves are already falling off the tree; they’ll be mulched into the yard the next time we mow.

There are other insects that enjoy our oak. I noticed that some of the leaves on the ground have holes in them. Without the cicadas, the leaves probably would have stayed green and on the tree for the rest of the summer.

The sycamore is impacted to a lesser degree.

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It appears from the yard that the small branches are falling off more quickly than the oak’s.

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I took some zoomed pictures of the sycamore branches. The color and shapes appeal to me.

Soon the aftermath of the Brood X will all be underground….the larvae beginning their 17 year journey.

There was a story in the news of some research into the blue jay and grackle die off recently….looking at whether the fungus that seemed more prevalent in the cicadas this year might have impacted the juvenile birds that ate them. The die off occurred in the same areas where Brood X emerged.

Macro Landscapes

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On my recent walks around the yard, I’ve been noticing the tiny landscapes on the ground….the greens of very early spring. The moss under our deck stays green all winter and now there are tiny plants (clovers and mock strawberry) coming up through it. They’ll stay low growing so we’ll never mow the area.

A patch of moss can also be found near our chaos garden. It appears to be more yellowish (maybe got too dry) with red seta…the  sporophyte that was at the top of the seta is already gone (i.e. the spores long dispersed). The grass is beginning to grow around the moss and it will eventually be in the path of the lawn mower.

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There are some weeds beginning to grow too…..coming up in the grass, tulips poplar seeds, and rolls of sycamore bark. The mowing will keep it short. I tend to leave weeds like this…hoping they have deeper roots than the turf grass…better at holding the soil on the slope.

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The soil a few feet away from the chaos garden must be rich in humus since there seems to be a puff ball or two every year. This one is from last fall. I remember finding it when I was mowing the leaves! It has collapsed but somehow managed to stay relatively intact through the winter. Underground the mycelium is growing and decomposing the humus further with the help of microbes….the makings of healthy soil.

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The daffodils are up in the oak leaves, old day lily leaves, and tulip poplar seeds in our front flower beds. Maybe I’ll cut a few of the flowers this season to bring their springtime indoors.

There are the usual ‘weeds’ in the same beds. I recognize the mock strawberry. There is a chance that some of the others could be black-eyed susans which I  want for the bees and butterflies during the summer.

There are a few crocuses coming up. There are fewer every year. One came up last year out in the yard…the bulb probably moved there by a squirrel.

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I looked closely at the joint between the driveway and our front walkway – lots of tulip poplar seeds there. They had made enough ‘soil’ for a small clover and some mock strawberry to grow. And there was a worm using the crack as a highway between the lawn and the flower bed; it was heading toward the flower bed….a much richer place for the worm!

Finally, I checked the bush at the corner of the garage. I’ve been nurturing a young holly to take over for the old bush. I discovered a plant growing in the stump of the old bush…a sure sign that it is rotting. I’ll be cutting it closer to the ground and let the holly take over completely.

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Overall – these macro landscapes look more springlike than our trees at this point. I’ll wait a few more weeks to photograph the large scale spring landscape.

February Sunset

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Sometimes the end of the daylight is spectacular…..and I celebrate when I look out the window at just the right time. The pictures in this post were taken back on February 5th. It seems like we’ve been cloudy/snowy since then!

Both pictures were taken through my office window.

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The sycamore is on the left of this picture. The branches pointing downwards are a broken branch that has been in the tree for most of this pandemic year – firmly wedged. I like the network of silhouetted branches with the billowing orange and pink and blue of the sunset.

Looking a little more to my right – the sycamore is out of the way (almost…there are a couple of branches in the upper left of the picture below) and the tulip poplars that are further away are on the horizon. I liked the upper levels puffs of pink in the darkening blue.

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Somehow sunrise and sunset are both special times of the day…they frame the day in beautiful beginning and ending. Clouds can block the color or I can miss the time…but there is always the potential. These moments of day fill me with appreciation of the Earth – our place in the universe.

Tree Trunk Macros – Part 1

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A sunny day in the thirties…I decided to take a quick walk around the yard with my new camera for some landscape pictures and my phone with a 2x magnifying lens with a built in LED light (and clicker) for macro shots. The best images of the morning (before I got too cold) were the macro shots of tree trunks. My gear is simple. I wear both the clicker and the phone with the magnifier around my neck. I can easily hold the phone close to the tree trunk with one hand (often bracing my hand on the tree) and use the clicker to take pictures with the other.

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The sycamore bark is full of texture…fissures old and new. Some parts of the trunk are very smooth, but I am more interested in the cracks and crevices.

I noticed some Virginia Creeper stems on the painted surface of the exterior wall of our basement. They retain some reddish color even in winter. The way they attach to the brick looks like a suction cup!

The cherry tree has lichen and moss growing on it…and a different texture than the sycamore even though there are some occasional curls of bark.

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A larger branch had fallen from the tree and I took a picture of the end of the branch.

I’ll post the macro images of other tree trunks in our yard next week. I’ve also added ‘pick up sticks/branches’ to my list of chores!

Ice Bubbles

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Sometimes there is a surprise opportunity for a photo shoot. Last week I was out putting seed in our bird feeder – and noticed that there was ice melting on the green lid of a bucket. Sycamore leaves and tulip poplar seeds had been on the lid before the snow fell… and were trapped in the snow melt that had refrozen overnight. The bubbles and pattern of water/ice were perfect for some quick photography.

I like finding things like this rather than trying to create them although there might be some value to creating some opportunities. Maybe as the cut flowers fade – I’ll experiment with immersing them in water and putting them in the freezer (now that it’s cleared out enough to have the space for this type of experiment) - creating ice bubbles and patterns to photograph.

Zooming – December 2020

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I took fewer pictures in December…and shifted toward macro rather than zoomed. It was an indoor month because of the cold and the activities associated with holidays. Still – there were pictures of birds and snow – sunrise and sunset…the wintery scene. I’m going to bundle up to take more walks even in the January cold!