Monday, July 14, 2008

emptying the card...

....of course,.. had to do the artsy blk+W thing. Took my kayak down the mighty mo !
The dargonfly perched amongst a swarm of others at Jerry Smith Park midday. The banks of the missouri are finally drying out after months of being submerged. Mud cracks when it drys too fast!

I took on the memory card that has been in my camera, unchecked, since late last month. It held several hundred photos from Jerry Smith, Rocky point and the missouri river taken over the last 17days.
I visited Jsmith in search of the endangered Regal fritilary butterfly; I wanted to photograph them in their natural habitat- found none last week.
I set my Kayak on the BIG MUDDY at parkville and had a slow float to Kaw point. The ten-mile stretch is nice, but it got a bit windy. I stopped at a few sandbars- lots of debris (river is still above normal- hasnt been this low since January!)
The MMN's and the city have partnered to create a set of educational posts on RPG- the second one has been installed near the firepit just above the glade and looks great! It covers the use of prescibed burns in managing the habitat. Bergamont is in full bloom- the coneflowers are dying. Enjoy the photos!
Above is a detail of a bergamont (horsemint) flower on RPG, though Jsmith is also full of it. Below is a bundle of some kind of caterpillar (13 of them) ! on fragrant sumac @rpg. They were everywhere!
... a blk widow, too.This hardy female was under the "limestone glade trail" sign for a month or so- until last week. I went to check up on her and she had poofed! There was not an egg sac or anything!
Indigo, a forest of willow sunflowers and a coneflower at Jsmith. Sure is beautiful! The butterfly weed was in full bloom ! ... And finally... on the banks of the MO throughout KC.......
TRASH!!!. Counted several dozen basketballs, 3 refrigerators, pounds of bullet casings, a dog and enough plastic to fill a mountain on the stretch north of Kaw point. Kaw point is pretty bad, but cooley lake, despite last years' clean-up, is again trashed. The biggest problems are the fishing debris, campfire trash and bullet shells. .. I wonder how bad it would have to become for the park users to begin taking responsibility?

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