BurrOak Woods

A small warbler- with a yellow rump - edged the forest at the trailhead of the Bethany Falls trail before the MMN meeting. I whipped through it. The limestone bluffs still display large icecicles and frozen springs. The moss is 'blooming' and is some of the only green around.

The Kaw !

I stole a ride from my mother to Manhattan, KS. The dog had an appt. with the vet school. I was hoping to finally see the Konza Prairie- the entrance was closed and I called the number on the gate. They were burning the park- nobody was allowed in until after clean up in the evening. I asked if they needed any volunteers- it was worth a try. A shrike/mockingbird lookin thing decorated a stretch of barbed wire a few yards from a female cardinal.
My mother dropped me off at a boat ramp on the Kansas River under the 177 bridge before her appointment.

The air felt warm- nice anyways. The shadows and low spots on the bank and in the woods above the river were crusted with frost and ice. The river was a bit more wild than the Kaw I knew and loved- islands and sandbars. Some sparrows and a house finch skipped through the brush near the parkinglot.
I paced the sandbar- beer cans and bottles, the remains of a fire.. some shotshells. I went through a few streams of coarse rubble- Found shards of fossilized bones, some petrified wood?, agate and quarts. A found a large, river-polished point of smokey quartz - its dark and MAGICAL!

Time flew by and before I knew it my mother had returned. We walked the rest of the sandbar. She found a large, newer rib and some clam shells. I found a few large leg bones.
We ventured over a creek and then about 1/3 mile downstream along the bank. Found a second sandbar. This one hosted more trash, some large, odd tracks- She thinks they belong to a beaver- I had no clue!?
A large crawdad was cruisin' the shallows- I snatched him up- he returned the favor and gave me a nice pinch. I set em' in a pool and took some photos.

The bank was smotherd in horsetail ferns- they always make a good subject.

RockyPoint

It is warm- reached 50 today. The ground is becoming green and a large group of robins were busy announcing spring in the woods above the glades. Their song and those of many others were interrupted by the constant reminders of the city. Traffic, sirens, planes and helicopters. The woods were busy. The glade- not so much.

White nuthatches, woodpeckers, turkeys and the brightest bluebirds Ive ever seen were all tearing up the leaf litter. The Chickadees stayed in trees, but seemed to follow the bluebirds around the glades. They stayed in front of me as I walked from the the far glade to the great divide- at which point they flew to the right side of the trail and continued to fly from me in the woods underneath the rocks

There were maybe a dozen bluebirds-about half were still in their dull winter plumage.

the verbena is very green, but shows no sign of buds or blooms.

Minor Park

Winter Creeper- Invasive exotic vine at minor park and throughout the blue River Corridor
I visited the park at about 4:30 this evening. It is very muddy and the river is edging the first bank as a result of the weekends rains. It was a little over forty degrees this afternoon, and I found all sorts of unexpected critters- insects and spiders, Even a small, very cold cricket frog! Some gnats and flies glittered in the sunlight over the river and between dark trees. A pileated screamed over the tops of the bald trees. The maples are beginning to bloom. On the ground, fescue and garlic mustard are green and the onion grass is getting there.

I flipped a few stones near the shore of the river. The water was dark and turbid. I discovered a few smaller, green caddis larvae and a large mayfly. When I was playin with the picture, I set it to Blk&W just to see what it would look like- The body blended in perfectly w/ the stone- I could only find two dark eyes!

BlueRiverGlades sunset

I spent the last 30min of daylight at the glades. The southern horizon was dark and there was a heavy blanket of cloud weighing down the sky. The sun has peaked in and out of the clouds all day. At times it was nothing but clear, blue skies. Other times it was dark and gloomy and snow flurries fell.

The sun fell lower and lower. soon it was nothing but shadows and silhouettes. A small woodpecker flipped through the sky- From one side of the glade to the other with the deep blue to its back. A pair of barred owls started up. I never saw them, but their duet seemed to be rising from the creek bed below the glade and off the hill across the way.

The moon was bright and almost full- it sat craddeled in any tree i wished it to- as long as I was willing to do some moving around. Wednesday it will be eclipsed and made dark and red by the earths shadow- In the evening from 9:01 - 9:52 pm-- It will be fully eclipsed for only a moment around 9:30.. good luck if you choose to watch!

Minor Park

The weather was at a peak of its roller-coaster ride this afternoon- it was very nice! I hit minor park to see what the river was doing. There was not a hole lot of life besides the V's of Canadas that flew above me. I was there for a little over an hour and found a couple of woodpeckers and a flurry of chickadees enjoying the warm air in a mess of grape vines.

The river is up. Many of my favorite gravel bars are still underwater and more little islands have formed. I walked along the bank- snapping the occational photo and watching the ground for any interesting plants or rocks. The water was clear. Usually when the river becomes swollen the water will be turbid and become 'dirty' or milky-lookin. I fliped a few stones a few inches from the bank, but I found only a few snails and a small caddis larvae webbed into it's upside-down stone sleeping bag.

I poped over a bank and spooked the handful of chickadees that were feeding off of the poison ivy and grape vines that had overcome a small tree. They hoped a few inches at a time in every direction as if they were performing some intricate dance to accompany their songs. Each individual let out a long, high-pitched whistle followed by an abrupt cherp. I'd never heard it from them before. When one was done, another would reply with the same call.
As I got further from the birds their calls changed to be more recognizable and complicated.
A large hawk flew over. Red-tail. I noticed no change in the chickadees behavior- maybe they are not afraid because the larger hawks generally pose no threat to small birds. Dinner and a show!
The sun was low and I headed for the truck. In the woods a large man was pacing along the cement wall near the entrance. He was in sweat pants and a t- He followed me out of the park. I unfolded the knife in my pocket, but as I came closer to truck a read dodge charger pulled up. The man who had followed me out of the park spoke briefly to the charger and they both went back into the woods. Creepy.

There are three main threats to Blue River Parkway: Pollution (waterquality and litter alike), Invasive/exotic species and erosion.


GARLIC MUSTARD (above)- greening now and is growing in patches along the river. The plant was brought over from Eurasia for food and is now threatening our wild areas. It will bloom clusters of small white flowers in later April-


BUSH HONEYSUCKLE- Another nasty of Minor park. Its taken over several part of the park and is removed several times a year by KC WILDLANDS. The bush will begin to green in March and will bloom with the Garlic Mustard.


EUONYMUS- this too, is green now. From asia, the plant is a very invasive vine. It has a wax coating that makes herbicide useless. It is thick where it is along the bank and on the slopes above the first bank.

LITTER- A new raft has arrived! It is partially deflated and sits on the far side of the ripple closest to the entrance. A red car, too, has settled into the bank over the past few years just a few hundred yards upstream. Fishing line, tires, bottles and household trash are among the largest threats to Minor park. Besides the few who dump on the area, many people do not think to collect their waste from the river's banks. There is also a temporary camp-lookin set up on a lagre gravel bar now.

EROSION/WATER QUALITY- Construction of buildings and roads dump alot of silt into the river. the loose soil on the banks is carved violently when we get heavy rains by unnatural flooding. Because so much of it's watershed is now paved and impermeable, the blue river recieves a lot of water all at once instead of getting water over a longer period of time from that that is soaked by the earth. We have taken most of the marsh-type areas from the watershed. These areas are essential for filtering water for the river. They collect contaminants and silt, release water slowly and support many important and rare plants/animals that cannot otherwise survive. There are still a few marshes around and much of the Blue has been protected withing parks to create a greenway. However, the health of the river depends greatly on the water that it recieves from its tributaries and goundwater withtin it's watershed- these sources of water are not so clean.

Even with all of these threats, the blue river is able to keep balanced due to efforts made by all sorts of individuals and local organizations. In many spots, the river resembles a more ozarkian scene and is very beautiful.

Squaw Creek NWR

The weather was nice- well... in Kansas City. North of St. Jo the snow was several inches deep; near the refuge drifts were as deep at 3 ft! It was about St. Joe before I realized that the camera bag that I had grabbed contained my lenses, filters, batteries, cards and anything else I could want- except for a camera! My mother had a small point-n-shoot in the glove box.

I took a running jump into a wall of snow off of a gravel road. The sunlight pierced the drifts and lit the shaded spots with a light blue. My legs sunk to above my knees and I left a snow angel on the edge of the corn field.
It was in the lower forties, but the wind made it feel much colder. ITs force never failed. My mother and I drove the first third of the refuge before we found anything exciting. Some eagles- juvi's and adults took turns flying against the wind. They did not make too much progress and most returned to a muskrat mound or the ice soon after taking flight.

We had come to see the swans! A waterfowl report told of 50 trumpeter swans and a small group of tundra swans that had accumulated on the refuge as of the end of last month. This was the first time this season that tundra swans had been found on the refuge. Being unfamiliar with the species, I asked one of the 'local experts', Linda Williams (lindawilliamsphotography.com), about them. She gave me some tips on how to tell them apart from the trumpeters.

I spotted the first group of swans far in the distance- 13 of them! They all appeared to be trumpeter swans. A bit further we spotted th rest of them on the ice and in the water. There were many and they were all the same distance from the road as the first group. Closer to the car- only about 100yrds- a smaller duck paced the perimeter of a tiny puddle of open water. His lake was 10 feet in diameter- an island in an ocean of ice- The bird was dark and oddly-shaped. It had a small white spot on his cheak and a white neck and breast. "A Bufflehead or Goldeneye" I identified, honestly not knowing the difference- When I gained access to a field guide I decided that the bird we saw was defenitaly a Common Goldeneye. The pattern of the wings and size were the difference. When my attention turned back to the swans in the distance, I noticed that they were standing and swimming amongst a thinck crown of smaller dark birds. Most of them were Canada Geese and Mallards. The swans were too many to count- but they were giant when they stood next to the geese. Several had the darker necks and two had green bands. I searched the group for the smaller Tundra Swan, but never noticed one.

A small goup of eagles stood on the bare ice behond the swarm of waterfowl. They stared, and probably dreweled, but I could not see any strings of saliva from their beaks.
My mother spotted a pair of great blue herons that I could not. She gave me the Nocs and directions. I found the birds, but they were not herons. The two were tall with a more round body- not much of a visible tail. I saw a hint of red and identified them as Sandhill Cranes. In disbalief, she took the binoculars from me and confirmed my id- she said that when one lifted its head she saw the distinct profile of a crane. I have never seen them this fas east, and never this far north this late in winter! I suspect that they had come in with the geese and stayed with the flock. EXCITING!!

The rest of the drive was about scenery and critters. The icey landscape reflected the sun in ways it does only in the mountains and far north. Most of the wetland was frozen, and any plants were pressed to the ground by the heavy snow. On the long, strait stretch of the road that is under the canopy of trees there was an opossum. He edged the side of the road in the snow. I jumped out of the van and joged to intercept him for a photo on the other side of an old tree. I waited several seconds, but he never showed himself. My mother told me to look in the tree- above me. I circled, but never found him... he had *poofed!*

I found a hole low in the trunk. There was hair on the bark. I turned the flash on on the camera and thuck it deep into the hole to flash a photo. Upon review, I discovered a big hairy butt looking back at me. I took some more photos and went on my way. Further down the road, but still amongst the flooded forest, we spotted another, much larger oppossum. As we neared the exit/entrance of the refuge I noticed a familiar sillouhette on the ice. A cat!? It was a raccoon- a BIG racoon! We watched him go about his business for a few moments before we visited the centre.

CAT WALK!
Took the hike to the left of the center- at the far end of the parking lot. Followed it in the thick snow until it was no more. The surface of the snow had melted with the day and then froze again- it was about 4:30 and the sun was getting low. Each step was acompanied by a crack of the ice, a crunch of the snow, and another crack as my foot broke the surface upon exiting. My poor choice of footwear left me with some pain and the sensation of walking on my ankles.

We strayed from the path, which was covered in tracks from deer, coyotes, rabbits, a turkey, and a small cat or fox, in search of photo's- Success!

I dont know why, but despite all the red in the grass and the blue in the sky, I like the Blk&W better- ive been playin with it alot lately- What do YOU like ?