Lone Jack CA

It almost halloween; You can tell with this chilly fall weather?

It was 70 degrees and beautiful out today. A little breezy, but the critters didnt seem to mind. I met with Larry Rizzo today at Lone Jack Conservation Area. He was going to take a look at some possible remenant glades I had found, and tell me if they were salvageable. We took a hike, found many frogs and saw a few songbirds. He pointed out some buck scratches for me and we stirred up a rabbit.

After we took a look at the site, we determined that it would be necessary to see it again in the spring, when things are in bloom, to know for sure weather the area was worth saving.

The lake on the area is way up, the trails are freshly mowed and maintained, and the fall migration has hit the area. I found a batch of poison ivy before Rizzo arrived that held many chickadees, titmice, wrens, creepers and an assortment of others.

This Myrtle Warbler? perched on a branch a few meters away for only a few seconds. I had enough time to snap a single blurry shot!

Also caught a glimpse of a small gray titmouse like bird with a brightly coloured crown or crest. I was thinkin kinglet, but Im never right. What do you think! Not much is in bloom anymore; some goldenrods, a few asters, and the occasional sunflower. At the very end of our stroll, Larry and I stumbled upon this beautiful purple thing. I didnt recognize the flower, but larry identified it as a late-blooming Ironweed. Cool.

BurrOak Woods NC

Took the bethany falls trail before my class this afternoon. The lighting mixed with the wind made for poor photo opportunities, but when I got up onto the prairie, I found the sun and this indian grass head.

Saw a good group of turkey, some songbirds, a zillion squirrels and some groundhogs.

Little Bean Marsh CA

A new place! Today was my first visit to the small wetland area. The marsh, just north of the city, was pretty dry; not a lot of waterfowl-

Found many cricket frogs, a few ducks and teals, a small covey of quail and many fall colours.

The sycamores and birch were prime!

Maple Woods

A hardwood forest up in Gladstone covered in Maples, pawpaws, oaks, and hickories.

And this

OLD MAN-!-->

Found lots of fungi this morning-- puffballs, bearded tooth, jack o lanterns, little Brown things, and a zillion different molds and shelf fungi.

Here are a few shrooms I found. Two species of LBM's on deacying logs, and this odd one I found in the leaflitter:

'Twas about 2 inches tall, and was the only one like it in the area.

Solomon's Seal?

And the last insect of the year...

RockyPoint & Blue River Glades

Rock Point Glades of swope park, Oct 19 ... Contact Lakeside Nature Center for access.

Again, Though I am just now posting, I was over there on the 19th; exactly one week ago. The glades were lookin nice- not much in bloom, but the grasses and oaks were all changing colors. The fall migration of birds had just started; didnt see anything too exciting. enjoy the pics, or get out there yourself!, For directions to almost any Kansas City wild area, visit kcwildlands.org

(left) a cluster of blue sage flower welcomes me on Blue River Glade.













(right) Big Blue stem, this one on RPG, will change colors in the fall. These seedheads went from green to this purple and brown.

AN OAK LEAF basks in the morning sun. thought the image was kinda cool because of the shadow on the leaf. RPG, near the fire break past the first streambed.

Truman SP and HahaTOnka Glades

I am only now posting, but I took this trip with my mother a couple weeks ago. We traveled south to Truman SP, over to Bennet Springs SP, North to Lake of the OzarksSP, West back to Truman, and then SE to Haha tonka SP. It was a very exciting 48hours!!

Though the other locations were nice; trout @the springs and orchids at Ozarks SP, The glades at Truman and Haha Tonka were the highlight of the trip. I have never really explored a glade in the fall until then. The birds were incredible!

An eagle over truman lake. Others, like the pileated woodpecker, vireos, titmice, all sorts of shorebirds, and others swarmed the area!








This strider skimed the surface on the niangua river near bennet springs .




But the glades were the best. Here, a blkJack oak leaf was caught on the remains of some woody at the edge of the HahaTonka glade area.

And a tiny (7in.?) rough green snake was cruizin the leaflitter of the forested area of Haha Tonka. I put him up on this hickory or something and watched him do his magic. This was the first of his species that I had found in the wild since Roaring river several years ago.

A bird? A Plane ? A scorpionfly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And our famous Missouri Turanchula on truman SP's glade. A giant famale spooked from under her rock.

We found also some black widow spiders and many small bark scorpions. ... Oh, and an earth snake too !

An abandon church building made a cool subject. The paint was all decayed and a small shed was full of old china was kinda cool!

Lone Jack CA

Though its a drive, Lone Jack Ca is one of my favorites around KC. I hunt small game and waterfowl on the area, and have always enjoyed the diversity of wildflowers I find in its fields of fescue. Though it is heavily invaded by fecue and sericea (sp) lespedeza, the area is scattered with exposed limestone, wildflowers and cacti, and all sorts of native songbirds. I have only found one bush honeysuckle on the entire area, and think that it would be worth the effort to restore!

Last month, I found a few ladies tresses orchids, an array of sunflowers and docks, and many butterflies. Today, however, I found none of this; it was cold, and there was even a light frost on the ground. I carried my shotgun, but found nothing worth killing. I flushed a few turkey and a huge covey of quail, but hesitated to kill any of that due to the fact that I was not familier with their seasons or licence requirements. Many songbird out this time- a flock of goldfinch, some chickadees, zillions of sparrows, and a few colorful vireos. The trail had been re-cut for thew first time this year. That was nice.

I did find many colorful plants and trees. They were scattered, with the exception of all of the poison ivy, like this one.

Walking through the opening woods, I found some awsome mushrooms. Many large puffballs, and one that I had never found before; the "bearded tooth"-- sounds killer! I collected a large, firm puffball... Ive never eaten a wild shroom before, but Im going to try it!

The few streambanks that travel through the area were covered with ferns and the glade and open areas with fruiting cacti - This place just needs a burn! !

Prickly Pear cactus (Above) and fern (below)

Jerry Smith Park

Was over there for a few hours this morning from 8-10. Was lookin for some of the gentian, though I never found any. Looks like just about everything has gone to seed, with the exception of the blue sage, asters, goldenrod, and a few sunflowers. I found that the false eared foxglove all had green and coloring pods on them, and the rough blazing star was just starting to seed. It was all exciting.

Below is the prairie; cant believe that that could be found in the middle of KC !

The leaf of a compass plant- buried in all the bluestem.

FROM A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO...

Lakeside NC

Went to Lakeside Nature Center this morn. Found this arrangement of a dead flowerhead and blue stem? among many others. This coral Fungi covers a decaying log early on the Fox Hollow Trail.
On the same log as the coral fungus- I cant ID.