Lone Jack CA

This morning was cold- the sky was crystal clear and the wind was non-existent. I arrived at the area around 815am to find that a group of duck-hunters had blanketed a cove of the lake in decoys. We spoke briefly- they had shot three mallard ducks, though the dog had not found one of the birds. I took my usual hike around the lake, through forest, old fields, tall grass and crop.

Nothing real special today, but the weather was PERFECT. The lack of wind created a world of reflections on the surfaces of the lake and ponds. I could not find my quail, but I got two squirrel and spooked a family of deer from their bed.

About half way through, I had not shot at anything- I entered a large plot of Indian grass and stood still. The sparrows and finches filled the air with songs- many of which I did not recognise (this doesnt mean anything). I took a step forward after about 3min. Upon doing so, another woodcock flushed a few feet to my left from a brushy fence row. he circled back and flew in front of me about 30ft away. I quickly mounted my gun and took one shot, I missed and did not shoot again in fear that I would loose him in the grass and brush he seemed to be headed for.

I found the simplicity of a large feather to be beautiful enough to spend a few minutes shooting. It was large, Blk&W, but did not have the bulk or shape of a turkey's. It lay on the ground beneath the corn that was left for the wildlife. I tampered with color saturation to make the color less vivid- I think it came out OK!

Another feather, left from the hunters- that of a mallard. It was still with the water.

Lone Jack CA

I find it hard to multitask on my trip to lone jack. I carry my camera, a youth-sized 20ga. pump shotgun, and a backpack to carry extras, bones and game in. Like today, I often find myself stuck between raising my gun or camera; or which one to set on a stump while I shoot.




Today was cloudy, cool and windy. There were periods of sunshine, and those without wind- but by 10am, the day was lost to the poor weather.Today I hoped to get my first quail and maybe a duck while I was at the lake. i loaded a few rounds of steel #4 shot into the gun.


I circled the lake, and found nothing in the wooded portion of the property. The nieghbor has re-marked the property line with violet painted trees and fence posts. Once I got to the first clearing, and frequently from there on, I found a dead deer. The first was a large buck. his hind end was smashed- hit by a car? Many skeletons of deer, turkey and small game lay beneath the trees where they were killed days, weeks and years before.

I continued through the thickets of the far end of the area, and burst out onto the field of indian grass. A small, yellow and red-lookin sparrow welcomed me to the stand. Maybe a le conte's?

Cardinals and juncos swarmed the woodland edge.

In the grass, where I was hoping to flush those quail for a shot, I found this guy. My best guess is a song sparrow. A flock of goldfinch were nearby. no quail

Here, edible oyster mushrooms which are often inhabited by small black or black and red beetles scale a dead tree. I picked a bunch, stashed them in my bag and continued.



A bit further, while crossing a stream I found a handful of cricket and bull frogs. He posed for a picture where i found him and then left him
I walked. All of the sudden a squirrel poped up. This was no dilema-I mounted my gun. Within a split second, the smaller covey of quail erupted from a few feet away. five birds I counted.

I usually hear the quail in the leaves before I get so close- but this time the wind blinded me. Now I was in a dilema. Quail or Squirrel; camera or shotgun? I safetied my gun and took a second to hand my camera and pack on a tree limb next to me. I was about 20ft from the thick stand of trees where the squirrel had startled me, and was facing into the woods-where the quail had flushed to. I creeped up on the tree where i saw the squirrel- no squirrel. I continued in the direction where the quail appeared to have flown, with my gun ready. I found nothing for a long time, and then a single bird flushed from beneath me. he quickly dove behind a stand of trees and continued flying out of sight before i could get my shot off. I kept my gun aimed, and then he appeared. I disengauged the safety and pulled the trigger-

For all you hunters- considering the information I have given you- what was my mistake?

The quail burst into a flurry of feathers; I knew he had been shot. I went to where the feathers were still floating in the air- and spotted my bird- he was running behind a tree.

I had shot at him with a 3" #4 round- much too large for a tiny bird.I was lucky toi have hit him.I put my gun on saftey and chased him. the poor guy ran into a raspberry thicket. I continued after him until he stopped. I couldnt reach him, so I mounted my gun. He was only 3 ft away from the end of my barrel. I knew that if I pulled the trigger, there would be nothing left of the little thing- I continued to chase him until I had become so entangled and cut by the thorns and briars-- -I lost site and gave up.

On my way out I flushed a woodcock. I hadnt seen one in two years!?

I had a very good day- even if all I was able to kill was a bunch of mushrooms. It got very cloudy and windy by the time I arrived at the car- it was kinda nice in a not-so-nice way. My arms, face and neck burned from the tiny cuts of the quails' thorney trap- but I noticed only the cool wind stirring the leaves that float on lake and relieving the sting from my skin. It roared through the trees above me and was the icing on the cake that was my morning excursion.

Blue River Parkway

Kansas City Wildlands minor park honeysuckle removal workday. the group, a large number of 'campfire leaders', arrived at 7am this morn. by 10am, they had removed enough bush honeysuckle to create a pile 80'x20'x10'high. The group had a significant impact on the park.











It was cloudy, warm and humid today. Not too typical of November, but Im not complaining. It was nice to work in. The river is up; many gravelbars are now islands, and are not accessable by foot. The water was clear, dark and still; the reflections would have only been better if the colors were there.

Jerry Smith Park

Just befire sunset is an excellent time to spot deer at JSmith park. Across from the park today, on a fescue hillside, stood one of the largest whitetail bucks I think I'd ever seen! In the park we found dozens more, including several other bucks.

Took a quick stroll around the priarie in the low light. A small hawk, dark with a white spot on the lower back, flew low over the bluestem, circleing several times before landing in the grass. At first I thought he may have been a sharp-shinned, due to his sillouhette, but I dont know if Ive ever seen one on the ground. I wondered through the grass; found many asters still in bloom, and the ruins of the summers gowth. Everything seemed to glow in the sunset this evening.

I walked a little further and stumbled upon the hawk again. At this point, the sun was very low and things started to go dark.

I stopped by a milkweed pod on the way back to the car.

Burn

Prescribed burns are a proven way to manage many different habitats-especially those that have a long history involving fire, like prairies and glades. On these unique ecosystems, plants and animals alike have evolved and adapted to benefit from the frequent fires that the native americans sent across the land for thousands of years. Grasses are stimulated by fire, and many forbes rely on it to rid them of ground clutter. Bison and other mammals search for the abundant fresh growth stimulated by the fires.

Today at rocky point glade we burned from the entrance road to the "great divide" - a small creekbed past the second gladetop. Though todays burn was much better than yesterdays, due to a better fuel bed and stronger winds, it was not as successful as I would have liked to have seen it. Wind direction was at no point consistent, sometimes switching from East to West in the matter of seconds. In addition, many plants were still, unseasonably, very green.

Nonetheless, a burn is always fun. Larry Rizzo(MDC) and Bill fessler(kansas city), among many others from all over the place, lit fires today. Larry (left) has conducted burns on the area for many years, and was not disappointed with today because he thinks that with other recent fires burning very well, it might be a good thing to leave the area with only a light burn for a change.

Some kind of aster escaped the fire.


ANOTHER KIND OF FIRE right

HEAVEN OR HELL? below

Burn

Maybe a 3-seed Mercury ? I couldnt ID

An old trail smothed in th cropuscular rays formed by the smoke. (Right)

Below: Smoke cant even dull the fall colours!

A flame trys to overcome a small green stand of grass

The sun is blocked by the thick smoke.

Participated in the first burn of the year today. We burned (tryed to burn) a private piece of land ~15acres, somewhere off of hwy13 in Johnsin Co, MO. Its was a gorgeous plot of wooded land next to a lake. The trees were almost all some kind of Oak, and were all in their peak of fall colour. I saw more colour today than I have all season!

THe forcast was for 40% humidity, and NW winds at 13mph (a west wind would have been better). But what we actually got was ~30% humidity(not bad) and light and variable winds. This was not good; the fire would thrive in a wind direction, but when the wind shifted to like the opposite direction, as it often did, the fire would be forced into an area that had already been burned, and die.

Overall, the fire was not a successful one, but probably the most beautiful understory burn Ive ever witnessed. We (myself, my mother, the land owners neighbor: Larry Rizzo, and a few others) may try again when we are able to build up a heavier feul load(leaves) and conditions are more favorable.

Quivira NWR

A huge wildlife refuge near well, NOWHERE, KS.

I headed down after a photo contest in Topeka with my father on Sat night. It was the weekend of my happy 18th, and so he was willing to try one of my crazy adventures with me. I read about the whooping and sandhill crane migrations; they were due to peak this week.

FROSTY FOXTAIL

We went SW for hours; landing at a friends house in Garden City, KS at about midnight. THe night sky was incredible! We spotted a few plantes and constillations, the comet, the milky way and a handful of shooting stars.

When we woke up at some confused time, everything was icy and frosty. I even found some icecicles birthed from the overspray of a nieghbors sprinkler. We ate and hung out until about 1:30. The refuge was on our way home, and about 1/2 way back to topeka.

IN the refuge, which covered about 7000 acres of salt marsh, there are a few drives for cars to go along side of the marshes. I would have liked to have hiked, as they had many foot trails, but the sun was going to set an hour earlier than it did the night before and we became pressed for time.

In search of the 5000+ cranes that were supposedly on the area, we found many different types of ducks and geese, some of which I had never seen before.

Many HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of white fronted geese, N.Shovelers, Mallards and other species of ducks and geese swarmed the wet areas, and the hawks, falcons and songbirds filled the dry ones. We even got to see a few pereguine falcons!!! Others, like the pelicans, snow geese and brants were common(had some fantastic images of them, but were deleted by a corrupt memcard !) JUST LOOK AT THE DIVERSITY OF DUCKS!


At the last stretch of the first drive, about a 1/4 mile into the marsh you could see the cranes. There were only about a thousand of them, and they were way too far to take a decent picture of, but they were there!!! The cranes were in smaller groups in the grass just about the marsh, and were mixed with the swarms of white-fronted geese.








In hope of getting to see a group of cranes a little closer, we continued about 8 miles south to the largest marsh on the area. We found many herons, cormerants, ducks and deer -but no cranes

SUNSET

PHEASANT FLUSHED ABOUT 3FT AWAY;ONLY GOT ONE SHOT .

The area was defenatly a whole other one from Sqaw Creek, with witch many of you are more familiar. It was many times the size, very salty and sandy, and the vegitation was much shorter in most places. The water was crystal clear, and hosted a variety of fish and invertabrates seen from the shore. An I challange anybody to find a sandhill in Sqaw Creek ! My only complaint was the distance- You certainly have to see the area, but its about 4.5 hours away(if you follow the speed limits) from KC.