"Mid October Along Waterman"
photograph © Bruce A. Morrison
(click on image for a larger view)
I've visited Indian
Summer in past blogs, its such a bitter sweet time of the year (as
memories of Indian Summers past are as well).
I can't get over the transformation the landscape undergoes at this
time either. Here, its been very dry, not like drought stricken areas
in the south and southwest but dry for "here"; nearly no rain of
consequence since July...none measurable here at Prairie Hill Farm since
August or early September.
I looked
forward to walking the Waterman when fall took hold in the valley here,
but it was so dry and windy for an extended period that the leaves
simply dried up, turned brown and dropped! That is when the landscape
takes on a new character and visually becomes more elusive for "me".
I like this time of the year. I enjoy time in the warm sun with a
cool/crisp air about, making things very pleasant. A good hike doesn't
seem as taxing in the fall...the usual tormenting entourage of insects
have "mostly" abated. Birds are moving through; the music is different
but contemplative.
On the day this image was taken, the banks and sand bars were hopping
with small Eastern Chorus Frogs out sunning themselves, basking in the
warmth of an Indian Summer day. I haven't seen that in many
years...what good fortune for me!
Eastern Bluebirds lined the fence lines when I come up upon a field;
their sweet understated conversations were relayed down the line from
post to post, wire to wire. What pleasantry!
A Beaver dam came into view and I walked around and above it...there
laid the cache, or beginnings of one for their winter storage. It
wasn't a high dam but the pool behind was substantial...I'd watched two
Beaver downstream from here about 3 weeks earlier, I'm sure this is
their lair.
One thing I found very interesting about this dam was the materials used were largely made up of Indigo Bush (Amorpha fruticosa)! There was a thick stand of it on the south bank above the dam and this is where the Beaver were cutting dam materials. I didn't see evidence of it cached for food though...I wondered about that...
I have never seen a stand of Amorpha fruticosa anywhere in this county (O'Brien) until this year, and this section of Waterman Creek south of us has the largest population I've found in this county. We are just too dry of an area here and our plants are typically lacking in wetter habitat type species. But this section of Waterman had other "pockets" of wetland species too...rushes, Northern Arrowhead (Sagittaria cuneata), Bur Marigold (Bidens aristosa) and others.
I followed all
kinds of tracks along the creek all the way back to the road, a section
of ground away; its been a long walk...I hope its not too long before
the next one! Its a tough job but someone's gotta do it! :)
Happy Indian Summer, hope to see you on the tallgrass!
