Things come on fast once the weather turns hot and even more so if the rain actually starts.  We aren't out of the drought "woods" yet but it has improved from the past 3 years...very grateful for that!

The Dickcissels are back this June and are a happy lot once again - I swear we have one every 50 feet down the road and several in the pastures as well...its great!  They are even nesting in the pasture here - very fun!

 

And the Bobolinks did show up in the pasture across the road...occasionally they'll chase one another across the road to our place so we can get some enjoyment out of their company!  It was a special time when they nested on our place and when we'd see them up the county blacktops and highway pastures as well, but, again...I am grateful for what we still have.

 

The spring prairie flowers are happy with our rain too, and the heat is moving them along faster than I can keep up...every time I find something new blooming, its finished before I know it...help!!!

 

 

One evening I was down in the SE corner of the north pasture shooting the While Wild Indigos and just as I started walking away a beautiful female Ruby-throated Hummingbird was suddenly right in front of me - feeding on the White Wild Indigos!   The light was subsiding as it was mid evening, but I had the camera on the tripod already and managed some nice photos of her - really fun!

 

 

 We are always fortunate to have Meadowlarks in our neighborhood.  I do have difficulty telling "Eastern" from "Western" - UNLESS they sing...Western Meadowlarks are so much more vocal and melodious than Eastern's are...and we get Westerns here quite often each summer.  

 

One day a week or so back I was in the studio working and heard a beautiful Western Meadowlark belting it out, and it sounded so loud I thought it must be on the barn roof.  I stepped out the door and it was right in front of me on the grass across the driveway...maybe 20 feet away!  We've never had a "Lawn" Lark before!!!  Crazy neat!  I stepped back in and grabbed the camera only to see a Robin dive bomb it...maybe it was stealing his thunder?  But it flit just another 20 feet or more toward the crib so I walked over by the barn's corner and took a few pictures of it in the fresh mowed grass.  I watched it pull a worm up and it commenced to beating it into submission...maybe that's why the Robin didn't want it around - encroaching on its food supply?!

 

It sang in the yard for another day or two but is now back to it's normal perches around the pasture and down along the road.

 

 

Another fun change this year has been the Eastern Kingbirds.  We always see them down along the road...flitting from fence wire to fence post to electrical wire and back.  This year they have taken up residence in the yard!  During noon time Georgie and I would be sitting at the kitchen table having lunch and we watch the Kingbirds flycathing right outside the kitchen windows!  We noticed the favored perches the birds would use to dart out and catch bugs on the wing.  One spot was an old Common Mullein stalk from last year...made a great perch for them.

 

I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to get some closer shots of these guys...I set up the tripod out side and set the camera on it with a electric remote transmitter/trigger.  While I sat eating lunch that day I was holding the trigger in one hand and eating with the other...click, click, click - "Wow that was a good one!"  

 

Went through quite a few shots and missed quite a few too, but very happy with the results...fun birds!

The days are moving quickly now, even though there's more daylight time - it's still packed with chores and work...inside and out.

I hope you have a good summer ahead yourselves...be good to one another and I hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

 

Beat the Heat!!!

August 23, 2020 - "Over Pocahontas" - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Finally!!!!!!!!!  It's the 29th of August and its "Decent" outside!  Very pleasant day in the shade and even in the sun...I hope we outlasted the heat.

August 17, 2020 - "Over SW Minnesota" - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

Its been a bugger...slightly over a quarter inch for the entire month of August and most of the plants in the prairie pasture are going dormant or look like they wish they had.  Everything will be fine, its just a "brown out" type of a scene with the golden rods and sunflowers doing the majority of the lifting of colors.  One good side to it is we haven't had to mow the acreage since the first week of July!  Oh - the other good side of it is we have not suffered through Durecho wind storms nor hurricanes or forest fires and we're still healthy!  A person must always count their blessings and be grateful...I say this sincerely.

August 16, 2020 - "Over Storm Lake" - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison 

We have had some spectacular evening skies around here the past month.  As storms developed in the region, they always split around us - leaving us dry but with awesome views of their majesty!  It was frustrating but as I said, we've been very fortunate.

     "Distant Thunder - Redtail" - color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

Things have been unusually brisk here at the studio, cannot explain it other than just saying I'd better get busy this winter as my walls are getting bare!  My participation in the 2020 Birds in Art international exhibit in Wausau, WI comes up in a couple weeks!  Although this will be the first time I haven't gone to see the opening in person when I've been included - everything's changed with Covid...it will still be an outstanding showing of Bird Artists the world over!  I just sent a small piece for an auction the Woodson Art Museum is having for Birds in Art...they do a "post card" auction of small 4X6" originals and I contributed a small color pencil drawing "Distant Thunder - Red-tail" for the auction...I'll at least be there in spirit 😊

Bring on September I say...and I beg your sincere pardon if it sours on us all as this summer seems to have.  Hope we at least finally beat the heat!

 

July Was Good...On To August!

 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

I've been pressed to keep up with the progression of plants in the prairie pasture.  I know I've missed things, life gets in the way, but here are a few things from July.

 Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Culver's Root  (Veronicastrum virginicum)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Showy tick-trefoil (Desmodium canadense)  

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) 

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) 

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) 

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Big Bluestem in Morning Dew

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Canada Milk Vetch (Astragalus canadensis)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 False Gromwell (Onosmodium molle)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 

 Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 

 Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Narrow-leafed Purple Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

 Hoary Vervain (Verbena stricta)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 

Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)

 photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison 

 

There is change in the prairie here...nothing new, its just that we're seeing the end seasons approaching...the mid summer prairie plants, though still offering pollen to many interested bees and butterflies, are passing their peak "glory" and most are now forming seed heads.  

Last night I found the very first Dotted Liatris, Prairie Onion and False Boneset blooms of this new season; things will be progressing more quickly than I'd like now - the prairie bloom periods never last long enough for me!

I found a resting Monarch settling in for the night on some field goldenrod and a skipper feeding on some common milkweed; several small Bumble Bees still taking advantage of the Wild Bergamot's remaining blooms and a male Western Meadowhawk Dragonfly cruising the upper story of grasses and forbs.  I have yet to watch a Robber Fly, a Katydid or an Argiope this summer, and the Argiope spiders have been very scarce for two or three years now...a concern.

This is a bittersweet season, for when it comes and the flaming magenta and riotous yellows wow the senses - it seems to finish as quickly as it started.  Ah, but isn't that the way of things!?  One can never take something so special for granted.

Still...looking forward to what August has to offer - hope to see you on the Tallgrass!

August in the Valley

 Compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 It's been a banner year for the Compass Plants, not only here on our pasture, but in many places all over the region.

 

 Compass plants (Silphium laciniatum) - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Culver's root  (Veronicastrum virginicum)- photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

And even tough it has been a very dry summer once again, the prairie pasture here isn't looking too terribly bad...there are exceptions but the plants are fairly showy this season.  

 

  Prairie coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata) - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

 Showy tick trefoil (Desmodium canadense) - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison
  

 

 Cup plants (Silphium perfoliatum) - photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

And the Cup plants are looking robust as well - the Goldfinches are drinking from the leaves in the morning dew and soon will be devouring their seed - a favorite of theirs!

 

"Hidden Pool"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on all images for a larger view) 

Its a mystery to me how summer vanishes before our very eyes.   Oh it hasn't yet by any means, but it just began a blink ago; and here it is August in the valley.

 This morning the sun found me south of the studio two or three miles, walking the "edges" of the Waterman Creek valley.  I had planned on walking the creek, because it is so low that traversing and wading is not a problem right now...we're having another very dry summer here.  

This section of the Waterman is embraced in what I'd describe as a "bowl" or "basin".  I've walked the creek on this section several times but never explored the edges surrounding it.  It was a pleasant surprise when I came upon this small woodland pool on a ridge above the creek.  Some Wood Ducks , likely in molt, paddled towards the opposite side of the pool, softly expressing their displeasure or concern.  The duckweed gave the pool a soft green blanket; a convenient salad breakfast for the "Woodies".

As I had hoped, the air was still as the sun broke; this always helps with closeup landscape photographs like this...leafy branches hold still for a longer shutter speed.

This image is a bit deceiving, as it is mere feet away from the valley opening below,  and this creates a perfect edge habitat for Orioles, Eastern Bluebirds and Field Sparrows.  The Field Sparrows were doing that wonderful trill; its a beautiful song and I was so happy they were still present with their notes!  Soon many of our birds will be in that transition mode into fall and the familiar favorite songs and calls will be absent until returning next spring.  I always regret seeing this transition come.

There are other transitions coming to us here, I won't get into it too much at this moment as I'm going to hold off until I can gather more information.  But it involves a "possible" change for our valley and for our personal lives here.  A very large (it will be the largest in Iowa) transmission line is applying with the state's utility board to run through our property and across the valley past the Waterman Creek Great Blue Heron rookery.  This is a 600kv(+/-) line system to cross the entire state and into Illinois...it will cross 16 counties "if" it is approved, and it will be carried by 200-240 foot lattice work towers.  

We aren't really the masters of our destiny as we so often find out.  And this isn't written in stone yet.  We have joined forces with an association of landowners to do our best to see that this does not happen, and hopefully 16 counties worth of landowners will find a voice to prevent it...but this will be a shadow for a couple years or more before we know what is happening, or not happening.  This has been a unfortunate interruption to the creative flow of work here at the studio, needless to say.  I am now doing my best to direct research and followup time for this specter, to a smaller part of my day, trying to keep things in perspective. I am hoping to stay out of its shadow and into the sunlight so I can still create and enjoy this beautiful gift we have treasured since coming here 11 years ago.

I will write a little more in depth about this soon...in the meantime it is August - grab summer by the collar before it s gone...hope to see you on the Tallgrass!