Still August...Still Hanging In There!

"Sunrise at O'Brien No.1"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

Its surprising how quickly this summer is flying by...but August has been different in some ways.  Kind of like slow motion, yet at the speed of "life" if-you-will.  We've had events of great joy, some not and some yet to happen, it makes for a suppressed level of creativity...I talked sparingly about this in my last blog.  But I have been tending to business and yesterday morning (Saturday) I kicked myself out of bed early and drove down to a spot I hadn't visited for some time.  The sunrise wasn't overly spectacular but very pleasant; a quiet/still dew laden morning with low lying fog in the valley below.  I have talked about this area on occasion in the past; it is part of the Waterman Prairie complex but I refer to it as O'Brien No.1 because the person who first identified it as a prairie of importance gave it that identification in her report.  

Ada Hayden was the first woman botanist at Iowa State University, she has been credited with publishing the best native flora survey of any part of Iowa. And she campaigned for a system of prairie preserves, two of which were later named the Hayden and the Kalsow prairies.  

"Wild Rose hips from O'Brien No.1" 
photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Hayden received a grant one summer in the early 1940's to travel the state, make a census of remaining tallgrass prairies and make recommendations for preservation.  O'Brien No.1 was her identification for this site and she recommended its preservation to the state.  It took a while but in the mid 1990's the location was finally purchased by the state as part of the Waterman Prairie complex.  Ada is one of my heroes (OK "heroines") of our nearly vanished Tallgrass Prairie...I have several but she is definitely a kindred spirit at the top of the list.

 "Early Light on Dog Creek"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Its getting into the later part of August and the landscape and plants are showing the signs...I'm beginning to see swelling flower buds of Liatris aspera, the Solidago sp., and the color of wild rose hips are taking on a bright red hue...the warm season grasses are in flower or finishing up.  There is even a hint of yellow in the Cottonwood leaves along the creeks and streams in the valley.

Here at the studio we are seeing more hummingbirds than just our resident nesting pair, the Red-headed Woodpecker's off-springs are sporting their strange black heads, and we're overrun with the fresh crop of youngster Orchard and Baltimore Orioles.  

The dawn chorus had changed permanently till fall; I do not like that.  I already miss the overlapping cacophony of bird song beginning at predawn.  I still catch the Song Sparrows, Sedge Wrens and Dickcissels in the early morning walks or evening respite, but its a sign of change from a season that is just too short even more so at this age...you youg'uns will understand clearly someday.

The other change I led into in the last blog has not changed.  The transmission line process will be a long one, it will shadow us for at least the next couple years.  I will speak more on it after the required "public meeting" next week.  Until then - savor each moment left of summer!

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!

June Moving Along

Breaking Sky On The Tallgrass

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Finally...June feels like June!  Its been a long cool and wet slog but its almost warm just days before the summer solstice makes it official.  The native pasture and area prairies are really appreciating the rainfall...we've just about made up our groundwater loss from last year's drought, I just hope the spigot doesn't shut off  come July like it did last year!

I had to include the shot above for this blog because I often (just ask the Mrs.) find myself wondering out loud how it looked around here a couple hundred years ago when the tallgrass prairie ruled the plains, undisturbed by modern agriculture.  The image is from the small Bison herd at the Prairie Heritage Center southeast of here.  Of course there wouldn't be those rogue trees out in the open, or the farmstead in the mid-left of the picture, but the image evokes a "hint" of true wildness here as the patchy fog clears from the landscape.

Crab Spider on Penstemon

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Our native pasture is popping here and there, really fun to see.  Right now the Penstemon grandiflorus (Large-flowered beardtongue) is the show stopper!  The locals driving by keep slowing as they pass the gravel esker here on the pasture...the flowers really like the sandy/gravely, well drained soils.  The resident Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Bumblebees just love these flowers!  I got a fun photograph of one of the Crab Spiders sitting patiently waiting for a fly or bee to choose "its" blossom.

Penstemon grandiflorus (Large-flowered beardtongue)

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

This portion of the pasture was not burned this year because the adjacent pasture finally was burned (never burned in recent memory)...I want the invertebrates to flourish here...more diversity begets more diversity and when burning each year, you'll lose too much of it!

Senecio plattensis (Prairie Ragwort)

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Another plant here that seems to prefer the gravel slope is the Senecio plattensis (Prairie Ragwort) .  It probably favors less fertile soil because of the reduced competition from other plants(?)...seems logical.

Tradescantia bracteata (Prairie Spiderwort)

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I have to look for the Tradescantia bracteata (Prairie Spiderwort) each spring because of its smaller stature...it is generally already hidden amongst other plants...the Prairie Spiderwort is much smaller than the more commonly planted "Ohio" Spiderwort

(Tradescantia ohiensis).  We gathered seed for the specimens in our pasture just 75 feet away in the ditch near the old Waterman Creek oxbow. 

Mirabilis nyctaginea (Wild Four O'Clock)

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

We have already gone through our Fringed Puccoon (Lithospermum incisum), Starry Solomon Seal (Maianthemum stellatum ?), Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) and the Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) is waning.  But the Wild Four O'Clocks are still popping along the ditch fenceline.  They're so cool up-close - you have to be up close to appreciate them; their blossoms are only about 3/8" or smaller here.

Its going to be hard to keep up with things now...already been forking thistle and nettles on several occasions and been busy patching up the barn roof too...that and the art studio business.  Its nearly summer now and when things heat up they develop fast!

Hope you're keeping up with things as well; maybe we'll see ya on the tallgrass this summer!

 

Earth Day...It "IS" Important!

Its entering spring-time on the Tallgrass Prairie - 

celebrate Earth Day with a sense of careful consideration

for the legacy of life you are leaving to your children's children! 

photo © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Tomorrow is Earth Day...every year on April 22 since 1970.  The earth day web site - http://www.earthday.org gives a good overview of the history of this one day event each year.  It really started, not as a celebration, but as a cry for "consciousness" of what was amiss!  

I usually try to keep this blog on a high positive note - no one likes a downer.  But this day...this time in our planet's life, has entered a new phase environmentally and our collective interest in its well being (our well being!) is, in my opinion - muddied.  

Please use this day to reflect on how you see the bigger picture of our "Home's" health.  How can you better make wise decisions in your daily activities...how do your actions affect this Earth?  Do you read about environmental issues as they affect the Earth?  Do you read beyond issues in your own backyard?  Are you keeping in touch with those whom represent you in the local, state and national government?  Do you know how your political representatives are voting?  Please be aware. 

It isn't as easy as it should be to stay on top of what is happening with our "Home".  This requires a real effort on everyone's part.  Most really serious health issues for our planet are not in the quick 60 second spot on national television news.  If they are, they are usually simplified or glossed over, we are just not made truly "fully" aware.

I could go into many details of examples to illustrate what I mean but I don't want to tell people how to think - I would just ask that people really do think!  Read about the environmental issues, go to more than one news source, find out who is behind bad decisions that affect our planet's health; make them know how you feel about their decisions or bad behavior.  Take a real proactive position; write "letters", not just fast and easy e-mails, Likes or Tweets.  If you feel you can speak to an issue which is important to you - please do so!

Tomorrow is EARTH DAY.  Keep it (our Earth) and hold it tight as you would anyone you love.  It gives you life and will cradle your children's children, and theirs.  It is too important!

Please pay attention on this day and every day forward...to what is happening to your "Home", our Earth.

Spring Activity Begins

Spring has been slow in coming this year here; it was only a week ago when we still had plenty of snow patches left around the place. But things are slowly changing!  

The pasture bordering our north pasture was burned last Saturday - the first time in "memory" here.  It'll be very interesting to see what transpires there over the spring and summer!

These two fire department volunteers were on "our" side of the fence as they wet down and push the fire away from the fence line.

We'll now do some planning on our pasture.  We usually try and only burn "sections" of our prairie pasture.  Keeping more diversity in the invertebrate population is very important.  We were a little less worried about the invertebrates in the past because we had this "buffer" to our north and west - now about 65-70% of that "buffer" pasture has been burned.  We'll be leaving at least 50% of our bordering prairie intact this year and only burn along our driveway and ditches if weather permits.  

The neighboring pasture was dense with thatch; hard to even walk through.  The ground was still damp and the bottom of much of the thatched growth didn't burn completely to the soil, so there may still be invertebrate survival on some stages.

But I think leaving a buffer on our side is a good idea.  I feel better by erroring on the safe side of things.

Most invertebrates are out-of-sight and out-of-mind...either too small to see, or just blend in to well; like insects such as this Katydid.

(click on the image for a larger view)

I've been reading a good deal on practices in managing prairie...it is so much more complex that just burning, mowing or grazing.  What is in the thatch, the upper soil, deeper down...in the plant stems, etc.  There is no "one treatment cures all" management tool, so we are mixing it up as much as we can with our situation...now if I could only get my hands on a couple Bison to help out too!

Hope to see you on the tallgrass this spring!
 

Past Ground Hog's Day!

 Red-bellied Woodpecker (male)

I must be too busy these days to keep up with all the blogs...its already a couple days past Ground Hog's day!  I guess he didn't see his shadow this year so we're in for an early spring!  Ha!  All in good fun.  

 

This is adapted from the studio blog but thought would make a good entry for the Tallgrass Journal as well.

I've been busy painting commissions this winter so don't have much to share yet.  But one thing that keeps things moving around here in the winter are the birds on the feeders outside the studio window.  One that's really pretty up close are the Red-bellied Woodpeckers!  Although not what you'd even closely describe as a prairie or grassland obligate, the Red-bellied Woodpecker is none-the-less common to the Savanna and prairie along the woodland edges.

 

 Red-bellied Woodpecker (female)

 

 (Red-bellied male's head detail)

 

  (Red-bellied female's head detail)

The way to distinguish the males from the females is the nape on the female's head is all that's colored (red), while the nape and crown on the male are both colored.  You can also see a red flush around the bird's beak and cheeks...its more prevalent on the male's as well.

 

 

The name of this woodpecker seems to confuse a lot of people.  Its named for the "red belly" - a mere smudge of color hard to see as the bird crowds the tree trunks and branches as it moves about.

We did manage to actually do a little seed collection out on the prairie pasture here yesterday afternoon!  It was really pretty pleasant for a change and we enjoyed it!  We had new visitors to the studio that also happened to be prairie enthusiasts, and in talking, found they were short some seed for their own private prairie restoration project - so we took a walk down the hillside here and did some gathering.  Although the birds have pretty much gleaned things pretty well, we still found a lot of what we were looking for. 

 

I like looking at February as a sign of spring - it is, after all, the last full month of winter!  Hope that Ground Hog was right - see you on the Tallgrass!

 

 

 

Happy New Year 2013!!!

Winter in the prairie pasture here!

(photograph © Bruce A. Morrison)

 

2013!  Time flies when you're having fun!  Winter has finally arrived on the acreage here and it is beautiful and cold!  The photograph at the blog head is of our north pasture just 3 days ago.  Since it was a bit breezy, I took mostly video footage.  The video is embedded here so you can take a short walk, enjoy the sparkling frost and snow covering the prairie plants and grasses - and not even catch a chill! (I'd recommend enlarging the screen or going directly to the You Tube link for a great view!)

 

 

If you subscribe to this blog via e-mail, the embedded link may not show.  If that's the case just click on the following link - 

 

http://youtu.be/OPdT8r2aA70

Happy 2013 to you and your loved ones out there, all my best in this New Year - hope to see ya on the Tallgrass!!!