Changing for Spring - Update

American Goldfinch - male

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

I think you could say part of this is an update on an older blog.  In the "Changing for Spring!" blog from April 1st, I talked about the Goldfinches molting here at the acreage.  Well, they've completed the molt cycle a couple weeks or more back and I thought I'd throw one up for you to see a male American Goldfinch in all its finery :)  I'm showing the back of the bird because it's the showiest profile...the beautiful stark black and white patterns with the bird's bright yellow back and nape and the forehead black again (as well as the accent of the bill coloration).  What a pretty little bird!

Now that the first flush of dandelions has gone to seed, these birds are all over the ground feeding on the seed heads.  It's pretty amazing (and amusing) when you look out on all the beautiful dandelions and suddenly they take flight!  The birds are like flying dandelions!  And they sing too!  What more could you ask?! 

I've often asked myself questions about the birds we see out on the tallgrass now...were they all here in similar numbers or did we create conditions making them more prevalent in some ways?  I know the American Goldfinch was very likely as common out on the prairie now as a couple hundred years ago. Maybe their population was different than now, but they most certainly were a bird of the prairie as much as the rest of the North American continent.

Baltimore Oriole - male

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

What about others?  The Baltimore and Orchard Orioles are back in the acreage now.  Were they "here" back "in the day"?  I'm assuming they may have been a savanna species...here in SE O'Brien County (Iowa), there were Bur Oak savannas nearby...some along Waterman Creek in the valley here but more so along the Little Sioux River valley south of us.  If they were a species of the savanna, were they "common"?  Interesting question.  I must say that if they weren't common then, we're very fortunate they are now!!!  Love these guys!

Gotta get some work done!  Hope you're not too distracted like I seem to be! 

See you on the Tallgrass!

Every Little Bit

"Summer Along Angler's Bay"

color pencil - 5X7" - art work © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for larger view)

This "spring" has really been a bugger!  Well, maybe I'm just being impatient but until this past weekend, it's just been a gray cold/windy/wet reminder of November!  

I haven't been able to do any of the prep work in the pastures that I'd like, other than (thank goodness!) get our burning accomplished about 4 weeks back.  We opted to burn 2 of the 3 acres, leaving the third acre abutting the 23 acre native pasture in back, unburned.  We had a good deal of insect diversity back in that corner last summer and fall; maybe resting it another year will help make it a banner year again?  We also burned another acre south of the driveway...this section has yet to be overseeded...I am very interested in seeing what may come back on it's own...this is the 3rd year we've burned it now.  The south edge of this acre burn is our neighbor's pasture - it has never been burned and does have some grass remnants of Side Oats Grama, Tall Dropseed, and Blue Grama Grass.  Also has Fringed Puccoon (which we discovered there for the first time last spring) and Blue Eyed Grass.  There's about 3 and a half acres there so I'm tending to believe that our one acre burn next to it will still repopulate with invertebrates from there.

There's been quite a stir on the list servs here in Iowa the past couple of weeks.  It may have been a small "bit" of a tragedy, but tragic none-the-less.  

Maybe the old factoid that Iowa is the most changed landscape of any of the 50 states is being overused?  I don't think so, I think that statement is true; we're not being overly protective or cautious - we need to waiver on the side of our natural heritage in our thinking.

Apparently, a small wet/wet mesic prairie disappeared this month in eastern Iowa.  Iowa is a state that now has so little of what it was made up of just 150 years ago and whenever a tiny piece that, miraculously survived this long suddenly disappears, well...it's tragic.

The prairie in question was near the town of Dyersville...it was considered a wetland prairie and was known for some high quality wet and wet mesic native plants "for" Iowa.  A couple weeks back, someone who was aware of the prairie (it was privately owned), was stunned to see it was being filled over with dirt.  Some frantic discussion on the native plants list serv found that it was one of those incidents that no one noticed until it was over.  Further investigation showed it was all done by the book (according to Iowa regulations), all permits were applied for, eventually approved, and the work commenced.  

Being a wetland, it was "assumed" the property was "safe" from this type of future...but unlike most states (particularly neighboring states) Iowa does not have any state regs against wetland drainage if they do not fall under federal jurisdiction.  This small wetland prairie did not.

Ironically, this wetland prairie was filled in to build a school building on.  Perhaps ironically, again, some day a class at this school might, in studying our vanishing natural heritage, plant a prairie plot in the school yard somewhere...this was poised by a list serv contributor and I must say - this was nearly the first thought that formed in my own mind when I read the circumstances.

The image at the top of the blog is a small color pencil study I recently finished of a location north of us - Angler's Bay on Spirit Lake in Dickinson County.  In my rendition I left out "civilization" on the far distant shoreline.  In reality it is dotted with houses and docks - visible from this reed filled shore across the bay.  That was the future this shoreline was looking at...at least the possibility of it.  But the owners of this 3/4 mile long reed bed (the area's largest remaining virgin bullrush bed) saw the need to preserve this "wetland".  Through a large/intense campaign, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation was able to save this "bit" of our natural heritage...only 93 acres, but another "bit" of our grand children's heritage is being preserved!

I know, in general conversation, a lament of losing 10 or 20 acres of prairie or wetland would almost certainly be scoffed at by the majority of people hearing about it...but we've long passed the point where we can write it off like someone tossing trash out of a passing car.  When it's gone, it's truly gone...lets try harder to instill a true value on what of our heritage remains - natural and cultural!

They're Here!

Pasque Flowers (Pulsatilla patens) on Waterman Prairie

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

The Prairie has begun blooming!  The first flower of spring on the prairie finally began blooming up here in the NW corner of the state this past weekend.  This is always my "official" beginning of spring on the Tallgrass...look forward to it all winter long because it means the season has begun and better days..."great" days, are ahead!

Georgie and I went out on Sunday afternoon to check the prairies for pasques... a wind advisory with a real stiff blow out of the west/northwest was making photography almost untenable...a higher shutter speed was the only option!

Pasque Flowers (Pulsatilla patens) and dead cedar on Waterman Prairie

Photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

Waterman Prairie, here in S.E. O'Brien County, is in the "neighborhood" and we checked out all the spots that we've found these forbs in past years.  Many slopes that had once been over run with Eastern Red Cedar trees here, have had their trees treated or cut to bring back the original prairie habitat.  This, coupled with controlled burns and/or grazing, has encouraged the tallgrass plants to return.  It's not uncommon to find Pasque Flowers growing at the base of the cedar stumps and trunks.  It's great to see the prairie recovering on the slopes of the hills in the valley!

Veering a little, I'd like to comment that our entire planet "is in the neighborhood".  Let's try to take this more to heart.  With sincerity, lets celebrate this place we all must live...and heed the needs that exist "in our neighborhood".   Give thought and action to the needs of our planet's peoples and our planet's habitats.  Please give to your organizations of choice for those in need!

Spring is on the Tallgrass - let the games begin!

Changing for Spring!

Male American Goldfinch beginning its spring molt

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

We've really been enjoying the Goldfinches in the yard this winter.  We get around 40-50 birds every year that stay in the pastures around us and visit our feeders! 

Now that spring has arrived, we're getting more and more types of birds from their winter homes, now headed north, but the Goldfinches stay around all year long here.

One thing that is fun watching for is the Goldfinch molt.  We get to watch all the males really change into their spring/summer/fall finery, and it's taking place right now!  The image above is of the same male Goldfinch, just starting to put on the brilliant yellow feathers...little patches here and there.  None of our neighborhood birds has made the complete transition yet...I suspect that will take another week or more (?), but there is one male I noticed that has really made some progress with it's molt (see image below).

This male American Goldfinch is much further along in its change of color!

photograph © Bruce A. Morrison

This female American Goldfinch is not going to be the brilliant "stand-out" that it's male counterpart will be.

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

The ladies molt too, of course, but their plumage is much duller in color...kind of an olive hint when they've changed; nothing near the yellow gold of the males.  But "brilliant" or not, the Goldfinches are great having around the prairie pasture and yard all year long!  

As I was walking from the studio to the house this noon, an accipiter flew through the yard, scooping up a Junco for lunch!  It gets pretty exciting at times...high drama in the tallgrass.  I wasn't able to make an ID but judging from size it was either a male Cooper's or a female Sharp-shinned Hawk.  I only had a couple seconds view and it was moving "away" from me as I spotted it.

Aside fom bird activity, other things are undergoing changes for spring now; I'm looking for signs in the prairie here.  We're a bit far north for the Pasques to be in bloom yet but they may take us by surprise one of these days soon.  I have been hearing forb reports from the more southern parts of the state and they definitely are ahead of us!

We are eyeing the pastures here for spring burning also.  We have alternated section burns in the past few springs but may do more this year "if" we find the neighboring pastures being left alone...going to take some communicating before we get started.  

As I've mentioned in past years, it's important to leave some spaces untouched for invertebrate survival each year.  We have been fortunate in past years...the pastures bordering ours have never been burned since we moved here 9 years ago.  

Black and Yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia) - female

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

If your site has a good number of invertebrates, you'll have more birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, etc....  In other words - more biodiversity.  Last year we had an amazing number of Black and Yellow Argiope and Banded Argiope spiders in the late summer pasture.  Our dragonflies, robber flies, butterflies, katydids, beetles, bees, wasps, etc, etc. - were amazing!

I know spring has finally arrived...now the games begin for another year!

Winter Prairie Musing

This is somewhat of a double posting from the studio, but not completely cut and pasted per-se.  It really hasn't seemed like a "long" winter here at Prairie Hill Farm.  Georgie and I have been extremely busy and that helps, doesn't it?  But the Tallgrass has been on my mind nearly every moment, I just can't, nor want to shake it.  

My seed from last year's harvest is waiting patiently to stoke up the road ditch this spring.  I wanted to get it in last fall but the weather was very uncooperative!  I hope this spring planting works as well as the last...sometimes I find the fall seeding to come out the best.

Most of my time has been spent painting or drawing the prairie, and doing studio business.  This summer I have a solo exhibit over in Spencer at Arts on Grand, I'll send out more info on that down the road.  It has put me under the gun to produce this winter; the exhibit title is "From the Tallgrass" and I'm working with the prairie as I have the past several years.

"Tallgrass Songster"

8X18" color pencil rendering

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

I finally finished a piece that is about the third attempt to an idea I first got 6-7 years ago.  The "star" of this drawing is a male Dickcissel belting out it's name, in song form, among the Tallgrass Prairie in bloom.  The bird is taken from a study I did, which is now in the permanent "drawing collection" of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin.  I have been trying to find a "home" for my study and this is my first "finished" attempt to see if I have!  The foreground is a mix of forbs in a prairie remnant near us that Georgie and I often explore.  The Echinacea (purple coneflowers) are of our county's true native population - Echinacea angustifolia, or "Narrow-leaved Purple Coneflower".  The male Dickcissel is proudly belting out it's name, the call from which the bird was named (virtually sounds like Dick, Dick, cissel).  This is a larger piece for me with color pencil...I find the medium can be exasperating at times and generally stick with small studies instead...but I persevered and finished it this week.

"The Ritter Elevator"

11X19" oil painting

© Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

Another work finished earlier, was an oil painting that was "kind of" different for me; it was a commissioned work done for a client commemorating (if-you-will) her trips to the grain elevator with her father, back when she was a child.  The elevator is one I'm very familiar with, have driven past and around it for 30+ years.  What I didn't know were some of the history and stories behind the "Ritter Elevator" - was fun to research and depict the elevator during the early 1950's!  The red IH box truck was my client's father's truck.  I took the rest of the vehicles from the area and other sources...the red tractor is my neighbor's father's Farmall "M" and their flarebox wagon (did repaint that a different color though).  I do like doing work depicting the agricultural environment/landscape and felt this was actually a good fit.  I've said it before and will likely again - the Tallgrass Prairie made this state what it is today and without that natural heritage, we would not have that "black gold" the prairie gave us - the soil.  After handing the painting over to it's new owner, I asked her if I could have permission to share it with you here - she was very happy to!

My first "Morrison's Studio Newsletter" (Vol.1, No.1) went out this week!  If you'd like to sign up for it, there's a link to the form right along the sidebar to this blog...if you get this blog via e-mail you can go directly to the form by way of this link -

http://www.morrisons-studio.com/Newsletter%20page.htm

The Tallgrass up here is still under snow and ice!  I'll just keep working on it here in the studio...makes the time I can be outside all day come quicker!   Hope yours is thawing and growing soon! 

See ya on the Tallgrass!

Prairie on Paper

"Yellow Coneflower"

(Ratibida pinnata)

Color Pencil - 5X7" © Bruce A. Morrison

I'm double posting from my art blog this time...I think it can relate to the tallgrass!  

I've been delving in the prairie vicariously through my drawing lately.  If you can't go to the prairie "physically", then why not mentally or on the tactile surface of the paper in front of you?!  

My subject matter is likely one of the most common forbs (flowers) from the prairie, and can be found anywhere that allows it a seed bed.  But I love this plant, no matter how common place it may be.  And I look forward to gathering it's seed every fall...man what an amazing smell from a handful of seed!  If you've never collected it, I'll not try and describe it - just try it for yourself some fall.

I called this plant "prairie coneflower" for years, until I was corrected one day, being told it was a "Gray-headed Coneflower"  I had the scientific name correct - Ratibida pinnata, but was never keen on gray-headed...just doesn't sound appealing does it?  Well several months ago I got my new edition of  "Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie" by Runkel and Roosa and the name given it there is "Yellow Coneflower"...I can live with that!  :)  So I'm titling the drawing at the beginning of this blog Entry "Yellow Coneflowers" and I'll throw in the Ratibida pinnata to boot, making it official and correct.

I may do a drawing of "Prairie Coneflowers" one of these days...that's Ratibida columnifera to you sticklers out there!  :)  They grow in our pasture as well, occurring naturally in this SE corner of O'Brien County.

Been working on this piece and others off and on since Thanksgiving...may plant a few more forbs on paper...or a landscape to wander through.  In the meantime I'm still finishing commissioned painting work...but a walk through the prairie in my mind is still a refreshing respite!  

Hope you agree!   See you on the Tallgrass!

Happy New Year on the Tallgrass!

2010 is on it's last legs here.  As I write this entry we're in a unusual weather event...instead of a blizzard, it's pouring rain and sleet; soon to be just snow.  Weird stuff for the last day of the year to be sure!

I was out on the pasture this week with the snow shoes; it is very retrospective to view things now that they are under winter's blanket.  Many vole holes appear here and there, as do tunnel ridges traveling to and from buried seed heads.  I always shake my head in wonder at how nature copes in the extremes...the snow's crust is now hardened by the weather change and, for those left "on top", things are going to get difficult!!!

The video at the top of this blog is a scene taken out one of the studio windows...kind of a "snow globe"  gift to you.  If you are an email subscriber to this blog, the video won't show up...you can either go directly to the blog (http://tallgrassjournal.blogspot.com/) or visit this link on You Tube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzukbeAnzXs

I want to take a moment to wish all of you out there a prosperous and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

See you on the Tallgrass in 2011!!!