I don't get to do it very often, but, Saturday, Katy (the park manager) asked me if I'd like to help her with the bison. I said, "Sure!"
Katy and I Doing the Work of Modern Day Cowgirls
I won't go into all the hows and whys of it, but, in a nutshell, what we were doing is a daily training exercise to get the bison used to being where we need for them to be at Jubilee.
A Little Blurry, But I Love The Action
I, not only helped on Saturday, but was able to go back out on Sunday morning for a repeat performance. Here are a few of the pictures that I took along the way...
"Hya! Hya! Hya! Hya! Hya! Come on now!"
Awww! Look at this sweet girl! Isn't she pretty? 💗
What magnificent and majestic animals!
Another Sweet Girl
Look this is a big ol' boy! Isn't he a handsome brute? 💗
It was a lot of fun helping in this capacity and it made Katy and I feel like real cowgirls (well...sort of anyway). 🤠Now (here's where I get bossy)... A WORD OF WARNING
If you're ever at Prairie State Park (or anywhere else that has a bison) do NOT get this close to them. American bison are wild animals that can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds and can run up to 35 miles per hour. There is no way for a human being to outrun one. What Katy and I were doing here was part of our job. Enjoyable? Yes! But definitely not without risk and danger involved. Again...never EVER get this close to the bison at Prairie State Park (or anywhere else) on your own or just because. The risk is not worth it! Also, NEVER take four-wheelers out on the trails at Prairie State Park. Again...part of our job and not the norm. While I enjoy sharing my pictures and experiences with you, I would not want to be the inspiration for you to do something that would cause you to get into trouble, get hurt, or worse. That's why I'm including this strong warning as part of this post. Until next time... ~Rebecca
Prairie Jubilee
Saturday, September 29, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Come join us for the fun!
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As the waning days of summer come near to a close, the promise of autumn looms large over the tallgrass prairie of southwest Missouri. The crickets have upped their chirping as cooler temperatures prevail and the prairie is awash with late-summer- and autumn-blooming wildflowers. After I got off work, yesterday, my husband and I decided to hike Drover's Trail at Prairie State Park. Here are a few of the things that we witnessed along the way:
Blue Sage
Native Thistle (My favorite wildflower.💗)
A Bumble Bee Pollinating Native Thistle
Bur Marigold With Goldenrod Beyond
Of course, John and I had to pause for a selfie along the way! 😆
Bur Marigold Along Trail's Edge
Prairie Aster
Showy Goldenrod
Tall Goldenrod
A Buffalo Wallow Full of Water
It had been a while since we had seen one of these with water in it. Watering-holes are few and far between on the prairie. When it's dry, smaller animals, such as coyote, fox, deer, and bobcat, as well as other animals (birds, reptiles, and, even, insects), sometimes, have to travel long distances to obtain water. These buffalo wallows can be found all over the prairie and, during rainy seasons, provide water sources to smaller wildlife without them having to travel long distances to find a creek, pond, or some other source.
Pollen-Producing Yellow Stamens On Indian Grass
Rough Blazing-Star Against a Backdrop of Sumac
Brown Mushrooms Growing Along The Edge of a Bison Chip in the Middle of the Trail
Goldenrod, Bur Marigold, and Tall Grasses
Can you spot the photo-bomber in this picture?
A Lone Bull Out On The Prairie
Shortly after I took this picture (which I didn't realize he was in, until after we got home), I told John that I saw one of these shaggy, brown-backed beasts up ahead moving east. It was a lone bull and I assumed that he was following the service road (and would follow it) to the fence where Drover's and Sandstone meet, then turn to join the rest of the herd which we had already spotted down that way, so I wasn't too concerned.
Cropped From the Previous Photo
The next time I caught sight of the beast, I realized that he was coming down the same trail that we were on and that he was coming towards us. By that time, he was close...only a turn of the trail ahead of us. It was too late to retreat back down the trail, so I grabbed John by the hand and said, "Let's go this way!" Off-trail we went and, let me tell you, we did some high-stepping! We didn't run (NEVER RUN IF YOU ENCOUNTER A BISON ON THE TRAILS), but we did retreat as quickly as we could to put as much distance between us and the bull as we could before he acknowledged our presence. We were still only about 25 to 30 yards away from him, when he stopped and turned his massive head to stare at us. We briefly met his gaze, then continued our retreat. Every once in a while we would look back to see that he was still watching us. On the fourth turn of my head, I saw that he had turned off-trail in the opposite direction and was headed towards the rest of the herd. He stopped briefly, once more, to turn and look at us, then trotted off. At that point, John and I turned to head back to the trail. Hooking into a deer trail, we followed it until it eventually crossed the main trail, setting us back on course. We finished our hike without further incident and came home with only minor cuts and scratches from our encounter with blackberries off-trail and NO TICKS, for which we were very thankful! 😄 All in all it was a great hike with the beauty of God's magnificent creation all around us and even a little adventure thrown in!
The Road Home
Until next time...
~Rebecca
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After leading a hike out on the the prairie, I often tell visitors that, before we end our hike, I have just a couple of more things that I'd like to share with them. I explain that, while it's easy to see the big things out on the prairie...the grasses, the flowers, the bison...there is a lot of nature taking place right there at the nature center that people often miss. Then I proceed to take them on a little tour of some of my favorite things...
It might be a garden spider, like this one. I discovered this garden spider under the eaves of the back porch on the north side of the building. A couple of years ago we had a garden spider that had made its web under the eaves of the front porch, and we watched that spider all summer long and into the fall. She didn't survive the first cold spell, but she did leave gifts. Four of them, in fact! Our resident garden spider left four, big, round egg sacs to ensure that her beautiful black and yellow species would continue. Perhaps this spider is one of her grandchildren.
This nest sits above the door on the north side of the building and it belongs to a phoebe. Every year mother phoebe returns to the same place to lay her eggs and raise her little brood.
This den belongs to our resident armadillo. It is well-concealed within our wildflower garden.
This nest belongs to a swallow. Every year the swallows return and reuse (or rebuild) the four nests that are found, one on each of the outside walls, of the nature center. This one is on the front side of the nature center facing west.
And this one is on the south side. This is the deepest swallow nest I've ever seen.
This nest belongs to a paper wasp. Several of these nests can be found up under the eaves on the east side of the nature center.
I found this spider web on the ceiling of the front porch of the nature center. I'm not sure what kind of spider made it, but it sure has an interesting shape!
This nest was built by robins in the spring. We watched the mother robin sit on her three, tiny, blue eggs until they hatched. Then we observed the parent robins feed and take care of their three robin babies, until they were old enough to fly away and be on their own.
These are just a few signs of the many kinds of wildlife that live life on, or very near, the nature center at Prairie State Park and it just proves that wildlife is everywhere! What about you? What kind of wild life lives on the edges of your home or place of business? Until next time... ~Rebecca Recent or related posts that you might be interested in reading...
It usually begins in mid- to late November. That first arctic blast of the season comes with a chill so deep that it permeates
everything within reach of its icy grasp, and with it comes the killing frost. To me, this is the signal that autumn is nearly over and that we are on the brink of winter in southwest Missouri. It is at this cue that
my family and I pack up and head to Prairie State Park to catch a glimpse of the first frost flowers of the year.
Frost flowers really aren't flowers at all, but are beautiful delicate ribbons of ice that form on the lower stem of certain native
Missouri plants. Frost flowers occur only in the late fall and are formed when the plants' stems are ruptured by the first hard freeze yet the root system is still sending up plant sap from the warmer ground. The sap pushes through the broken stem and freezes on
contact with the cold air. As more sap moves up the stem, it forces the freezing stream of white ice crystals into ornate and beautifully
folded ribbons of frosted swirls. Missouri plants known to produce frost flowers are dittany, stinkweed and white crownbeard.
While many warm days may follow this first icy blast, consistently colder temperatures and snowy days are sure to occur in the not-too-distant
future. As winter prepares to settle in, here at the park many changes are taking place. The prairie grasses and other prairie
plants and shrubs have changed from the golden yellows, rich bronzes and fiery reds of autumn to the subtler, more muted shades of
winter browns and grays.
Gone are the summer resident birds. The great clouds of swallows that circled overhead
all summer long, the rare and endangered Henslow’s sparrows, the cheery dickcissel,
and the scissor-tailed flycatchers have all said “good-bye” to their prairie summer home.
At the same time these summer residents have winged their way south to warmer
and sunnier locations for the winter, Prairie State Park has become home to a whole host
of newly arrived winter residents…birds such as the Northern harrier hawk, the American
bald eagle and the short-eared owl. These have winged their way back from colder
regions just to our north. Other changes are taking place on, and under the prairie, as well. Prairie mice, rats,
voles and crayfish burrow deeper underground to make their winter homes, the white-tailed
deer, coyote and bobcat prepare for leaner days ahead, and the great bison grows
thicker and shaggier as he dons his warm and woolly winter coat. As the days grow colder and the snow begins to fly, don’t let the park's seemingly,
barren landscape fool you. The tallgrass might look empty and lifeless but it’s not. In
winter, even on the shortest and coldest of days, Prairie State Park is teeming with life.
I'd
like to invite those of you with an adventurous spirit to come experience winter on the
tallgrass prairie for yourself. Go for a hike and look for animal tracks in the snow.
Can you guess who made them?
Perhaps you’ll come across a badger's burrow or a fox’s den, or see a Northern harrier
swooping close to the ground as it sails against a distant ridge, a red-tailed hawk
perched atop a fence post or park sign, a coyote making his way across the prairie in
search of his much-sought-after prey, a short-eared owl sitting in the middle of the trail,
a white-tailed deer hidden among the leafless winter sumac, or the whole herd of bison with snow heaped high on their winter-thick,
fur-covered backs.
Whether it’s a long or short hike, if you take the time to look close and experience the nature around you, a trip to Prairie State Park
in winter is sure to yield memories that will last you a lifetime!
The Great American Total Solar Eclipse 2017 is happening in less than a week, on August 21, 2017, and what an amazing event it is going to be!
People in all 50 states are going to the view the eclipse. Depending on where they're at, those that are within the path of totality will view the eclipse as a total eclipse of the sun; those who are not in totality will view the eclipse as a partial eclipse of the sun. Either way, it's going to be exciting!
Below is a list of eclipse facts that I put together for a program that I did for work back in July. I am sharing this information here for anyone who is interested in understanding more about what is going to happen during Monday's total solar eclipse.
#4 – The penumbra is the larger part of the moon's shadow that, in the case of the August 21st, 2017 eclipse, will be observed by people in all 50 states as a partial solar eclipse.
#5 – The umbra is the smaller, darker part of the moon's shadow that lies directly in line with the moon as it passes between the sun and the earth.
#6 – The umbra's path is only about 70 miles wide and that small 70-mile-wide band of shadow is what we call the path of totality.
# 7 – In the U.S. people in all 50 states will experience the Great American Eclipse to some degree, but not all states are going to be under the path of totality.
#8 – Major cities that will be within the path of totality include Salem, OR, Casper, WY, Kansas City, MO, St. Louis, MO, Nashville, TN, Columbus SC, and Charleston SC.
#9 – When the eclipse occurs, those within the path of totality are going to experience something that very few people get to see. The sun will disappear and it will become nighttime in the middle of the day.
#10 – Some of the things that will happen during this time are – temperatures will drop, birds will begin to roost, nighttime insects will begin to sing, and stars will appear in the sky.
#11 – It has been 26 years since the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. and that one was viewed only by those in Hawaii.
#12 – It has been 148 years since the last solar eclipse in Missouri (my home state).
#13 – During the Great American Total Solar Eclipse of 2017, it will take approximately 90 minutes for the moon's shadow to cross the United States from coast to coast.
#14 – The umbra will take only about 13 minutes to makes it's trip across the state of Missouri.
#15 – The longest periods of totality will occur across the center line of the eclipse path. This is because the shadow is a circle. A location near the center of the circle will get the widest part of the shadow.
Now, those are some of the basic facts about the upcoming eclipse, but it is, by far, NOT the most important thing that you need to know if you and your family plan on viewing the eclipse. The most important thing that you need to know about the upcoming eclipse is that YOUR EYES MUST BE PROTECTED!!! Sunglasses are NOT enough! Every single person that plans on viewing the eclipse must have a pair of special mylar eclipse glasses that are made to view the sun. Without them blindness can and does occur. Please, please, PLEASE make sure your eyes are protected!
Please watch the following video in which the UALR's Darrell Heath does an excellent job of further explaining explaining everything that you and your family will need to know before Monday's eclipse.
Ticks, mosquitoes, and other insects and arachnids have been out-of-control crazy this year! I think it's because we, virtually, had no winter last year and nothing got killed out. Whatever the reason, it's been terrible and the number of tick- and mosquito-born illnesses are on the rise.
As part of my job, I recently led an evening hike out on the prairie and, by the end of it, most of the participants were freaking out. Even those who had sprayed down with insect repellent that contained DEET (which I detest) were picking dozens of ticks off...some of them numbering into the 120's and 130's per visitor! NOT a very nice experience!!!
I myself had sprayed down with the high-powered stuff that you spray on your clothes (stuff that they provide for us at work...which also contains DEET) and, even with that, I came off the prairie with 30-some ticks! I was kind of freaking out myself. I could not BELIEVE how many ticks there were! 😱
Okay...so, soon after this, I was supposed to lead a Saturday morning bison hike. I was thinking that I really didn't want to go through the whole tick thing again, and that there must be something out there that works. I remembered a school teacher that had gone on one of our summer-school hikes. She was the only person all summer long that I had met that hadn't had a problem out on the trail with ticks. I remembered asking her at the time what on earth she had used to be so fortunate and it was her (I wish I knew her name, because,I owe her a debt of gratitude that can never be repayed)...but, it was her...who had told me about the bracelets and stickers.
BRACELETS AND STICKERS!!!!! 😲
Nothing to spray on, nothing to rub on, nothing you have to take a bath in, nothing directly on your skin or clothing, and, the best part? There's NO DEET!!! Woo-hoo!
Too good to be true?
So...I got online and started investigating and here's what I discovered and ended up going with...
These two products are AMAZING and, used together, they really work!!! (I say "used together" because that's how I used them. I'm sure on their own they're each phenomenal, but I used them together, so that's all I can testify to.) Both products are DEET-free and are safe for children. The Magic Things bracelets provide protection for up to 240 hours...that's 10 DAYS...and come six to a package (each one is individually sealed); the Mosquito Repellent Patches provide protection for up to 72 hours per patch. Shortly after my bracelets and patches arrived, I got to try them out when conducting the Saturday morning bison hike and, let me tell you...I couldn't have been more pleased! Our group went out on the prairie and, in order to get close enough to view the bison, we had to get off trail. This means that we got off the mowed trail and was hiking through tall grasses waist-deep and higher. When we got done I had ONE tick! ONE!!! And it WASN'T ATTACHED! 😲 I was sold!!! These products really work and I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone who has to be (or chooses to be) outside whether for work or play. The way I used them was...I put one bracelet on my right ankle and used four of the patches placed in various places on my clothing...one on my left pant leg, one near the waistband on the front of my pants, one near the waistband on the back of my pants, and one under my front collar flap. I'm telling you...it worked! I continued to wear this same bracelet and those same four patches for several days and was outside at night during part of that time and I never got one insect bite. It was amazing! Super, super amazing!!! 😊 Until next time... ~Rebecca
These purple coneflowers grow in our front yard and play host to a whole slew of wonderful pollinators. Here are some of the ones that I found working there today.
What kind of pollinators does your yard host? Until next time... ~Rebecca
