A Tallgrass Prairie Morning

It was a beautiful morning on the tallgrass prairie this morning. The sun was just coming up as I was leaving for work. I left super early and took the long way around. Here are some of the sights that I enjoyed along the way...

Morning Sunrise Over Our Little Town

Sunshine Breaking Forth Over Tallgrass Prairie

Morning Sun and Tall Grasses

(Big Bluestem)

Roadside Wildflowers and Tall Grasses

Bur Marigold and Big Bluestem
(Bidens aristosa and Andropogon gerardii)

Bur Marigold

(a.k.a Tickseed Sunflower or Beggar's Tick)

White-tailed Doe

A Nursing Doe

It was a beautiful morning to be sure! What are late summer mornings like where you're at?

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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The Bison Trail, 1908, Charles M. Russell

I have had the pleasure of viewing many original works of western art by artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, but wow! Last night, I felt like I was IN one of those paintings! What an amazing evening on the tallgrass prairie of southwest Missouri!

By the way...they're all me (except for the top one, of course) and they're all photos.

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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Saturday was a beautiful day in southwest Missouri! The sun fairly gleamed as it's light spilled out over the frozen prairie landscape.

The creek sang merrily as it made its way across the low-water bridge, moving along to bigger things downstream.

There was evidence of beavers hard at work along it's edges. The following two photographs were actually taken the Monday before...

I had bison on the way in to work Saturday morning and bison on the way home that night. I even had bison in the middle between opening and closing!

There were bison on the west side of the park on my way in to work that morning...

"Betcha can't see me now!"

...bison came past the nature center around 10:30 a.m...

Looking Through the Diorama and Out the East 

Window of the Nature Center

...and, then, I saw bison on the south end of the park on my way home...

It was great!!! It's been twenty-six years since first discovering the bison at Prairie State Park, going on eight years of working with them, and I never ever get tired of seeing them!

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Coyote

It's Been A Long Time

Coyote

I saw this gorgeous guy on the way to work Saturday morning...

I had driven through the park and was going to turn around to head back to the nature center. When I pulled into the service road that leads to the corral, there he was! It was a dream come true, too. I have waited years to get a picture of a coyote, but, normally, they don't hang around long enough for me to even get a chance. This fellow just stood there looking at me for a full two to three minutes. I took several pictures, but this one was the best of what I got. 

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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At The Edge of the Woods

 It was quite foggy this morning. 

I started my day just a bit early in hopes of discovering a few frost flowers on my way to work, but, alas, there were none. 

I think it might have been a tad too warm and way too wet...although...a friend that lives 40-some-miles south of us was posting pics of frost flowers found on her property this morning. Maybe she didn't get as much rain as we did over the weekend? I don't know. 

There were plenty of deer though. I saw at least ten on my way in to work. Most of them were hanging around the campground and picnic area.

I also observed a northern harrier hawk hunting just east of the nature center where I work. I watched it through the big, plate-glass window as it performed it's mesmerizing, acrobatic ritual of gliding down...almost touching its wingtip to the earth...then rising back up in search of prey. 

Photo Credit

This is one of my favorite sights during cold weather months on the tallgrass prairie. I will share more on northern harrier hawks at a later date.

What are some of your favorite sights during cold weather months where you live?

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Buffalo? Bison? What's The Difference?

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Buffalo? Bison? What's The Difference?

At Prairie State Park a lot of people ask, "What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison? Aren't they basically the same thing?"

Well...yes and no. 

What a lot of people refer to as a "buffalo" here in North America is really the American bison. It really doesn't matter what we call these animals, however, because they are what they are, but, yes, there are many distinct differences between an American bison and a true buffalo.

This is a picture of what a true buffalo looks like. This is an African Cape Buffalo...

African Buffalo At Sunset in Moremi Game Reserve - Botswana.
Photo Credit

For comparison, I will post a picture of an Asian Water Buffalo...

Photo Credit

...and an American Bison...

Photo Credit

The Cape Buffalo and the Water Buffalo are the big animals that early Europeans recognized, and could more readily relate to, early on when seeing the bison for the first time, thus, the name, "buffalo" was used and stuck. 

However, as you can see for yourself, there are distinct differences when comparing these animals, including size, weight, horn size and shape, and even in the number of ribs.

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Oh, Deer!

Good afternoon, Everyone!

This is my first Friday off with the new work schedule and I'm lovin' it!  💗

First thing this morning THIS happened...

Deer in Our Backyard

A female deer walked across the street in front of our house, right past my office window, circled around the house, made a loop through the backyard, then, took off down the alley that runs next to us. 

There She Is Behind The Propane Tank

She seemed to be on a mission and, obviously, knew where she was heading. Even though this was our first time of seeing her, something tells me, that this isn't the first time that she's visited our yard. 

A Deer on a Mission

It was AMAZING!!! I mean...living in a rural, farming community, and working at Prairie State Park, we see deer all the time, but this is the first time that we've ever witnessed a deer in our own backyard! What a gift! 💗

Not Her Best Side For Sure But, Still, Utterly Amazing!

And, by the looks of things, I'm guessing that this is a mama deer with young hidden out near by! How exciting! 💗

I wish this little mama and her offspring well and, hope, that someday, we'll get to see her again! Maybe her offspring, too! 

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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Massive Bull Bison

Massive Bull Bison

I was fortunate enough to see this big guy two days in a row this week and, let me tell you, he is MASSIVE!

Massive Bull Bison @ Prairie State Park

This guy is one of three that Prairie State Park received from the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge a couple of years or so ago. 

Massive Bull Bison @ Prairie State Park

At the time the park received them they were only two-years-old, but, even then, they were HUGE! In fact, they were nearly as big as some of the cows in the established herd!

Massive Bull Bison @ Prairie State Park

They were big boys then, but they are even bigger boys now! 

Massive Bull Bison @ Prairie State Park

And what a formidable and awe-inspiring presence they make on the tallgrass prairie landscape!

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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Literary and Musical Fun With Tumblebugs (a.k.a. Dung Beetles)

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Literary and Musical Fun With Tumblebugs (a.k.a. Dung Beetles)

Have you ever heard of a tumblebug? How about a dung beetle? (Tumblebug...dung beetle...they're both one and the same.) Do you know how the tumblebug or dung beetle got its name? Have you ever been fortunate enough to see one?

Here is a picture of the very first dung beetle I ever saw...

Dung Beetle (a.k.a Tumblebug)

I was THRILLED to have been fortunate enough to see one!

Today I'm going to share an excerpt with you from Springtime on the Plains by Hal Borland, just one of many short stories found in a book that I recently finished called The Great North American Prairie - A Literary Field Guide edited by Sara St. Antoine. 

Here is the part of the story where Mr. Borland mentions dung beetles (he calls them tumblebugs)...

"...I dismounted to watch an ant hill, and I saw two tumblebugs pushing each other around in the grass. They butted and rolled and nipped and got to their feet and butted each other again, until one of them drove the other off. The victor pursued a little way, then came back and began rolling the ball of dung over which they probably had been fighting. They were strange creatures with the mark of antiquity on them, though I didn't know then that they were close cousins of the ancient Egyptian scarabs. All I knew was that these big, dark, timeless looking beetles fashioned balls of cow manure three-quarters of an inch in diameter and rolled them from place to place, walking backward and rolling the balls with their hind legs. They laid eggs in the balls and the eggs hatched into grubs which ate their way out and eventually turned into beetles which laid their own eggs in other dung balls. It seemed to me that the way the birds did it, laying eggs in nests, eggs with shells on them and food inside, was much simpler." 

Dung Beetles Doing What They Do Best...Rolling Dung
(Photo Credit)

"I watched the tumblebug maneuver his ball to the edge of the bare space around the ant hill, and I watched the ants gather to repel the invader, who paid almost no attention to them. The tumblebug rolled his ball across the little clearing and into the grass beyond, the ants rubbed feelers in a conference as though telling each other that they had driven off a major threat to the colony, and everybody went back to work...

I think Mr. Borland did a fine job of explaining the life (and life cycle) of a dung beetle in just a short couple of paragraphs, don't you?

And, if you liked that, now you're in for a real treat!!!

While you're here, take time to enjoy this song that my friend, Annie Wilson, of Tallgrass Express String Band wrote about Dung Beetle Bill...

How much fun was THAT??? 😄

I absolutely love Tallgrass Express String Band's music and own two of their CD's! To learn more about them, their music, or to see their concert schedule click HERE.

To learn more about dung beetles in general (a.k.a. tumblebugs) be sure and visit the Missouri Department of Conservation by clicking HERE.

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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Early Morning on the Tallgrass Prairie

As summer fades into fall, there's nothing quite like an early morning excursion out on the tallgrass prairie. In fact, it's a completely different world.

As warm days give way to cool nights a misty veil of morning fog hangs over the whole of the prairie landscape.

As morning sunlight spills over the tall grasses they sparkle and shine as though some overly-industrious fairy had come in the night, sprinkling the whole of the prairie with glittering diamond dust... 

...and every cobweb looks as though it has been strung, laced, and outlined with beautiful, glittering diamonds.

When visiting the tallgrass prairie early in the morning...especially at this time of year...it's easy to see just how many spiders there really are living in North America's tall grasses (an estimated 2 1/2 million individuals per acre) and their glistening gossamer webs are spectacular! 🕸

As the sun rises a little higher in the morning sky, the fog quickly fades and the dewy cobwebs begin to dry.

Soon the late-summer sun is out in full force. The temperature rises and the morning magic is over. The wildflowers, who just moments ago were taking a backseat to the sparkle and shine of diamond dust, are left standing, straight and tall, to endure another happy day on a sun-soaked tallgrass prairie landscape.

Until next time...
~Rebecca

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