"Bears haven't been seen in THAT area for a year now..." Visiting the Ozarks, Part 2

Ozarks Spring 2017 Series

Part 1

This is Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

... So, I left off here, with Nathan and Tayo stuck on a rock.  They're currently still on that rock, a week after our trip.  Hayley and I left them and wandered up to an open small set of glades/hill prairies, sunny grassy gaps in the woodland along the edge of the bluffs above.

Ok... Tayo and Nathan might have gotten off the rock and joined us, too.  We found some wild Canada Onions (Allium canadense) in bloom on the glade, surprisingly all in flower without a single bulbil.  This plant grows small bulbs often instead of flowers.  However, on the glades here grows a flowers-only variety that seems to not cross the Mississippi River.

Nearby, I flipped over a rock and found the ever-present Fence Lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus), before it dashed away.  It is a novelty of the Ozarks, the presence of lizards everywhere.

Another novelty was the abundance of fruticose (shrubby) lichen on the glades:

Several butterflies flitted about on this trail, and on the next trail, to Horseshoe Glade, including this favorite of mine, the Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos):

Growing along the trail to Horseshoe Glade were some unusual-looking plants, that happened to be lifer Ozark Bunchflower (Veratrum woodii).

This can be found in Illinois very rarely, but it's far more common in the Ozarks of Missouri.

Blooming alongside was a fine Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum biflorum).  This area got us dozens of ticks collectively, all over our pants and legs.  We kept pulling them off as we went along, generally creeped out. I believe the group average for this hike was 20 a person, but some people had none and those who used our bugspray had significantly MORE ticks. I even tested this by not having bugspray on later and getting fewer ticks than those I was with who had it on.  Evidently we need some new bugspray or anti-bug repellant of any kind.

We got to a side glade initially, and looked out over the St. Francois Mountains:

As we walked through the glade, after removing many of the ticks gained along the trail, I spotted a Lichen Grasshopper (Trimerotropis saxatilis), a species of well-camouflaged grasshopper found only in acidic igneous glades with lots of fruticose lichen (seen earlier).  This glade fit the bill, but Horseshoe Glade did not. This ended up being one of the few Lichen Grasshoppers of the trip.

Also growing on this glade was a plant I've always wanted to see, a plant so famous it's literally called Fameflower.  I have no idea why it's called Fameflower, but this particular example was the Small-flowered Fameflower (Phemeranthus parviflorus), which if you ask me is an excellent tongue-twister.  At any rate, it's the majority of the plants growing in the photo below:

Next, we went back on the trail, which had improved into an open, tickless dry pine-oak forest.  This came to a glade, the signature Horseshoe Glade of the trail.

Here I finally saw a lifer warbler, the Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera), though I'd heard it the day before.  The Blue-winged Warbler sounds like a cross between a buzz and a sigh, "bee-buzz" being the traditional way of sounding it out.  Here, it's at the southern limit of its breeding range.  This bird is unusual in that it is expanding its range northwards, and taking over the habitat of its extremely close relative, the rapidly vanishing Golden-winged Warbler. Here, however, only Blue-winged Warblers live, nesting in the shrubs at the edge of the glade.

Horseshoe Glade gets its name because it wraps around a creek and that creek's valley, so that the glade forms a "horseshoe" shape. At the tips of the "horseshoe", a mass of rock made for the perfect place to fully de-tick and eat our packed lunches.

Another Fence Lizard hid up here, and pretended not to be hiding in plain sight:

On the way back down, I spotted an unusually short, ground-flowering Spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.), something I presume to be a new species for me.  We went back down, removed some more ticks, and then we decided to go to the Scour.  It had been my idea to go to the glade, and it was Nathan's idea to visit the Scour.  I'm not sure whose idea was better...

Speaking of which, let's discuss bears.  Black Bears can be found in Missouri.  However, the person at the visitor's center told us that they hadn't seen a bear in the area in a year.  I would just like you to keep this fact in mind, as the events unfold.

The Scour trail began with a bargain- we traded ticks for mosquitoes.  I'll take that deal- mosquitoes freak me out a lot less for some reason.  The difference in soil moisture made for a new community of plants, including this strange-looking anemone-like plant I found.

Now, among our number was a woman named Hanna.  Hanna liked to go ahead of us on the trail.  She enjoys taking her time on trails, also, and she generally does not come straight back, at a brisk walk.  Therefore, when she came immediately back at a brisk walk, we knew something was up.  She informed us that after rounding a bend in the trail, she came upon a mother bear and two cubs.  It is common sense to not mess with that combination, at risk of death.  Mother bears are very defensive of their cubs.  We decided to take the trail going the opposite direction and see what was down there several hundred feet away.  I had my field hook, a titanium stick with a hook at the end for flipping logs, and I stayed to the back of our group, as I was probably the best-armed since I had that.

A very fat Fence Lizard met us at a far distance in the opposite direction.  I presume this is a female with eggs, to be so obese.

We slowed down our pace, realized we had re-entered tick country and deticked, and took photos of the fungi.  There were several unusual specimens about.

Perhaps the most strange was this fungus, growing off an oak tree.  I don't know what it is, but it really fascinates me. I'm not even 100% sure that is a fungus, to be honest!

Something I am certain of is that this is White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba), a favorite of mine.

We came to an opening in the trail, and we found this, an usual grove of Shortleaf Pines (Pinus echinata) growing in a tepee-like shape.  This area had lots of Shortleaf Pines, the only real pine tree present in the Ozarks.  Eastern Red-ceder also grows here, and the two are basically the only coniferous trees in the area.  Yet they are also two of the most common trees here.

Here, Purple-stem Cliffbrake Fern (Pellaea atropurpurea) and Gray Beardtongue (Penstemon canescens) grow side-by-side.  I've never seen the fern before, and this was also my first experience seeing Penstemons and Ferns growing side by side in nature.  Generally ferns like lots of water, and penstemons disdain too much of it.

We walked through a stand of pines to reach the Scour, a modern development of Johnson's Shut-Ins.  Back in 2005, this area was a typical wooded valley, like all the rest in the area.  However, on December 14, 2005, something happened that changed Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park forever.

At the top of the nearby Proffit mountain, a gigantic dam (visible in the middle of the photo) was built, the AmerenUE Taum Sauk Reservoir.  This was done for "Proffit", namely, to generate electricity for the nearby area.  However, the original dam that surrounded the lake was not maintained or inspected correctly.  One wall collapsed on December 14, 2005, tearing out all of the forest in the valley below and flooding the main river valley with sediment.  It even destroyed the original visitor's center.  Since it was December, no one died, thankfully, but boulders are still strewn out miles away thanks to this flood.  There's a boulder field across from the visitor's center thanks to this flood! The Scour, an area stripped of all forest by the rushing waters, was created below the dam.

We looked at the Scour, but as it was hot and we lacked water, we didn't spend much time there.  Plus there was still a wild bear or three about, so we went back and reported those to the visitor's center.  I hope to come back and explore this area again-  provided no floods occur when I visit!

"We won't find THAT snake..." Visiting the Ozarks, Part 1

Ozarks Spring 2017 Series

This is Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Behold!  I have returned from the Ozarks!  And I was wrong about everything!

That's a trifle exaggerated, but I did just go to the Ozarks for the first time with the Lincoln Land Environmental Club, and much of what I thought I knew about the area proved to be wrong.  I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but it looked fun, so we put in the work growing tomatoes to help pay for the trip, and we badgered everybody with paperwork so that we could go.

Now, a couple of nights before, I'd asked a friend about finding snakes in the Ozarks, and they mentioned to keep an eye out for Eastern Hognose Snakes.  I said I probably wouldn't find any... 

Not ten minutes out of the first parking lot at the first state park we visited, I nearly step on an Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos), a lifer for me.  Well, this was going great so far!  

This particular snake species is famous for pretending to be dead when caught, but we let this one go on its way without so much as a brief display.  

Half an hour later, at the same state park, a Speckled Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula holbrooki) slithered across our path, within an arm's reach of me.  I took a few quick shots and let it go on its way.  This is a lifer snake I didn't expect to find here! Could the day improve any more?

Sure, let's add in some Spring Coral-root Orchids (Corallorhiza wisteriana) less than five minutes later on the same trail.  At this point, I was overly blessed, and extremely happy.

Spring Coral-root Orchids don't have leaves or chlorophyll (the green stuff in plants that they use to make food), they require special mycorrhizal fungi in the dirt in order to live.  These orchids steal their nutrients from fungi that borrow nutrients from forest plants.  It's a complicated lifestyle that signifies a healthy forest when these are found.

The stag beetle crossing our path  a bit later was unnecessary but still amazing.

Furthermore, there were so many new plants to see, like the Four-leaved Milkweed (Asclepias quadrifolia) above.  Certain plants, like this species, are far more present in the Ozarks than anywhere in at least my current part of  Illinois.

One of the most common species was the earlier flowering species of Beebalm (Monarda bradburiana), a plant that lives mostly in the Ozarks and Southern Illinois.  Despite its range extending into Illinois, this was still a new plant for me.

Cancerweed (Salvia lyrata), which does NOT cause cancer, bloomed along the side of the trail.  This is one of those plants I always associate with vacations, because I find it a lot on vacation in the South but never in Illinois.  However, it does live in parts of Illinois- I just haven't found it yet.   This is one of those plants that grows almost entirely south of the Mason-Dixon Line.  And yes, it was named because pioneers once thought it could cure cancer, but it sadly cannot.

(Everything above this section is set apart to protect its secrecy, otherwise the snakes and orchid might be in trouble from collectors.) Sometime later in the day, we went down a trail and discovered the Shut-ins, a series of rock formations at Johnson's Shut Ins State Park:

Essentially, these "shut-ins" are really hard rocks (rhyolite) eroded over time by the flow of the stream.  As a result, they make the river flow in fantastical ways through tight cracks and over rapids.

When the water's lower and warmer, this is a great place to swim, but the river was legally closed to swimming at the time of our visit.  We only understood this as the Shut-ins section being closed, not the entire river.  Still, most of us didn't break this rule.  At least 37% of those on the trip obeyed it.

Here's your lineup of suspects.  After looking at the shut-ins for awhile, three people remained below while four of us went up to a nearby trail.

We could see that the Shut-ins extended downriver, and we also found a Green Tiger Beetle:

Below the Shut-ins, the water became an un-name-able shade of blue, which looked absolutely stunning in real life.  We kept trying to figure out the name of the color- was it cyan, turquoise, cerulean, or something else?  We settled on cyan, I suppose, but I'm still not convinced.

At any rate, the abundant  Lance-leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) was unambigously yellow:

And the common Fire Pinks (Silene virginica) were RED.  (Not pink, that's just the name of the plants for some reason.)  These are an interesting plant in that they are abundant in the Appalacians and the Cumberland Plateau, as well as in the Ozarks, but they somewhat skip over the connecting tissue of the Shawnee Hills.  They're there, but they don't appear to be as common for some reason.  Basically, they live in the two upland areas outside of Illinois, but not very much in between.  This helps to support the theory that the flora of the Ozarks and the Appalachians/Cumberland Plateau were once connected to each other, before being separated by the Mississippi River Valley.

We ended up going downslope to a trail along the river, where we found a Midland? Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) swimming along in the water.

This river, the Black River, is one of the best I've ever visited.  The water is clear, full of small rapids and pebble-bottomed, with little fish quite visible in it.

Giant Swallowtail Butterflies (Papilio cresphontes), the largest species of butterfly in the United States, were quite commonly seen here, and I had never seen them before:

Along the trail, we eventually found a spot with a commanding view of the river:

This giant rock demanded to be climbed on, and so we did.  Beforehand, I took a photo downriver:

Tayo and Nathan had already climbed up, so I took a photo of them:

We'll leave Tayo and Nathan stuck on that rock for now, because this post has gone on long enough.  There's so much more to cover, but I'd rather leave it on a cliffhanger... besides, we haven't gotten to the bears yet.  That was exciting!

Ebird Checklist for disclosed area:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37025430

Favorite Pictures of 2016 + Lifers of 2016!

Happy New  Year!

Swamp at Beaver Dam State Park

Water Willow (Justicia americana) at Lake Springfield

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) takes off at Center Park, Lake Springfield

Pere Marquette State Park



Sunbeams in Sand Ridge State Forest

Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) in Michigan

Rapids of Sangamon River at Carpenter Park

Graham's Crayfish Snake (Regina grahmii) at Lake Springfield

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) at Emiquon Preserve

 Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) at Lake Springfield


Total Lifer Birds of 2016- 108 lifer birds


9 Birds of Prey: Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Barred Owl, Short-eared Owl, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Screech Owl

25 Waterfowl: Greater White-fronted Goose, Ross' Goose, American Black Duck, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, White-winged Scoter, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe

2 Herons: Little Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron

17 Sandpipers: American Golden-Plover, Semipalmated Plover, American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, American Woodcock, Stilt Sandpiper, Wilson's Pharalope, Marbled Godwit

8 Gulls and Terns: Bonaparte's Gull, Franklin's Gull, Sabine's Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Black Tern,

47 Songbirds: Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, Red-headed Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Sedge Wren, Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush, Wood Thrush, Yellow Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Pine Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Carolina Chickadee, American Tree Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Dickcissel, Bobolink, Summer Tanager, Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Purple Finch

OTHER ANIMALS AND PLANTS

 9 Lifer Reptiles: Spiny Softshell, Smooth Softshell, Common Map Turtle, Eastern Box Turtle, Six-lined Racerunner, Blue Racer, Chicago Garter Snake, Prairie Kingsnake, Graham's Crayfish Snake

5 Lifer Amphibians: Fowler's Toad, Western Chorus Frog, Spring Peeper, Smallmouth Salamander, Spotted Salamander

3 Lifer Mammals: Beaver, River Otter, White-footed Mouse

9 Lifer Fish:  Logperch. White Sucker, Redear Sunfish, Orangespotted Sunfish, Green Sunfish, White Crappie, White Bass, Yellow Bass, Yellow Bullhead.

Total Lifer Animals: 134!

70 Selected Lifer Plants (Orchids in bold, non-natives struck through):  White Cedar, Wood Betony, Green Dragon, Cream Violet, Hoary Puccoon, Fringed Puccoon, Pale Beardtongue, Small-flowered Skullcap, Tennessee Milk Vetch. Prairie Ragwort, Western Wallflower, Ebony Spleenwort, Goat's Rue, Field Horsetail, Marsh Fern, False Indigo-Bush, Purple Rocket, Gray's Sedge, Smooth Ruellia,  Silvery Bladderpod,  Prairie Sunflower,  Short Green Milkweed, Thimbleweed, Leadplant, Pale-spike Lobelia, Western Marbleseed, Hoary Vervain, Royal Fern. Round-leaved Sundew, Grass Pink, Yellow-fringed Orchid, Pink Ladyslipper, Spoonleaf Sundew, Rose Pogonia,  Bog Yellow-eyed Grass, Horned Bladderwort, Swamp Rose, Lowbush Blueberry, Kalm's St. John's Wort, Wild Lupine, New Jersey Tea, Hairy Puccoon, Prairie Phlox, Tall Thimbleweed, Skunk Cabbage, Michigan Lily, Eurasian Helleborine, Safflower, Allegheny Monkey Flower, Spotted Beebalm, Hemp, Halbard-leaved Rose Mallow,  Clammy Weed, Boxelder, Virgin's Bower, Eelgrass, Water Forget-me-Not, Swamp Rose Mallow, Hog Peanut, Rough Blazing Star, Field Goldenrod, Bronze Fern, Great Plains Lady's Tresses, Bradley's Spleenwort, Shortleaf Pine, Cliff Onion, Cutleaf Grape Fern, Rose Verbena, Giant Cane, American Mistletoe

27 Protected Species seen (State or Federal Threatened or Endangered):  Northern Harrier, Short-eared Owl, Osprey, Little Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron,  Forster's Tern, Common Tern, Black Tern, Smooth Softshell, White Cedar, Tennessee Milk Vetch (also State-endangered), Silvery Bladderpod, Regal Fritillary,  Grass Pink, Yellow-fringed Orchid, Rose Poginia, Pink Ladyslipper, Leatherleaf, Round-leaved Sundew, Spoonleaf Sundew, Tamarack,  Buckbean, Eastern Hemlock, Kalm's St. John's Wort, Smooth Softshell, Bradley' Spleenwort, Shortleaf Pine,

26 New Nature Preserves visited- Carpenter Park, Manito Prairie. Sand Ridge, Henry Allan Gleason. Chautauqua NWR, Emiquon, Emiquon NWR, Matanzas Prairie, Scrub Oak-Sand Prairie, Revis Hill Prairie, German Cemetery Prairie, Pinhook Bog. Cowles Bog,  Loda Cemetary Prairie,  White Pines Forest, Castle Rock, Nachusa, Rogue River, Calamus Lake, Spitler Woods, Bois de Sangamon, Piney Creek Ravine, Fults Hill Prairie, Horseshoe Lake, Cypress Creek NWR


Y'know, some people have really hated 2016, but for all the reasons above, I've kinda enjoyed it.