Eastern Yellowbelly Racer

I almost stepped on this Eastern Yellowbelly Racer (Coluber constrictor flaviventris) while hiking in Dolliver State Park early last spring.  They're the only large Iowa snake with no stripes or spots when grown.   I estimated this one was around 6 feet.  Eastern Yellowbelly Racers are at home in fields, grasslands, brushy areas, and open woodlands.  It's more likely to forage during the day than other snakes which explains why I found it sunning itself mid-morning.

Canoe Day

After spending a day canoeing on the Skunk River with good friends, my thoughts turned to past experience on the Boundary Waters.  Such a special place where there are no jets in the sky; the only sounds you hear are loons and wolves!  I'm going north again late in the summer, so let me know if you want to go friends.

White Baneberry

The White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) or commonly known as Dolls Eyes has fantastic coloring of the berry.  This forest plant is very interesting to me because the berries are poisonous to only humans, producing a glycoside, which if eaten can have an immediate sedative effect and can lead to death.  Birds find the berries harmless and eat and disperse the seed.  I love how this plant realized that its biggest threat in the future would be humans.  In protection against humans, it produced a toxin to deter us from consuming them.  Other plants wish they would have been equipped with such a brilliant strategy too.

Inky Cap

The Inky Cap, or at least I think it is because mushrooms are extremely hard to identify if you're not an export and don't have a microscope, is fairly common and a member of the genus Coprinopsis. I think the species is atramentaria!  The funny thing about these mushrooms is they're edible but poisonous when consumed with alcohol.  Careful what you eat with that beer on your next camping trip;  it might be your last.

Medicine Wheel

"The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the Universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the Universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us." Black Elk

Sudden Flurries

I was checking out what birds were around Ada Hayden yesterday, when this cloud bank brought a sudden white out snow storm, it was awesome!

Snow Disappearing

The snow is finally melted everywhere expect the north slopes!  Check out the geese on the right.  This is a picture of the Skunk River.

Hot Leaf

It amazed me that a leaf on these huge icebergs could melt right through the ice.  When the sun hit the dark contrast of the leaf, it heated it up enough to melt right through.

This iceberg got a few leafs blow on it and they all melted right through.

Puffball Drums

Playing the Puffball drums on the Vernal Equinox.  The music of nature never stops!  With each puff we send millions of spores off on their journey to find a comfortable home with mossy carpet.

Ice Age Remnants

"Icebergs" were everywhere along the Skunk River today.  I have never seen so many huge ones thanks to the record cold winter.  With freezing weather on the way again, I wonder how long until the sun wins!  I tried to move this hunk of ice into the Skunk River for a make-shift riverboat, but it proved to be way too heavy!

Spring Vernal Equinox

The first sign of growth on the first day of spring.  How fitting!  Look at all the false rue anemone (Enemion biternatum) leaves starting to emerge from their winter nap!  This hardy plant is also one of the most beautiful!  I took a first day of spring hike on the Skunk River Trail today!  Well picking up trash, I explained to my friend that whenever I pick up trash from the woods I get rewarded!   Not 20 feet later, I found a unopened water bottle which I proceeded to guzzle down.  I had forgotten mine and was parched after 4 hours of hiking.  Pick up trash in nature, and look for your treasure!

Tent Caterpillars

Last April I took this picture of Tent Caterpillars (Malacosoma americanum) at McFarland Park.  The caterpillars build these silken "tents" in the "crotch" of small fruit trees.  Their favorite tree (as well as one of mine) to build in is Black Cherry (Prunus serotina).  What a shelter!  You can find them feeding during the day, but just like me when storms brew they head for the cover and safety of their layered shelter.  As they grow, the young caterpillars enlarge the structure through a glad in their head.

Crimson Cup

Crimson Cup, or Scarlet Cup (Sarcoscypha dudleyi) is one of the first fungi of the spring.  This can happen as soon as the first week of March here in Iowa.  As a fungi it decomposes dead sticks; great example here!

Bloodroot and Bee

You be the flower, I'll be the bee!  Bloodroot is one of the first flowers of the spring and one of my favorites.  Its name comes from the red dye the natives used to paint their faces and bodies!

Des Moines River

Still with ice, the Des Moines River is starting to get out of ice lock.  What a beautiful day the 10th of March was.  I was treated to a Bald Eagle perched across the river and even got to see it take a few dives at fish!

Drainway

This year the melt is really on!  Little turbulent waterways are taking over the forest floor.

River Return

 It's been months since the Skunk River has been ice free.  It seemed like this day would never come.  The first ice out after a long coverage of snow is crazy because of all this weird stuff that appears from "coffins" in the snow!  I found a lot of dead animals today which was very discouraging since some were killed illegally by people.

Mississippi Sunset

Winter Tracks Melting

One of my favorite activities in the winter is tracking animals.  I have never found a water hole in the ice with more tracks around it then on the Skunk River today.  It must have been the only liquid water in miles because there were tracks from everywhere leading to it.  Here is one of those trails in the photo.

Prairie Crayfish

The Prairie Crayfish (Procambarus gracilis) is one of 8 species of crayfish in Iowa.  It's the only one that lives in grasslands or prairies.  What makes this crayfish so spectacular to me is that it digs burrows for itself in the prairie away from water.  The burrows can be 1.5 to 2m deep.  They have a vertical shaft down until the burrow hits the water level where it becomes enlarged and filled with water.  The burrows are marked with mounds. The amazing thing about this crayfish is the amount of deep clay soil particles it moves to the top of the burrow where they can be eroded which plays a big role in the health of ecosystems!  The prairie crayfish can live 3-4 years.

Here is a Prairie Crayfish mound! See if you can find one on your next adventure.  Prairie Crayfish are most active in June.

Ancient Trees

This is a view of the tallest trees in the world, the coastal redwoods.  I was in the grove of the tall trees in Redwoods National Park recently, which was one of the most inspiring hikes of my life.  You can camp with these ancient giants free with a pass!

Snowy Sycamore

Check out the ghostly sycamore branches.  The sycamore is one of my favorite trees because of their beautiful white branches!

Hepatica

  Hepatica are one of the first woodland wildflowers to bloom in Iowa.  Their beautiful emergence from the forest floor is my favorite phenological event of the year.  Hepatica leaves from the year before stay with the plant all winter until the next spring's blooming period.  The leaves may photosynthesize to some extent on warm winter days, thus Hepatica is able to flower before other wildflowers.  The old leaves wither after flowers have formed fruits and new leaves are produced.
  Hepatica flower stalks emerge covered in a protective ''hairy fur" to help insulate them from cool early spring temperatures.  Both the flower stalk and the young leaves to the base are covered with these little downy hairs.  Hepatica has no medical or edible uses.  A true joy of early spring;  I love finding the first Hepatica of spring.