Prairie Walk part 2

On labor day I was up and out for the day by 5. This is the second post of my mornings trip. In Prairie State Park a herd of more than sixty (I guess) bison are free to roam as they wish over most of the 4000 or so acres of native prairie. There are signs warning you to be alert that they are out and about so as I hiked I kept an eye on the horizon for dark shapes.
I came across a spot where the grass had been "rubbed" away, I believe they roll in the dust in these spots and produce "wallows". They can scratch those spots that are hard to reach. It might keep the flies off them as well. These tracks were fairly recent.
I hiked back to my car where I had left it on the gravel road that runs through the park, stopping to take a few more photos of the wildflowers. I couldn't resist getting down low and taking this shot of some Gaura flowers against the sky.
These are Blazing Button Star buds about to burst open. I got back to the car and started to drive and found the herd several hundred yards down the road over a hill.
I guess this is what you call a Missouri roadblock. A large bull watched me approach slowly. I usually keep my distance in my car from the larger bulls and any cows with calves, but these bison are use to pickups and cars that move slowly through here every day. So I drove on up slowly and was soon riding along with the herd. I have driven through large herds of cattle in western kansas and eastern colorado but this was a bit different.

There was a smaller group further down the road beyond the larger group of around 20, this young bull stopped and eyed me a bit while he munched.
This young bull had bits of "grazing" material all over his shaggy head. This shows how the bison are involved in that great game of evolution "spread my seeds please" that the some native plants play. I also liked the coloring in his coat. One bull was wearing half a plant as a hat. I couldn't get his photo as he was a bit far from me. A cow and calf slipped by me at a safe distance.
I stopped at the far end of the park and took a few more photos before heading down to a nearby stream hoping to find some last photos for the morning.

Young bull bison runs through bluestem

Here is a great site for this wonderful area found in SW Missouri;

http://www.mostateparks.com/prairie.htm