Bone Creek

This morning I took a ride out to Bone Creek reservoir which is about 20 miles northeast from our home as the crow flies. The past couple of days have been gray here, the sun was up this morning so I packed some coffee, my Peterson field guide, my binoculars and my camera, along with some extra batteries. Bone Creek is one of my favorite fishing spots almost year round. As I arrived at the lake I met a group of four fishermen out already in the cold with lines in the water. A young man with two young boys and an older man with gray hair. I assumed three generations of fisherman. After a hullo I asked, "Any luck?" The Dad smiled and looked at his two sons who appeared to be around 9 and 10 and said "nope but it keeps them from nagging me to get out here" His Dad laughed.

I hiked along the shore for a while, spooking up geese and mallards. The brilliant green heads of the drake mallards flashed as they took off. They are easy to spot with the sun behind you. The water along the shore had a really thin layer of ice that formed some interesting shapes.
This right half of this one reminded me of a deer skull. I believe the circles are air bubbles trapped in or under this thin veneer of ice.

This one was just plain cool, I was sprawled out in the frozen mud and rocks for at least five minutes taking photos of this one and others. I would have taken more but my batteries gave out and the reality of the cold ground was starting to sink in.
Bone Creek is around 540 acres and at this time of year there is some ice and mostly open water. It has attracted many different kinds of waterfowl but I had to watch them through my binoculars as most were way over in the back side of the lake in standing timber. I spotted a mature bald eagle sitting in a tree right above them. So I hiked back to my car changed batteries and headed around the lake to see if I could get closer to the action.
I hiked down to the shore, searched the lake with my binoculars and was treated to a sight. Two immature bald eagles were circling over the waterfowl out in the submerged timber. The mature eagle was still there watching from its perch above the action below. I figure there was at least 1000 ducks and geese out there. The ducks would almost run along the ice and open water in tight groups avoiding the eagles whenever they approached. The geese moved less but were much more vocal. Of course this was all out of camera range, even with the binoculars I had difficulty identifying the ducks. I saw Mallards, Golden Eyes, Pintails, Mergansers of some kind and others.
I headed back to the car, the coffee was just about warm, it was almost noon. I headed home
feeling like I had some good photos but as for watching the eagles, sometimes the best pictures aren't taken, they are experienced.

Decembers sculptures

Trees along Shoal creek.
December was a tough month for trees in our part of the country, a major ice storm that left 1.5 inches of ice on trees and added some more a few days later devastated large areas. The woods are full of sculptures created by the weight that could not be held. Today I drove over for a hike in one of my favorite places Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center south of Joplin MO. I wanted to see the effect the ice had on the trails there. As I drove over I noticed stands of trees along the road looked like the old World War One photographs of areas that had been shredded by artillery. Any tree that happened to survive and was along a power line was lopped off several feet below the line by crews. I was surprised and pleased that the glades had not been quite as decimated, although there was extensive damage to many trees.
This limb from a Sycamore was at least 18 inches in diameter. Sycamores seemed to be pretty hard hit, but oaks were as well.

These trees show how the top branches of some trees were just stripped by the weight of the ice. Crews from the area had cleared the hiking paths.

This oak limb was impaled into the round and left a rather disturbing looking sculpture. I think that this summer will tell the tale. Those that lost protection down to the heartwood will be stressed by invading disease and insects. Hopefully most of the others will recover.

Merry Christmas

This morning I went for a short walk at sunup. The sunrise is a few days past solstice and is still very far south. I found some interesting fungi of some type growing on an old bench near our pear tree.
As I walked I listened, it was a rather mild morning temperature wise and there seemed to be more birds this morning than most mornings lately. I stood and listened as the sun rose, celebrating this Christmas Morning were mallards, geese, blue jays, crows, sparrows and a male cardinal was singing, which was odd but I figured since it was Christmas anything was possible.
I stood between two pines as these geese approached and flew over me. The sounds of my neighbors rooster, dog and a tractor starting up came from across the pastures to the east. I turned and saw my daughter and her boyfriend turning into the drive, my other daughter and wife would be stirring inside. I headed back to spend the rest of this morning celebrating with them. Merry Christmas!

Bittersweet

Bittersweet
Crawford County

My wife comes from a line of women who aren't afraid to clean out paths through overgrown blackberry patches or search the ditch along the fields for this plant, bittersweet. She harvests enough for few craft projects and leaves the rest. She lets it sit out for the longest while on some evergreens or just on a chair. At this time of year she gives the crafts away along with homemade grape jelly from our grapes as Christmas presents.
This morning I'm watching the feeders, last nights dusting of snow and this mornings sun have created some good photo opportunities. I need to figure out a better set up because a screen between my camera and the birds presents a problem. Birds visting the feeders this morning include chickadees, goldfinches, cardinals, house finches and a few juncos on the ground.

Evening music

Evening Sky
Crawford County

This evening I set out to hike up past my pasture as I was drawn to the sounds of geese over the hill. Behind my pasture is a large hay pasture my neighbor keeps in good shape. In the center of it is a small low area probably 10 acres in size that holds water and so is a nice place for geese to stop as they move through. Ive seen literally a thousand snow geese in this field. I have not seen any this year, yet I know they have been North of here a hundred miles or so a few weeks ago. I am thinking I missed them or the storm we had this week has delayed them. The sound I was investigating was the familiar calls of Canadian Geese, we have some here most of the fall and a few that stay. But tonight I could hear many more than that. As I approached I saw about a hundred Canadians take off and head east. I didn't get close enough to get a decent photo of them as they lifted but was treated to some wonderful music. As I am typing this I hear coyotes over that way, creating some music of their own.

Ice Sculptures

These photos were taken several days ago as the ice began to melt.
Almost all of the ice is gone today, temperatures got into the 50s.

Ice Storm part 2

The ice storm was pretty bad it lasted three days, we had periods of freezing rain-ice-sleet-ice and then it warmed up a little, just enough to get out and start cleaning up. In town there are streets that were closed because of fallen trees, large trees. I was surprised our trees didn't do as bad as others, we had a pretty large cottonwood split right in two, one of our maples lost significant limbs and our willows probably were hit the hardest. Our county was declared a disaster area. The nearby town of Columbus even had a curfew. Folks just one mile east of us across the Missouri line will be out of power for another five days they have been told. My students all were excited to get back to school, they all buzzed with stories of no power, and families coming together to help one another clear trees and check on neighbors.

Sitting out the ice storm

Southeast Kansas was hit by a major ice storm this weekend. We were without power several times the last three days, the longest stretch around 12 hours . I'm really grateful for those electric company guys and gals out in this mess working overtime to keep the lights on and heat going for thousands of us. We were lucky some folks over in Missouri and down in North East Oklahoma could be that way for a few more days. For the most part we were ready, my wife and I sat it out in front of a warm fire playing cards and reading. What really struck me was just how quiet it was around here without the sounds of electrical devices.

Short walk

Its a wet gray morning here in SE Kansas. Needed to get out so after I loaded up fresh straw for the outside animals and carried in some wood to dry out. I went for a short walk .
On days like this I think you have to look a little closer, walk a little slower and you find interesting things coming out at you.

Early December

Early December Sunset
Crawford County

Sunrise in Atchison

Sunrise on Amelia Earhart House
Atchison County