April 9 - More time in the Flint Hills

Today was another sunny, 50º day, and I returned to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.  Along the roadside, as I’d seen all across the State, was a lush growth of Henbit.

This is a non-native ‘weed’, but adds a lot of color to the highway verges.

Henbit - Lamium amplexicaule

The Bottomland Nature Trail follows along a restored prairie bottomland, with riparian trees.

Much of the remaining tallgrass prairie consists of areas such as the Flint Hills, which were too rocky to plow.

But, the bottoms along the streams had deep soils that were cultivated by the settlers, and only remnants and restored areas such as this still remain.

Wood Ducks flushed from Fox Creek and a pair of Canada Geese were feeding.

A Barred Owl was still hunting in the late morning, and came over to check me out.

Barred Owl - Strix varia

I ended up with several ticks from the morning’s walk, and can only recommend that people follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control.  I, of course, was out in the tall grass without having used a DEET-containing repellent.

Harris’ Sparrows fed on the young green seeds of the elm trees.

These tree seeds are quite abundant here

The protein content of developing seeds is high enough to entice the birds, and will help fuel their migration to their breeding grounds in the Canadian North.

Harris' Sparrow - Zonotrichia querula

I returned to the Visitors’ Center, where I had stopped yesterday afternoon.

At the Jones’ house and barn, I took some time to appreciate the stonework.

Wonderful setting for a midwest farm . . .

An amazing stone house . . .

. . . complementing this amazing stone barn

There was little wood, back in the day, to build fences, so the landowner had stone brought in from the quarry at Strong City to fence miles of the farm and pastures.

They even made the fence posts out of stone!

Around the house, the front steps, porches, and buildings were constructed of the same stone.

Mortared and unmortared wall

A "perfect ashlar"

Hand-hewn stone steps

Hewn stone pillar at the porch steps

I had learned that the difference between a Stone Mason and a “Cowan” was that the Mason would use mortar, whereas the Cowan worked in unmortared stone.

The Cowans were "dry wallers" . . .

Instead of heading out onto the open prairie, I chose to walk the “Southwind Trail” up to the old schoolhouse.

Fox Creek Schoolhouse

Along the small tributary to Fox Creek, there were more Harris’ Sparrows - still feeding on the elm seeds.

Fattening up on elm seeds

The trail had several blooming wildflower species, as well as the accompanying butterflies.

Purple Locoweed - Oxytropis lambertii

Gray Hairstreak - Strymon melinus

I finally left this little gem of a prairie, thankful for the forces and politics that preserved the land and its flora & fauna.

Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe

Driving south, there was yet more annual burning of the tallgrass prairie.

Acres and acres were burned along my route

This fire, along the highway adjacent to Interstate 35, burned right up to the road.

A Ranchland Trust property undergoing prescribed burning

Fires burn right up to the roadsides around here

Burn, Baby, Burn!

The fire attracted several hawks, which coursed over the burned area looking for fresh-toasted mice and insects.

The livestock didn’t seem all that concerned about the fires, waiting for the flames to settle a bit before heading back out.

The burned area will “green up” in short order, providing ample forage.

Heading south, I pulled into Pawhuska, Oklahoma at about 5 p.m., and loaded my belongings into Room 22 of the Black Gold Motel, then went down to check in for $69.  I talked to a few of the birders who were staying there for the field trip through the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival, but no one seemed interested in going out for supper, so I went by myself to Rancho los Primos for Carne Asada and 2 Negras Modelos for $18.  Then, I went to bed early, as we were off early to view the Prairie Chicken lek tomorrow morning.

Bottom Land Nature Trail eBird Checklist is Here

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve eBird Checklist is Here