This photo is of the Buffalo River about a mile below Ponca; also, the first Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly and a pair of immature Blad Eagles at Steel Creek:
Zebra Swallowtail 3/31/15
Immature Bald Eagles 3/31/15
Buffalo River
Archive for March, 2015
Buffalo River and Little Buffalo River are pretty now
Posted in Moths and Butterfiles, Mountain Scenery, The River, Wild Birds, tagged Arkansas, Blad Eagles, Buffalo River, Buffalo River below Ponca, Immature bald eagles, parthenon, zebra swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly on March 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »
A peaceful then turbulent day
Posted in Mountain Scenery, Weather, tagged Arkansas, Clark Creek, Lost Valley, March 25th, parthenon, ponca, severe weather on March 27, 2015| 3 Comments »
On Wednesday, in the early morning, I walked up Clark Creek to the natural bridge at Lost Valley. What a beautiful morning with a few Service Berry, and Shadbush (Popcorn) trees busting out in bloom. Some clear water flowing to the point where it usually goes underground in the Clark Creek creek-bed. Temperatures were in the 60s and sunny.
By 4 PM Severe Thunderstorms broke out in multiple lines. We had 7 Severe thunderstorm warnings that afternoon and evening. The first was at 4:30 PM and the last at 3 AM the next day, Thursday. WOW, how lucky I was not to received any major damage !
9:40 AM – Clark Creek
4:40 PM – Front Yard
A morning at Triple Falls on the Buffalo River
Posted in Mountain Scenery, The River, Wildflowers, tagged 3.5 miles west of Jasper, abundance, Buffalo River, Camp Orr, Double Falls, Johnny Jump Ups, Sherman Mountain, shop creek, Triple Falls, wildflowers on March 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »
I made a trip out after a few showery days. It was very foggy and 39F this morning; but, was 56F by 9 AM. Drove to the Triple Falls (actually called Double Falls) at Camp Orr on the Buffalo River; across a field. Lots of early wildflowers in bloom or getting ready to bloom soon.
The water was not high in the falls; about normal. The falls is fed by two creeks; one called Shop Creek and the other is unnamed and is about 40 feet tall. This is not the Shop Creek that flows from Alum Natural Bridge to the Little Buffalo. I did not know what to expect after the rains – but they did not total that much in the end.
I saw Bloodroot, Anemones, Toothwort, a very few opened Trout Lilies (Dog Toothed Violets – But all that were opened were the early Yellow variety), Spring Beauties, Bluets, Harbinger, and Johnny Jump Ups. Some in great numbers. No Trilliums yet. It will peak from a wildflower perspective in the next 10 days. This is a warmer sheltered and damp area.
Allergies
Posted in Mountain Scenery, Shrubs and Trees, Towns, Weather, Wildflowers, tagged Allergies, Boston Mountains, in the on March 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Had spring in February, as usual, (Daffodils, Crocus, Bluets, Johnny Jump Ups, Harbinger, etc.) – we had extremely high pollen counts due to trees; then 20 days of very cold weather including a record low of 2F (breaking the old record by 20 degrees) lots of ice and snow – did I mention ICE and ICE ! A major kill off of everything took place. Last week we started again only this time the grasses are pollenating and both categories are very high to extreme. I have been miserable for 5 days; actually glad to see the rain today (3/18) and tomorrow (3/19).
Did you ever notice that when you see large clumps of daffodils blooming and not a house in sight, that that might have been an old settlers cabin; long gone ?!? I stopped at 3 clumps yesterday and saw a old rock foundation near every group of daffodils. Cool.
Belted Kingfisher fishing in pond across the road
Posted in Wild Birds, tagged Arkansas, belted kingfisher, murray road, parthenon, pond on March 16, 2015| 1 Comment »
He fished for 2 hours, caught lot of sunfish and minnows, as the spring peepers carried on !
17 Year Locust Brood XXIII will miss NW Arkansas but will emerge Eastern Arkansas in May
Posted in General, tagged 17 year locust, Arkansas on March 15, 2015| 1 Comment »
A picture I took 4 years ago during the 2011 — 13 Year Locust Brood emergence in Eastern Missouri; once the Locust emerge they may become the main diet for almost all birds for the summer, as here:
Brood XXIII, the Lower Mississippi Valley brood, will emerge in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, in the spring of 2015.
The cicada species that will emerge are Magicicada tredecim (Walsh and Riley, 1868); Magicicada neotredecim Marshall and Cooley, 2000; Magicicada tredecassini Alexander and Moore, 1962; and Magicicada tredecula Alexander and Moore, 1962. These periodical cicadas have a 13-year life cycle. The last time they emerged was 2002. According to John Cooley of Magicicada.org, Giant City State Park, Illinois is a good place to observe both M. tredecim and M. neotredecim.
Back in 2002, the emergence began in the last week of April, 2002, and ended the beginning of July. You can read what people said about them back in April, May, and June of 2002.
Here’s where folks reported the cicadas to Cicada Mania in 2002:
Arkansas: Bayou Deview Wildlife Management Area, Poinsett County, Devalls Bluff, Harrisburg, Holland Bottoms, Jacksonville, Jonesboro, Knox Co., Lake Hogue, Lake Poinsett State Park, Little Rock and Wynne.
Tennessee: Atoka, Benton, Cordova, Henry County, Huntingdon, Jackson, Lavinia, Leach, Lexington, McNeary County, Memphis, Paris, Savannah and Speedwell.
No Purple Martins yet … but a few Tree Swallows on a warm guard rail
Posted in Wild Birds, tagged Arkansas, Jasper, Tree Swallows on March 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Before all swallows, (Barn, Bank, Cliff, and Purple comes a pair of Tree swallows, seen just outside Jasper on a guard rail this morning:
Near perfect Camo – a Barred Owl
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Arkansas, Barred Owl, Boston Mountains, near perfect camouflage, parthenon on March 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Another male Wood Duck is the overflow waters of the Little Buffalo River
Posted in Wild Birds, tagged Arkansas, canon 50d, parthenon, wood duck, yellow bellied sapsucker on March 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Taken Sunday morning with my Canon 50D with a canon EF400L f/5.6. Later the same day another Yellow Bellied Sapsucker; this time a male both in the Parthenon area:
One fierce look
Posted in Wild Birds, tagged Arkansas, Bluebird courtship, Boston Mountains, cold weather, Eastern Bluebird, Hairy Woodpecker, hairy woodpeckers, parthenon, red, Tail. Hawk on March 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »
A juvenile Red-tail hawk in the yard this morning looking really fierce. Additionally, Eastern Bluebird courtship started today (later than usual due to the cold weather). I cleaned out the birdhouses on my Bluebird Trail this morning. Also a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers searching for spiders and eating raw peanuts this morning. The Hairy Woodpecker appears to be banded:
Life and Wildlife along the Little Buffalo River 