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This is mostly a re-post of a long comment about our hollow ("holler") -- a small, flat place among mountains -- in this case, it's a 40-acre mining claim in the Ozarks that has been in our family more than 100 years. It has been mostly left alone since about the 1920s. The creeks run together and on to the White River in north central Arkansas, about 10 miles south of the Missouri border and equidistant to our home in Cotter, Ark.
Although it has surface water, I believe it is typical of Karst. The Ozarks are limestone because they used to be under a shallow inland sea, and this section contains a lot of dolomite. First, a map of Karst in the US courtesy USGS:
As bwren said, "concentrating on the little details allows you to see the whole in a more complete way." That's certainly true for me, especially in light of all the commenters from different areas of the country. In that spirit, here are some pictures I took May 6-7 this year.
One creek in begins inside the holler, dripping out of the mountain like the picture below. (The walk is too rough for me, and a 16-year-old visitor found it.) This one is a short, level walk from the cabin. That's the most water I've ever seen come out of the mountain there. It shows, especially at the bottom, the breaks in the stone that are typical (I think) of the Karst the Nature Conservancy is trying to preserve:
The Ozark karst ecosystem is an underground wilderness of caves, springs and aquifers that over the millennia have formed in the carbonate bedrock of the Ozark Highlands.... this amazing underground landscape harbors bats, salamanders, fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates, including at least 60 species found nowhere else on Earth.
http://www.nature.org/...
Moss Worn Away
The 17" of rain we got in 12 days late last month is wearing away moss to expose rock we haven't seen before. That round brown thing toward the bottom is living roots, still hooked on tightly. There's a big sycamore to the left of the picture. Can't wait to see what the rock looks like when the water goes down.
Pool with Ledges
The big rain also cleared almost all the leaves out of a pool in the longer creek that runs in from the west. It's the first time I've seen the ledges on the left in the picture. Last year about this time one of the fish spawned on the nearest edge, and one guarded the eggs and babies. Don't know what the predator(s) were. I thought the leaves might be necessary for their habitat, but the fish are still there. No little crawdads like we usually have, but no copperhead either.
This Northern Waterthrush (h/t bwren) below was hopping around in the water and on the bank, so I wonder if it's nest is there by the creek. Whatbird says "during the spring and fall migration, often found in thick cover along streams, marshes, and stagnant pools." (You can hear its call at the link.) It breeds in Canada and Alaska in the winter, and winters in southern Mexico and Central America, Cornell's AllAboutBirds says. That makes me wonder whether on May 6 it was headed north or south.
And there was one wildflower, about six inches tall, I hadn't seen before:
What's up in your neck of the woods?
(Got pix? :)
