Another elusive little bird would not quite come out in the open, but I did manage to get a photo. iNaturalist said this is probably a Golden-crowned Kinglet — that would be a first for me! I wish I had been closer:
And the birds in the back yard because of the feeder have been fairly constant; both at the feeder:
and near the feeder, a dove looking for scattered seed:
...and other doves:
Other birds were there also, looking for any edibles that might present themselves:
A little further away, this male Pileated Woodpecker ignored me and searched for his own favorite snacks:
But this story is not about the living things around me.
One day I saw no living creatures when I went on my walk, so I decided to look for anything that seemed interesting or intriguing and began taking photos. At first it seemed that everything I was seeing was dead. If not, then why had it all turned a ghostly white or a dry dead brown?
The first thing I discovered was disturbing to me. It was a hunting area near the road, strewn with the remains of several deer — the parts that got left behind after the hunters had what they wanted. Time had passed and it was obvious that vultures and wolves or coyotes had been here and cleaned up any flesh that remained and had torn the fur off the hides, leaving a large area covered with the discarded fur:
I will not show you the skeletons, even though I did take photos — I find them very unsettling and sad to look at.
As I continued my walk I noticed what was left of the various delicate wildflowers and grasses, such as this Little Bluestem:
Little bluestem is a major component of tallgrass prairie and glade habitats. Just as trees dominate woodland and forest communities, grasses dominate prairies, glades, and savannas. Thus a large variety of native animals and plants rely on little bluestem and associated grasses for their existence.
I also saw its really big brother, Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) — flowering stems can grow to nearly 10 feet tall:
Big bluestem is considered highly desirable by livestock producers as well as by ecologists. The other members of the genus (notably the broomsedges) are weedy and are usually considered undesirable as pasture plants. The genus name, Andropogon, means “man” (andro) and “beard” (pogon) — a reference to the fluffy seed heads that many of its members have — and the common name for this genus is “beard grass.”
But there are colorful berries out here also, such as this Coralberry:
Buckbrush, or coralberry, is in the snowberry family and grows throughout Missouri. This familiar thicket-forming shrub bears dense clusters of pinkish-red berries that persist through most of the winter.
And multiflora rosa berries:
Multiflora Rose (Rosa Multiflora): People brought this plant to America as an ornamental, then planted it widely, hoping it would have a beneficial effect on the environment. Time, however, has taught us that the negative effects outweigh the positive ones.
There are still remnants of the asters that were everywhere a couple of months ago:
And the delicate Inland Wood Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) sway gently in the breeze:
The ghosts of Queen Anne’s Lace, Missouri Ironweed and Black-eyed Susan have a striking beauty in their appearance even now.
Queen Anne’s Lace:
Ironweed:
Although herbivorous mammals such as deer and rabbits apparently find the foliage distasteful, butterflies, bees, and other insects are attracted to the flowers. Goldfinches and other seed-eating birds eat the seeds when they develop in late summer and fall.
Black-eyed Susan:
There were many other wildflowers and grasses that I saw, and in spite of the fact that they were brittle and seemingly lifeless, they had an other-worldly beauty about them.
They were not alone, the corner posts at the opening into the hay field are falling apart. But even though they look old and dilapidated, there is still something about them that draws the eye of the beholder:
I realize I am not really seeing “dead things” here, just the end of an annual cycle that will begin again in a little while. The empty husks of this year’s growing season have provided food for the birds and animals, and seed for the next generation. Life will eventually come back again, and next year is destined to be better than this one!