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American Woodcock on nest
American Woodcock on nestMatt and I were killing invasive-exotic plants this morning around the old Calwell Pottery. The underground kilns of the pottery were very active in the 1830s but it has long...
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Spring Wildflowers
Bird’s-foot Violet, Viola pedataWe found Bird’s-foot violets blooming along the ridge trail above Hillers Creek this morning. Many other kinds of wildflowers can be found in the woods now. Once the...
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More Invasive Exotics
Bush HoneysuckleDespite years of working hard to find and destroy invasive exotic plants at the PGT, their variety and numbers are increasing. An ideal time to find exotics is now; before native plants...
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Green Heron
Green Heron We just returned from a 5-mile walk here at the Prairie Garden Trust. With the perfect Spring weather there are many wildflowers and birds to see. We counted 48 different types of birds...
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Spring Planting
Plants from Missouri Wildflower NurseryWe got a bunch of new native plants from Merv Wallace at Missouri Wildflowers Nursery yesterday. Neil and Matt are going to plant these wildflowers and grasses...
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New Birds!
Yellow-breasted Chat We saw 5 new birds on our walk this morning: Summer Tanager Worm-eating Warbler Henslow’s Sparrow Yellow-breasted Chat Yellow-throated Warbler On the 4-mile hike we were impressed...
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New PGT Birding Site Guide!
The Audubon Society of Missouri has just published a Birding Site Guide to Prairie Garden Trust. Click here for a link to it. Thanks to Edge Wade for putting this together!
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PGT Spring Birdwalk
The PGT Spring Bird Walk begins at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at the Prairie Garden Trust visitor center. Anyone interested is welcome to join us for this free stroll for a couple of hours...
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Birding in the Rain
Rain doesn’t stop these birders. The weather did NOT cooperate for the PGT Birdwalk today. We had rain, wind and lightening. Despite the horrible conditions 6 people (serious people! crazy people?)...
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PGT Big Day
Tufted Titmouse We saw 83 different kinds of birds yesterday at the Prairie Garden Trust. We started bird watching a dawn and continued in a relaxed fashion until sunset. The weather was perfect and...
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Wayfinding Sign Posts at the PGT
Stainless Steel Wayfinding Sign at the PGT28 stainless steel sign posts are being installed to help keep you from getting lost at the Prairie Garden Trust. Lorna and Dale got four of them in the ground...
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Painted Lady
Painted Lady ButterflyOnly 4 kinds of butterflies were identified on the PGT Butterfly Walk this afternoon; a record low. The problem was that it was cold, cloudy and there was a drizzly rain....
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Native Bees at the PGT
Dr. Gabe McNett told me today to that he’s identified 5 different kind of bumble bees at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT), and that he expects to find more. Gabe started a broad survey of all insects at...
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Join Me For a Walk this Saturday
This weekend we are starting a new event at the PGT called “Second Saturday Strolls”. This walk is for anyone who’s interested to learn more about the PGT. It’s free and open to the public. The walks...
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Columbia Audubon Society Birdwalk
Looking at a Black-and-white Warbler 20 people came out this morning for a Columbia Audubon Society birdwalk. A lot of the migrant birds haven’t arrived yet, but we still managed to identify 52...
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56 Birds Today
The PGT Birdwalk was this morning and the weather was perfect. Lottie Bushman lead 25 people on a relaxed walk around the property. The picture shows the group trying to get a glimpse of a Blue-winged...
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Why Warblers?
If you aren’t a birder, you might wonder about the fuss that some people make about finding Warblers, “What’s the big deal? “ 1. Warblers are often stunning to look at; some are drop-deal gorgeous. 2....
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Orchard Oriole
Our grape jelly feeder has been mobbed by 10-15 Orioles the last 2-weeks. Most of the birds are Baltimore Orioles but occasionally I’m seeing Orchard Orioles. They are darker and a bit smaller. Orchard...
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Indian Paintbrush
Indian Paintbrush One of the prairie wildflowers blooming now at the Prairie Garden Trust (PGT) is Indian Paintbrush. These plants are hemiparasites, meaning that although these plants are green and...
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Wild Persimmon
Persimmon trees are blooming now, but you might not notice unless you look up along the branches for the tiny waxy flowers. The out-of-focus background simplifies the image, which helps it “sing”. Wild...
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