It was a beautiful Sunday morning in June with gentle breezes on the prairie near Bolivar, Missouri. Temperatures were in the 80's and climbing to the low 90's expected by afternoon. A perfect day for a bicycle ride on the
Frisco Highland Trail. This is the closest trail to my home and it is very familiar. It has been great to see the rails-to-trails programs grow since I began riding 21 years ago in this area which includes the
Katy Trail across the state and the future expansion with the
Rock Island Trail.
One of the best sites that is a common project along these trails is the restoration of native prairies. Today I attended a BioBlitz on the Frisco Highland Trail sponsored by the
Missouri Prairie Foundation of which I am an active member. I am also active in Lake of the Ozarks Missouri Master Naturalist which had a meeting last week organizing a project to help Missouri Monarchs. It is so cool that so many separate organizations are coming together for the purpose of restoring and preserving native plants for use by pollinators and butterflies. It's all about the balance of nature. I am very happy to be a part of it!
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| Bicycling to the BioBlitz on the Frisco Highland Trail |
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| Information boards always available and a tent set up for the weekend event. |
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| BioBlitz Tent |
This event was for two days at the LaPetite Gemme Prairie which is about three miles south of Bolivar, Missouri by road. I got on the Frisco Highline Trail mid-town and rode about five miles out on the paved trail that runs partly on the highway. There was a campsite set up for those participants that came as far away as St. Louis. The local Citizens Memorial Healthcare Foundation of Bolivar donated box lunches for those that RSVP. Portable potties were also provided. In addition to prairie fieldwork to tag plants for identification for later seed collection, there was a soil presentation, stargazing, nocturnal insect observations, and several classes. I came for the butterflies. There were several interesting and knowledgeable people with nets to follow around…and that's what I did!
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| Phil Koenig was the Butterfly Guy |
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| This one I know is a Painted Lady |
Of course, it is all about the wildflowers! I knew several of them and learned some new ones...
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| Purple coneflower field with yellow tickseed coreopsis and some purple sensitive plants |
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| Lead plant has both purple and orange blooms at the same time! |
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| Purple milkweed - very good for monarch butterflies! They have a toxic juice that when ingested by the butterflies, the birds leave them alone. |
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| Penstemon (Beard-tongue) - related to fox-glove |
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| Sensitive plant - touch the leaf and it curls into itself |
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| Obedient plant - move the flower to another side and it will stay there on a windless day. The breeze is blowing the blooms in one direction today. |
Also, I got to the event a little early and observed a class about snakes. This is the same instructor I knew from the recent Master Naturalist State Conference, John Miller, and took his class on hellbenders and turtles.
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| Albino bull snake |
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| Rat snake |
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| Bull snake |
I know I will be back many times and each time I will find something old and something new to me. This time was especially fun since I got to share the experience with like-minded people!
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