Karen Keninger, Author at Heartland Safari

A grey-and-chestnut songbird perches in a diamond shaped opening in a chain link fence. Careful composition, placing the green background in soft focus, creates a portrait of wildlife successfully adapting to life in proximity with humans. Images such as this don’t happen by accident. They result from preparation, patience and opportunity. Heartland Safari salutes the photographers who create these gems and make them available for us to enjoy.

Surveying the Soundscape: Chipping Sparrow

Updated April 24, 2026

For the past three years or so, I’ve been using the Merlin app to survey the birds on Owl Acres. I’ve sampled them in early morning most every day from March 1 into June. It’s been fascinating to find out which birds have stayed over the winter, which have moved in over the winter, and […]

Birds

Karen’s fingers rest on a soft cushion of moss, one of the early plants to green up in departing winter.

Attention Please: Moss

Updated April 8, 2026

It’s taunting the winter blahs with its vibrant green patches beneath the American elm. It’s part of the life that flourishes all around us whether we pay attention to it or not. This particular member of the Owl Acres family is a type of moss. We’re trying to identify which particular genus and/or species it […]

Moss

Mottled grey, white, brown and black songbird crouches menacingly on a weathered board. Eurasian Tree Sparow sports a black bib similar to (and easily confused with) its cousin English Sparrow. We can’t tell the difference, but Merlin Bird ID to the rescue.

Benign Invader: Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Updated April 6, 2026

I think we’ve all heard the story of rabbits in Australia—how they were introduced on purpose because the Europeans who settled there thought it was a good thing to diversify the fauna in this new land. And then they discovered that rabbits were breeding like—well like rabbits—and eating all the grass. Somebody got the brilliant […]

Birds

In this “Only a Mother Could Love” view, a ragged-looking Spotted Towhee is pictured in molt. Most of his fluffy head feathers have been shed and he’s a sorry sight. This normal process will have the songbird re-feathered in a few days.

March Migrator: Spotted Towhee

Updated March 29, 2026

A spotted towhee (Pipilo maculate) is visiting Owl Acres. Perhaps he got blown off course due to all the wind we’ve been having, or maybe he’s on his way to the arroyos and canyons of the desert southwest, or the mountains of the Rockies after a vacation in the south. Spotted towhees range from Western […]

Birds

View looking up at a handsome green and yellow songbird singing from a twig. Yellow warbler

Mutual Defense Pact: Yellow Warblers

Updated March 15, 2026

It’s the middle of March, and all the yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia) are in Mexico or the Caribbean for the winter. Some of them will stay there throughout the year, nesting in the mangroves. Others will populate the mangrove swamps in Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America during the winter but make the trek from […]

Birds

Fat brown rodent with prominent front teeth looks at the camera. American Beaver.

Civil Engineering: Beaver

Updated March 15, 2026

A small creek known as Cherry Creek runs at the bottom of the hill near Owl Acres. We were surprised recently to see beaver activity at the creek. A beaver had built a dam across the creek, and had gnawed through a large tree near the bank. The creek is fed by drainage tile and […]

Mammals

A brown creeper displays its remarkable camouflage as it clings to the flaky bark of a tree. The little bird is almost invisible even in this close-up photo.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Brown Creeper

Updated February 19, 2026

The brown creeper (Certhia americana) is one of the birds that frequent Owl Acres occasionally. Last spring I captured the song of one on my Merlin app. Although I haven’t been monitoring the birds this winter, it is likely that out in the woods, a brown creeper will set up housekeeping. Camouflage is one of […]

Birds

A small group of bare trees stands in the north fence row on a late winter day. The sky is brilliant blue; the rest of the world is drab. The tree on the right is an American Elm, one of less than ten remaining on Owl Acres. On the left is a Black Walnut, in the middle is a Black Cherry and the little weedy trees among the big ones are Hackberries.

Survivors: American Elm

Updated February 19, 2026

Several American elms stand guard around the perimeter of Owl Acres. They’re part of the mixed-species windbreak that slows the northwest wind on cold winter days. They’re not the huge old American elms that were once such a part of Americana. Those beautiful old trees were planted along suburban streets, arching over to hold hands […]

Trees

Two brilliant stars rise next to the barn on a frigid Iowa morning. Only one, of course; the one on the left is a sun dog.

Sun Dogs, Sun Pillars and Diamond Dust

Updated February 6, 2026

It’s a cold and frosty morning in late January. Wispy white clouds decorate the sky. The sun is just rising above the horizon at the optical latitude of the barn. As it rises, Bryan reports that it is accompanied by a pair of sun dogs. Sun dogs are one of several optical phenomena known as […]

Weather

The house-style birdseed feeder hangs from a shepherd’s hook on a cold day. The world is stark white after yesterday’s snow. A mixed flock of juncos, cardinals, finches, sparrows, chickadees and a few others forage on the ground while a few more kick out seeds from the tray above.

Who’s Who?: Sparrows vs. Finches

Updated December 14, 2025

There’s snow on the ground and more coming, and the temps have dropped below zero. A mixed flock of birds comes and goes at the bird feeder as we watch through the study window. When blue jays or cardinals appear, the little birds all disappear. When the bigger birds have had their fill, the flock of […]

Birds