Karen Keninger, Author at Heartland Safari

Velvetleaf in the summer sun. Heart-shaped leaves and branching stems, terminating in the button-shaped seed capsules that give the plant its common name, buttonweed.

From Friend to Foe: Velvetleaf

Updated October 16, 2023

When I was growing up on an Iowa farm, I thought velvetleaf was a most lovely plant. Its leaves were so velvety soft to the touch. It was so soft I’d want to rub it on my cheek. Even the stems were velvety. And the coolest part was the buttons that formed in the fall. […]

Plants

Sleek green grasshopper-like insect sits on a bright orange-yellow marigold bloom outside the front door of the house. Evidence of an earlier escape from a predator can be seen, as this katydid has lost one of its jumping legs. This is actually a “posed” photo, we‘re not sure the shy katydid would be caught dead in this flamboyant setting. The katydid had been in the house and was captured and removed to the flower where its picture was taken. It didn’t stick around to read the reviews.

Tireless Singer: Common Meadow Katydid

Updated October 12, 2023

Outside my study window, along with the crickets that have been singing there all summer, there’s another voice. The singer starts with a short series of ticks and then melts into a long rasping rattle. For hours he repeats his song, sitting in the same place along the edge of the sidewalk. He is quiet […]

Insects and Spiders

Rump-on view of a Cedar Waxwing displaying all the colorful markings of this beautiful songbird. Slate-grey back with tailfeathers tipped in bright yellow. Red tips of secondary flight feathers peek out from folded wings. Soft yellow green breast, salmon-brown head and feather crest, and a rakish, black bandit-mask with thin white outline.

Berries Please: Cedar Waxwing

Updated October 9, 2023

On a cool morning in early October, Dave and I stopped to enjoy the soundscape on our morning walk. The crickets had center stage, but several birds weighed in as well. One high-pitched clear whistle followed by a high-pitched trill that sounded almost like a cricket came from what my Merlin Bird ID app told […]

Birds

Close-up cluster of 7 shiny black berries hanging from a single stem. American Black Nightshade.

Double-Edged Sword: American Black Nightshade

Updated October 5, 2023

There’s a square cutout in my sidewalk intended to be used as an herb garden. In past years it has yielded lush basil plants and a tomato plant that took over the world. This past spring, between travel schedules, I planted a few marigolds in there and left it to its own devices. Conducting a […]

Plants

Green insect with dark chevron markings on the long hind legs it uses for jumping. Differential grasshopper clings to a sunflower stem in the early morning light. Too cold to move now, it will warm and become active with the sun’s arrival.

Summer Jumpers: Grasshoppers

Updated October 2, 2023

We planted a couple of big sunflowers that a friend gave us, and they have thrived, producing huge flowers and then handfuls of sunflower seeds. On a cool autumn morning, the sunflowers are hosting grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are too cold to do much but sit there and look at the camera while Bryan takes their […]

Insects and Spiders

Karen is dwarfed by a forest giant ragweed, towering overhead in the ditch across from Owl Acres.

Ambrosia, really?: Ragweed

Updated September 28, 2023

When I was growing up, we took our vacations in August. And we usually went north. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, Michigan. Dad would load up the car top carriers with tents, sleeping bags and camping gear. Then he’d load up Mom and all seven of us kids into the station wagon and off we’d go. The […]

Plants

Monarch butterfly rests, wings spread, on a milkweed. Colors are bold orange with prominent black veining, and white spots. This photo was chosen for its similarity to the photo of the Viceroy elsewhere in the post. There are differences in markings, but they’re easy to miss on casual observation.

Warning, Poison Here: Monarchs, Viceroys, Tussock Moths and Milkweed Bugs

Updated September 25, 2023

My favorite time of the year has just opened its arms to launch a festival of colors and aerobatic displays. Birds are beginning to migrate, and so are the monarch butterflies. Most birds make their migratory trips south and back north all in one generation, but the fragile and beautiful monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have […]

Insects and Spiders

Milkweed

Updated September 21, 2023

There’s a clump of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in the ditch on Owl Acres. This is a happy place for those beautiful and amazing monarch butterflies. The milkweed has hosted their larvae and now they’re getting ready to undertake that long and convoluted migration of theirs. But the milkweed they leave behind has its own […]

Plants

Whole lot o’ growing going on here. Karen stands on a riotous green hillside, surrounded by all three varieties of foxtails found on Owl Acres. Panicles of giant foxtail nod over her head, while green and yellow foxtails carpet the ground at her feet. Cornfield in the background, and an astonishingly productive Jonathan apple tree stands at the top of the hill. Karen is actually inspecting a velvetleaf, aka buttonweed, a broadleaf weed that will be featured in an upcoming post.

Weed or grain: Foxtail

Updated September 18, 2023

It’s late summer now and the world is turning tan. Grasses are tired. Crops are drying, and three species of foxtails are waving their bottlebrush heads and dropping their seeds. The smallest are the green foxtails (Setaria viridis), also known as green bristle grass, bottle grass, pigeon grass and wild millet. They stand about two […]

Plants

A field of tiny, cone-shaped holes in the sand next to the house. Antlion traps.

Angle of Repose: Antlion

Updated September 14, 2023

What’s up with this array of perfectly cone-shaped pits in the sandy soil along the foundation of the house? The pits are all exactly the same size with scribbly, doodly tracks in the sand between them. What we have here is an antlion larva, pronounced ant lion (Myrmeleon spp.). Its name is of old, showing […]

Insects and Spiders