Karen Keninger, Author at Heartland Safari

Green, angular, grasshopper-like insect looks directly at the camera, allowing us to see the dark spot deep in its clear, compound eye. Fork-tailed Bush Katydid shares the summer space on Owl Acres with one of its cousins, Common Meadow Katydid.

Late Summer Symphony: Fork-Tailed Bush Katydid

Updated September 2, 2024

I love this time of year. The world is thrumming with life. The crickets and grasshoppers, the cicadas and tree crickets all taking their turns to sing. The symphony will go on until that first hard frost when it shuts down all at once. But today is not that day. The weather is beautiful; the […]

Insects and Spiders

Gorgeous head shot of a small snake that usually gets little notice. Eastern Garter Snake has alternating yellow and dark green to black stripes that run the length of its body. Its head is small and oval shaped, with large round eyes

Common Garter Snake

Updated August 26, 2024

We don’t see many snakes on Owl Acres, but occasionally one gets flushed from the grass, or unfortunately done in by the mower. This happened recently, much to Bryan’s chagrin. Our snakes are an active and integral part of the ecosystem, and since the snakes on Owl Acres are not harmful to humans, we hate […]

Reptiles

A clump of frilly, purple flowers advertises for pollinators in a prairie stand. Wild bergamot produces a head that supports dozens of individual, complete flowers the size of the petals of other flowers, like a daisy.

Fireworks in the Garden: Wild Bergamot

Updated August 19, 2024

About three years ago, we decided to plant a prairie garden. Bryan designed it as an elongated S. The goal was to make it easy to mow alongside it and also to make it easy to reach into the middle of it without stepping on the plants. We followed the prescribed process of tilling up […]

Plants

A solitary Jonathan Apple Tree keeps vigil at the summit of a green Iowa valley. An exceptionally prolific tree, it produces so much fruit that branches break under its weight. The tree actually stands a few feet onto adjacent property, but we claim it.

Ideal Fruit: Jonathan Apple Tree

Updated August 12, 2024

There’s an old Jonathan apple tree (Malus domestica) at the edge of Owl Acres. Last year it was so heavily loaded with fruit that a couple of its branches broke under the weight. This year it has fewer apples but they’re bigger. And, alas, a lot of them are wormy. The big, sweet apples that […]

Trees

Songbird sits on a sunflower bud. Indigo Bunting has a solid, deep blue color

Learning to Sing: Indigo Bunting

Updated August 4, 2024

A male indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) arrived on Owl Acres in early May after a long nocturnal trek from the Caribbean. He decided to stay and began singing his song to attract a mate. I’ve thought that a bird’s song was something hard-wired into his brain, and therefore all indigo buntings should sound the same. […]

Birds

Common Housefly at rest against a bright background. Large compound eyes, and the animal’s major distinguishing characteristic: it has only two wings.

Marvel of Engineering: House Fly

Updated July 29, 2024

I really hate flies. More than ants. More even than mosquitoes. A single fly buzzing around my face is enough to drive me crazy. And everything we ever hear about flies is how dirty they are, how they carry diseases, live in manure piles, leave fly specks on the walls, and generally create havoc, disease […]

Insects and Spiders

American Bellflower

Updated July 22, 2024

There’s a lot of purple showing in the mid-summer landscape. On a bike ride along our favorite bike trail, we stopped to investigate. What are those beautiful blue to purple flowers growing along the side of the trail? My Picture This app says they are American bell flowers. Once we’ve identified them on the trail, […]

Plants

This land record in the Jasper County, Iowa, Recorder's Office, completes the chain of custody that connects previous owners to the current tenant upon the 8 acres that today are Owl Acres. "Owner" seems a bit less less appropriate these days. "Steward," perhaps.

The Dammeiers Come to Stay

Updated July 15, 2024

Henry F. Dammeier, the son of Sophia Prasse and Henry Dammeier was born somewhere in Germany on August 4, 1827. At some time before his 28th birthday, he emigrated from Germany to the United States, settling in Shannon, Carroll county, Illinois. Dorothea Marie Brockmayer, was also born in Germany in 1830. She, too, emigrated to […]

History

Photo from Jasper County, Iowa Recorder's Book 156, Page 180. Feb. 9, 1888 purchase by Frank S. and William Carrier and their wives of the 2, half-quarter sections (163 acres) that contain the future Owl Acres.

Prosperous Farmers: Abraham and Sarah Carrier

Updated July 8, 2024

The Carrier family was prominent in Jasper County during the last half of the 19th century, and for a short time, two Carrier brothers owned the land around Owl Acres. Abraham Carrier was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, on Christmas Day, 1825. When he was ten years old, his parents, Salamon Carrier and Elizabeth Halvia […]

History

Aedes vexans as you don’t usually see or care about. A little insect sips nectar at a yellow flower with spiky white petals, moving pollen about and generally being a good citizen. Male Inland Floodwater Mosquito with his feather-like antennae, large compound eyes, crystalline wings and long, delicate legs, goes about his business, mindless of the evil machinations of the females.

Vexation: Mosquitoes

Updated July 1, 2024

For the past two years, mosquitoes have been practically absent from the landscape on Owl Acres. The years were dry, verging on drought. This year, we’ve had a fair amount of rain. It’s caused flooding, as well as filling up ponds and streams and ditches. It’s a perfect year for the dreaded mosquito. Mosquitoes are […]

Insects and Spiders