Heartland Safari

A pair of Baltimore Orioles sit on a bird feeder specially designed to attract them. It holds two small glass cups filled with grape jelly. Next to the jelly cups are two halves of an orange secured on spikes. The birds chow down on the fruit. We refill it once or twice a day.

Lordly Livery: Baltimore Oriole

Updated May 13, 2024

Last year in early May, a Baltimore oriole landed on the car in the driveway. He had just come back from the south and was looking for a place to call his own. He started singing to his reflection in the car window. His reflection didn’t sing back. He tried pecking at it, but something […]

Birds

A tiny frog about an inch long, sits on a person’s finger against a black background. Spring peeper.

Frog Magic—Spring Peepers

Updated May 6, 2024

One of my very favorite signs of spring is the chorus of spring peepers coming from the ditches along the road in front of Owl Acres. When the weather gets warm enough, and we’ve had some rain, they start their choruses, calling to prospective mates. When the dogs and I go for a walk, we […]

Amphibians

Tender leaves and delicate, white flowers of Garlic Mustard belie this aggressive invader's ambition of world domination.

Invader’s Arsenal: Garlic Mustard

Updated April 29, 2024

One of the earliest plants we see in the spring is known as garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). It is a member of the mustard family. It gets its name because all parts of the plant taste like garlic. Deer won’t eat it, and other native herbivores such as rabbits, geese, opossums and native insects don’t […]

Plants

Photo from Jasper County, Iowa Recorder's Book 31, Page 78. May 20, 1865 Purchase by Lewis A. and Esther Woodruff of the quarter section (167 acres) that contains the future Owl Acres.

Pluck and Perseverance: Lewis Woodruff

Updated April 21, 2024

Jesse Reeves purchased the land that includes Owl Acres from the Government in 1854 for $1.25 per acre. He may have bought the land to establish a homestead on it. Or he may have bought the land as an investment. Little factual information is known about his intentions. We do know, however, that he sold […]

History

Photo from Jasper County, Iowa Recorder's Abstract of Original Entries. Jesse Reeves' May 17, 1854 purchase of 167 acres of Iowa prairie is on the highlighted line.

Redux: Jesse Reeves

Updated April 15, 2024

Earlier in this blog, I identified the first person to buy the land containing Owl Acres. Further research confirmed the name but discovered that it was a completely different person. That put a different spin on his life. So, meet Jesse Reeves—again. Jesse Reeves and his wife Sybil were the first settlers to own the […]

History

This year’s leaves and last year’s stalk at the base of a tree in the north fencerow. As a perennial, Motherwort is one of the first plants to green up in the spring.

Medicine for Moms: Motherwort

Updated April 8, 2024

On a windy day in early April, we took a walk-about in the yard on Owl Acres to see what was happening. The weather had been erratic, getting warm, then cold, then warm again. It rained, snowed, and blew a gale for several days. For the most part, winter was hanging on, with last year’s […]

Plants

Dense clusters of tiny white flowers with yellow centers amid verdant, springtime foliage of Roughleaf Dogwood.

Native Host: Rough-Leaf Dogwood

Updated April 1, 2024

Last fall we identified several types of berries along the edges of Owl Acres. One type of those berries was the white, pea-sized berries of the rough-leaf dogwoods which were growing in the yard and along the railroad tracks. I was familiar with some of the legends surrounding the dogwood, and was perhaps a bit […]

Trees

A showy, chicken-size bird struts in a tallgrass prairie. Ring-neck pheasant has a ring of white feathers encircling his neck. His long, tapering tail feathers are half again the length of his stout body.

Asian Beauties: Ring-Neck Pheasants

Updated March 25, 2024

A couple of years ago, in early spring, I heard a cock pheasant crowing as he walked across the driveway on Owl Acres. He was probably on his way to find some mates. His call was a harsh squawk which the ladies apparently find attractive. If he was lucky, he put together an entire harem […]

Birds

White and black bird with a crimson head, round, black eye and slender beak, looks over its shoulder as it clings to a tree trunk. Red Headed Woodpecker

Flashy Feathers: Red-Headed Woodpecker

Updated March 18, 2024

Several species of woodpeckers live on Owl Acres. In the winter, we see the downy woodpeckers and hairy woodpeckers at the bird feeder. Once in a while a red-bellied woodpecker visits the feeder as well. Northern flickers live in the woods, and a red-headed woodpecker was seen climbing a tree outside the dining room window […]

Birds

A Red-Wing Blackbird sits on a twig and yells at the neighbors. Black songbird with crimson epaulets at the shoulders.

Conkeree: Red-Wing Blackbird

Updated March 11, 2024

It’s hard to get an exact set of syllables that mimic or illustrate a bird song. We attach words like the robin’s “cheerily cheerily cheer up cheer up” or the white-throated sparrow’s “O Canada Canada,” but it’s not exact. We keep trying to get it just right. One of the most familiar and recognizable birdsongs […]

Birds