Baby Pheasant

I saw my first baby pheasant of the season. It was running down the road in the 'new prairie'. I heard at least 2 of them in the grass. This is a little bit late for the first ones. But the poor pheasants had to re-nest after the prairie burn destroyed the first ones. It was sad, but it will create better habitat for them - and they were able to re-nest.

Other observations:

The big bluestem grass on the burned part of the new prairie is 5 feet tall and a few have actually sprouted seeds. The non-burned part of the new prairie has some shorter shoots and there is very little visible on the old prairie. I have noticed that the big bluestem on the new prairie goes to seed earlier than the new prairie - probably due to being a slightly different genotype, but the burn has really accelerated its growth.

The Porcupine grass is almost done dropping its seeds.

Blooming now:

On new prairie only:

Long-headed Coneflower, & Purple Prairie Clover.

On both areas:

Yarrow, Black Eyed Susan, Early Sunflower, Showy Tick Trefoil, Echinaca, White Prairie Clover, and Indian Hemp.

On the old prairie only:

Phlox, Bedstraw, Delphinium (more than I have ever seen), Germander, Prairie Lily, Swamp Milkweed, Common Milkweed, Heuchera, Silver Leaf Scurf Pea, and Death Camas.