Always something new to see...

As I give tours of the Sandsage Bison Range in Garden City, I tell visitors that I always see something new. This past Wednesday July 9th was no exception. For the first time I saw a rattlesnake on the bison range! This was about 7:45 in the evening. The snake slipped down a hole, probably hunting rodents. I have been a tour guide since May 2007 and given nearly 40 tours to date and this was the first time I saw a rattlesnake! I have seen several other reptiles, including 3 bull snakes, a toad (see Bob on the right), several different lizards, and tons of turtles.

I've seen 3 other rattlesnakes up close and personal in my lifetime. One was in northwestern Nebraska on a gravel road as my colleagues and I drove around photographers for Nebraskaland magazine. That was a cool first encounter because there was a lightening storm rolling in over the bluff as a backdrop. The second was in western North Dakota on a gravel road as I was driving in my Forest Service truck and I took some of the wickedest pictures ever. Too up close and personal to post, for the timid readers. The third and scariest time happened as I was walking through sagebrush headed towards the Little Missouri River, again in North Dakota. I was going to the opposite side of the river to look for a rare plant as part of my botanist job. The little snake slipped down a hole as I caught a glimpse of it, but that was enough to make me beat the bushes the rest of the day to scare any others away. There's nothing quite like being alone out in the middle of nowhere and hearing that buzz just a couple feet away!

Vacation at the Spring Creek Prairie

Over the 4th of July holiday I drove back to Nebraska to see friends and family. I also took time to check out a tallgrass prairie located 15 minutes from my hometown of Crete. I visited the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center (www.springcreekprairie.org) and took a 2-hour stroll through a portion of the 808-acre area. There were tons of wildflowers, probably due to the recent rains in the area. I did not recognize many of the wildflowers, and for the first time I saw "butterfly milkweed" in person. It is a beautiful orange flowering plant (seen in the picture above). All together I think I took around 350 pictures with my digital camera.

The really neat thing about the Spring Creek Prairie is that there are hilly grasslands, low wetlands, and also a wooded area all accessible by hiking trails within a square-mile area. After walking though the grasslands and around the wetlands, I felt like I was in another zipcode as I entered the woodland draw because it's a totally different habitat. I also saw tons of songbirds and a family of Canada geese hanging out around the wetlands.

A cool history side-note is that you'll also find wagon wheel ruts in a couple spots from the pioneer days. On a personal note, my grandparents used to farm part of the area, and there is a wooden bridge on the hiking trail that is dedicated to my cousin Chris Juricek who died in a car crash when I was in junior high.

The Spring Creek Prairie is truely a gem and I look forward to going back in the fall to see the late-blooming plants. I can't believe I've never been out there before this week! The Audubon Society happens to be looking for a manager for the Spring Creek Prairie and I probably would be perfect for the job, but it would be a big pay cut. I don't plan to give up shopping anytime soon, so I guess I'm staying in southwestern Kansas for awhile! Maybe some day...