Missouri Conservationist December 2020
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VOLUME 81, ISSUE 12, DECEMBER 2020 MISSOURI SERVING NATURE & YOU CONSERVATIONIST MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION November/December 2020 January/February 2020 MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION July/August 2020 ANIMAL ASSASSINS THEY AIM FOR PREY THE BOING INSPIRE SOME ANIMALS TAKE ! LEAPING TO NEW LENGTHS CHILDREN MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION Septem ber/October 2020 FLOWER BEES STAY BUZZYPOWER GATHERING IN YOUR LIFE POLLEN AND NECTAR March/Apri l 2019 MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION TO GET SAY OUTSIDE WHA ANIMALS DO SOME Ju ly/Au gu st 2 01 9 FUNNY THINGS T? WINTER IS COMING AND CRITTERS KNOW HOW TO COPE WITH THE COLD NO SHAD Looking for a way to coax your kids ON THEE GLADE LIFE ’S HOT IN MISSOURI to unplug, climb off the couch, and MINI DESERTS ’S get outside? Then check out Xplor, the Conservation Department’s free Don t keep the door magazine for kids and kids at heart. ’ closed any longer. Six times a year, Xplor serves up eye- popping art, photos, and stories about Subscribe online at Missouri’s coolest critters, niftiest natural mdc.mo.gov/xplor. places, and liveliest outdoor activities. The magazine is free to Missouri residents (one subscription per household, please). Out-of-state subscribers pay $5 per year; out-of-country subscribers pay $8. MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION MISSOURI CONSERVATIONIST DECEMBER 2020 Contents VOLUME 81, ISSUE 12 10 ON THE COVER Bald eagles fly over the Mississippi River : NOPPADOL PAOTHONG 500mm +2.0x teleconverter f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO 800 GOVERNOR Michael L. Parson THE CONSERVATION COMMISSION CHAIR Don C. Bedell VICE CHAIR Wm. L. (Barry) Orscheln SECRETARY Mark L. McHenry MEMBER Steven D. Harrison DIRECTOR 16 Sara Parker Pauley DEPUTY DIRECTORS Mike Hubbard, Aaron Jeffries, Jennifer Battson Warren MAGAZINE STAFF MAGAZINE MANAGER 22 Stephanie Thurber EDITOR Angie Daly Morfeld ASSOCIATE EDITOR Larry Archer STAFF WRITERS FEATURES Bonnie Chasteen, Kristie Hilgedick, Joe Jerek ART DIRECTOR 10 Cliff White DESIGNERS Bird’s-Eye View Shawn Carey, Marci Porter A guide to birds and the PHOTOGRAPHERS food they love. Noppadol Paothong, David Stonner CIRCULATION MANAGER 16 Laura Scheuler Seven Wins for Wildlife mdc.mo.gov/conmag With partnerships and DEPARTMENTS careful conservation, these critters have made a strong 2 Inbox comeback in Missouri. Up Front With Sara Parker Pauley by Bonnie Chasteen 3 4 Nature Lab 22 5 In Brief Hunting and Trapping 28 Get Outside Furbearers 30 Places To Go Download this Ample opportunities await hunters issue to your to manage this abundant population. 32 Wild Guide phone or tablet at mdc.mo.gov/mocon. by Scott Sudkamp 33 Outdoor Calendar Eastern Download for cottontail Android Inbox Letters to the Editor THE BLUE SKY BALLET Submissions reflect I’ve been reading the Missouri Conservationist cover readers’ opinions and to cover for many years, and I have not only learned Male (left) and may be edited for length a lot but I also have enjoyed the presentation of how female redlegged and clarity. Email the words and wonderful photos have tied together purseweb spiders [email protected] to tell the stories. Blue Sky Ballet by Matt Seek has or write to us: raised an already high bar of excellence [October, I read your article. I have a new respect for these MISSOURI CONSERVATIONIST Page 16]. This is a subject I suspect most people creatures and am not so scared of them now. PO BOX 180 have little knowledge and probably no experience, Michelle DiSanto KCMO & Benton County JEFFERSON CITY, MO 65102 which made it even more interesting. Art Bullman via email UP FRONT I read your Up Front article in the October issue On behalf of my 93-year-old father: Kudos to Matt of the Conservationist [Page 3]. I would call it a Seek and the incomparable photographer Noppadol masterpiece because I could readily relate to it. Paothong for their great work on Blue Sky Ballet. The I was walking my German Shepherds early one Conservationist continues to outdo itself on timely morning. It was still dark, and I needed a flashlight. and exciting articles. I have been a subscriber since I heard a rustle in a nearby tree, and looked over the 1947 and am amazed at the wonderful assortment lake to see a bald eagle flying close by. It flew right of outdoor subjects used to entertain and inform the across the moon and Venus and disappeared over the public. Thanks again and keep up the good work. tree line. Although all I could see was a silhouette, I Robert L. Thacker Poplar Bluff know it was an eagle from the distinct way that it flew. He seemed to be in slow motion. So graceful! It was PURSEWEB SPIDERS one of those “alive” moments that Mr. Wilder referred I am currently homeschooled and in eighth grade. to. My heart seemed to leap for joy as I witnessed this I enjoy reading the magazines you send us every unusual event. Maybe you had to be there, but it was GOT YOU COVERED month from cover to cover. I especially enjoyed something I will remember for a long time. The October 2020 the recent article on redlegged purseweb spiders William Dickinson Jonesburg cover photo is the [Hidden Architects, October, Page 11]. My mom and best in years. All I went to Myron and Sonia Glassberg Conservation CONSERVATIONIST CROSSING BORDERS of the covers are Area, one of our favorite hikes near our house. We really enjoy the Missouri Conservationist. The excellent, but the While on the hike we searched for purseweb spiders articles are interesting and well-written, and the simplicity that says for about an hour and found none, which was no photos are incredible. Every time we take the kids to so much about surprise. I expected they were unusual to find. It visit Grandma and Grandpa in Columbia, they send the core magazine would be fun to find one of their homes. Thank you us home with the latest issues. Illinois did away with subject makes it for the awesome magazines every month. our Outdoor Illinois magazine a few years ago due to the singular best! James Jenkins House Springs declining revenues and massive budget shortfalls. Dwaine Goodwin This was a disappointment to all who care about Ozark I want to thank the Missouri Conservationist for the conservation. Missouri seems to be doing things right. article on spiders. I was a bit scared of them until Mike Reynolds Cass County, Illinois MALE PURSEWEB SPIDER: DAVID BRUNS; FEMALE PURSEWEB SPIDER: NOPPADOL PAOTHONG Connect With Us! Conservation Headquarters Have a 573-751-4115 | PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180 Question for a /moconservation Commissioner? Regional Offices Send a note using @moconservation Southeast/Cape Girardeau: 573-290-5730 Southwest/Springfield: 417-895-6880 our online Central/Columbia: 573-815-7900 Northwest/St. Joseph: 816-271-3100 contact form at @MDC_online Kansas City: 816-622-0900 St. Louis: 636-441-4554 mdc.mo.gov/ Northeast/Kirksville: 660-785-2420 Ozark/West Plains: 417-256-7161 commissioners. 2 Missouri Conservationist | December 2020 Want to see your photos in the Missouri Conservationist? Share your photos on Flickr at Up flickr.com/groups/mdcreaderphotos-2020, email [email protected], or include the hashtag #mdcdiscovernature on your Instagram photos. Front with Sara Parker Pauley _ Years ago, when traveling through eastern Iowa, I was tempted by the signs on the road directing me to the farm where Field of Dreams was filmed. It has since been developed, but at the time was a simple baseball diamond — not much else. Still, I threw a few pitches, snapped some photos, and muttered the iconic line from the film, “If you build it, he will come.” I thought of that trip recently when touring a western 1 Missouri conservation area in one of our nine priority geographies, the Osage Grasslands, with department staff. 1 | Busch We stood on a high vista overlooking a beautiful landscape Conservation 2 of rolling hills that was once part of a broader network of Area by path_ less_traveled_19, prairies spanning nearly one-third of our state. Our team of via Instagram experts discussed plans underway to restore these precious grassland prairies and thereby secure a home for the wildlife 2 | Busy beaver by Gary that depend upon such habitat. (See Seven Wins for Wildlife, Schwendemann, Page 16.) via email One tool we’re employing is the conversion of crop and 3 | Northern fescue fields using prairies plantings, both on public and cardinal by participating private lands. And the wildlife is responding. Brian Gossnick, Pollinators, such as the monarch butterfly and the regal via Flickr fritillary, are thriving on these restored landscapes. 3 Grassland birds — declining faster than any other — such as the Henslow’s sparrow, the eastern meadowlark, and northern bobwhite now have a place to call home. I delighted at the vision of these restored prairies thriving with grassland creatures and mused, “If you build it, they will come.” SARA PARKER PAULEY, DIRECTOR [email protected] The Missouri Conservationist (ISSN 0026-6515) is the official monthly publication of the Missouri Department of Conservation, 2901 West Truman Boulevard, Jefferson City, MO (Mailing address: PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102.) SUBSCRIPTIONS: Visit mdc.mo.gov/conmag, or call 573-522- MISSOURI CONSERVATION COMMISSIONERS 4115, ext. 3856 or 3249. Free to adult Missouri residents (one per household); out of state $7 per year; out of country $10 per year. Notification of address change must include both old and new address (send mailing label with the subscriber number on it) with 60-day notice.