Blue Goose ~ Day 290

March 13, 2015 ~ Kansas City, MO to St. Joseph, MO

I went to Marais des Cygnes almost solely because of the name. I had to go back into Kansas although very eastern Kansas, almost on the border with Missouri, and south of Kansas City 60 miles. Valerie in the office was friendly. She has worked here 10 years, lives "on a farm" about 25 miles away and her eyes lit up when I told her what I was doing.  Occasionally I get my blue NWR Passport book officially stamped which I did here. Most of the time I forget or the refuges are closed. Staff will sometimes remind me about this.

Marsh of the Swans.....well, it used to be...when the French trappers were moving through this area 200 years ago. Recently a few Trumpeters have been using the refuge when they migrate but ducks and geese are far more numerous. There are remnants of tallgrass prairie here (only 1% of this habitat remains), but over half is forest bottomlands along the Marais des Cygnes river. One third of the refuge is a "wildlife sanctuary" and not open to the public.

I drove the open gravel roads finally seeing a dozen species, including Great-tailed and Common Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Starlings mixed in with Red-winged Blackbirds, all grubbing where cows were feeding. These flocks often startle and lift off in unison, their order and symmetry amazing, wheel and turn in the sky and then return. Or they settle in noisy groups high in the trees, an early sign of spring.

Marais de Cygnes NWR - KS

I am seeing these Midwest refuges at the end of winter when many waterfowl have already headed north and before spring migration, so they are quiet...in a waiting mode.

Marais des Cygnes NWR - KS

Freshwater mussels are closely monitored here as they are very much an indicator of what we are doing / have done to their environment. The Midwest is rich in freshwater mussels, but over half of the known 78 mussel species are imperiled.  Another thread to follow if anyone wants to, starting with the Marais des Cygnes web site:


WWW.FWS.GOV

The Nature Conservancy reports that about 70 percent of mussels in North America are extinct or imperiled, compared to 16.5 percent of mammalian species and 14.6 percent of bird species.

Mussels are not in trouble simply because they're delicate creatures that are on their way out anyway. Although mostly sedentary, they can move. Many species have adapted to the constantly changing situations in streams and rivers. They can also close their shells to avoid short term exposure to toxins or other unfavorable environmental conditions. Thus mussels are tough creatures that can withstand harsh conditions if those conditions are temporary. The fact that so many mussels are imperiled in the Midwest shows that there have been significant, long-term changes to our lakes and waterways. And those changes have been so dramatic that these aquatic animals have trouble surviving.

So think about mussels in our fresh waters. And here is one more bit of mussel information from the Marais web site, perhaps only interesting to a naturalist but isn't it clever?

This is a female Higgins eye pearlymussel with most of the shell buried and the fleshy mantle flap exposed. The Higgins eye has evolved a ribbon-like mantle flap that, when exposed above the shell, looks like a minnow and serves as a lure to attract a potential fish host. When the target fish approaches, she will expell her larvae at the fish. The larvae attach to the fish's gills or fins, and hitch a ride for a few weeks while they continue their transformation into a juvenile mussel.

Farmers are burning their fields this time of year, cleaning them up. Refuges do this also to reduce wildfire risk and manage vegetation, and Valerie said this was on the refuge agenda lately.

My day was mostly moving up and down I69. Just driving the western half of the beltway around Kansas City was a 30-mile trip. I made a motel reservation at St. Joseph and was initially disappointed when I arrived. It was downtown and a block from the river with train tracks and a huge Civic Center across the street, BUT it was an old classy hotel inside. I could almost see prosperous cattlemen of 100 years ago smoking their cigars in the generous leather chairs in the extended lobby. The next morning, as I walked to my car, I realized the venue was identical to downtown Grand Rapids...along lower Monroe as it approaches the river.

I ate at the bar with a turkey salad wrap and a pile of Tumbleweeds, a variety of thinly sliced and deep fried onions, with salt and coarse black pepper and sauces for dipping. Yummy with no nutritional merit whatsoever....

The sun set, silhouetting the tracks and buildings, the river flashing silver.