Birding with Birders

 Baton Rouge, LA

Birders are the same everywhere it seems

We Used The Alarm Clock Today

This morning we got up at 6am.  We had to use the alarm clock we brought along (yea we could just use phones but shut up about the phones!) to wake us up.  We don't use the alarm often but when we do it reminds us of how nice it is to just wake up when you want to wake up.  We arrived at Bluebonnet Swamp at 7am just in time for the walk.  We saw the tell tale sign of birders, older people milling around with cameras, binoculars. and scopes.  It was a great group of friendly people.  They saw our Washington plates as we drove in so we got a lot of, "long drive for a bird walk" comments.  We got to share our adventures and goals and future plans with perfect strangers and it was nice.  Some of the birders on the walk were very knowledgeable about other things like trees, fungi, and insects so we learned a lot.  It was a really fun walk and I hope we can find more during our future stays.

The lichen with the red outline is Christmas Lichen

These tiny mushrooms were incredibly beautiful.  Trooping Crumble Caps

This is a gall midge on the back of a cypress leaf.

Who will watch the watchers?

Some species of Oyster Mushroom.  These were giant

It was foggy and the birds were fast so I didn't get any photos of birds.  We did get good views of a Barred Owl but I was so caught up in staring at it that I forgot to try to snap a photo.  

Tomorrow we pack and then on Monday we do a drive to NOLA.  We are looking forward to the next stop.

If you missed the last post you can find it here.

Bluebonnet Swamp

 Baton Rouge, LA

Another day, another boardwalk to walk along.

Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center

Today we drove to the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center.  We wanted to see mushrooms that might have sprung up since the rain yesterday as well as birds so we spent our time looking down and up as we walked.  BSNC has a network of trails and boardwalks leading from the Nature Center.  The Nature center has some nice displays as well as some enclosures with snakes and other wildlife from Louisiana and beyond.

There were many snakes and turtles being looked after here.

They had a wall of insects you might see in the area.  They were only slightly larger than real life.

They also sold this hat that didn't appeal to me at all.

We found some Common Script Lichen.  We were looking for Christmas Lichen but didn't find any.

The swamp had some great Bald Cypress growing.

We found some Turkey Tail or False Turkey Tail fungus

We also saw Crowded Parchment 

And Wood ear fungus

The Resurrection Fern as in full resurrection after the rain.

Here is another example of Wood ear.  

I was messing around in Google Photos and found a heatmap of the photos I have stored in it.  It closely resembles our County Map.

Here is our County Map as it stands today.  We are 696 Counties now (including parishes).

That's it for today.  Also posts might not come daily anymore.  We are taking our time to relax in Baton Rouge and I am also playing a lot of Animal Crossing.  I will post interesting things when they happen and I am sure things will get really interesting when we get to NOLA on December 5th.

If you missed my previous post you can find it here.  We learned how Tabasco is made.

6 Nights Camping in Missouri

 Jefferson City, MO

Me and Mr. F enjoying the late summer weather

Night 1, Thibaut Point Campground, Harry S. Truman State Park

Today we did a 2ish hour drive from Kansas City, MO to the Warsaw, MO area.  We spent one night here at Thabaut Point Campground.  It was pretty empty.  I am sure the boating crowds are coming tomorrow for the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.  

A big wasp type thing building a fragile home in loose ash in the fire pit

Our neighbors appeared to really like smoke.

MO State Parks are really great.  This one had a lot of trees and shade.

I sat in my camping chair and looked for birds for hours.  It was a nice change of pace.

Night 2 and 3 at Alley Springs Campground in Ozark National Scenic Riverways

The next day we got up and packed and did a 3 hour drive that took much longer due to pouring rain.  We were heading to Alley Springs Campground in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways (like a National Monument for rivers run by the National Parks Service).  We took the drive very slowly because it times the fast wipers weren't doing the trick at keeping the window clear of water.  It was really driving rain.  Day 1 at the campground was VERY wet but day 2 was beautiful and the park was emptier due to campers calling it quits due to the rain.

A Box Turtle invaded our campsite in the morning

A Little Brown Skink had breakfast with us

The calm before the storm

We pulled over to let the rain pass and parked across from the Worlds Largest Gift Store

Our quick hike to the Mill just as the storm was hitting

The Mill at Alley Springs is beautiful

The spring surfaces at the mill and is about 300 ft deep and one of the deepest in the US.

This is about when the rain really started coming down

The next morning was very wet but at around 9am the rain stopped

It stopped enough to make coffee

I decided a bathing suit and sandals were good incase of more rain

But the afternoon turned out to be beautiful and the crowds were gone

The rain brings new life

After dinner we walked across a footbridge that took us over the river

We saw 4 different types of turtles from above

Nights 4 and 5 Hawn State Park

Our next drive took us across to the eastern end of Missouri.  We were camping in Hawn State Park for 2 nights.  The drive was very scenic and it was dry.  We arrived at our campground and it was about half empty which is weird for Memorial Day Weekend.  It appeared that there was heavy rain here too because all of the sites were reserved but many were empty. 

Morning Coffee before the drive to Hawn State Park

We passed through Vulcan MO and took this photo for the Star Trek fans

We had to do some shopping so we got local beer too

A beautiful blue butterfly

So much freedom!

Morning Coffee

This is how Donna goes fishing

Night 6 at Lake of the Ozarks State Park

After 2 nights at Hawn State Park we worked our way back to central Missouri to camp just south of Jefferson City, MO.  Our intent is to stay in a hotel in Jefferson City on Night 7 and then visit the capitol of Missouri before heading on to Iowa.  

Morning coffee before the drive

We found a walking stick while we were packing up

Francis is ready to go

We stopped by Schnuck's Grocery Store.  Schnucks!

We stretched our legs in Salem

We did a long walk at Lake of the Ozarks and saw this cool old trailer

And deer

Donna waiting for dinner to be ready

Jefferson City, MO

Now we are in Jefferson City, MO.  We did a 1.5 hour round about drive from Lake of the Ozarks to our Hampton Inn Jefferson City.

I found a tick on me last night but got to it before it got to me.  I think I caught it saying grace before dinner.  Today I used my socks to keep the ticks out.

Lots of birds at Lake of the Ozarks

Our coffee before the drive

We got into Jefferson City at about 12:30 and our room wasn't quite ready so we bought a burrito and went to a brewery to wait for our room

Now we are in the room catching up on stuff.  We are doing laundry, logging bills, using internet and organizing for our next couple days of camping until our 2 nights in Chicago.  

Here is our MO progress.  We were supposed to hit Madison and Washington but we ended up missing them for various reasons.  We will be back to get them another time.  We are really enjoying camping in MO.

That's it.  I think my next post will be from Chicago, IL in a few days.  If you missed the previous post you can check it out here.