Short-eared owl - Art by Claudia McGehee

Short-eared owl, Asio flammeus

Short-eared owls hunt during the daytime, as well as at night, over the wide-open prairie. You can barely see their horn-shaped tufty ears.

Claudia McGehee, A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet

Blue spotted salamander - Art by Claudia McGehee

Blue spotted salamander, Ambystoma laterale

Blue spotted salamanders like to hang out in moist woodland areas near ponds. When these little amphibians sense danger, they freeze, raise their tails straight up, and get ready to squirt an unpleasant-tasting liquid at any predator that comes too close. If an enemy grabs it, the salamander releases this defense liquid, detaches its tail—it can grow a new one—and slips away.

Claudia McGehee, A Woodland Counting Book

Plant of the week: Oct 27

Hoary puccoon

Lithospermum canescens (Michx.) Lehm.

other common names: gromwell, puccoon, Indian paint

Lithospermum: from Greek lethos for “stone” and sperma for “seed”; named for the stonelike seeds

Canescens: from Latin, meaning “generally hoary or whitish,” referring to the hoary appearance of the plant due to the presence of tiny white hairs

Forget-me-not family: Boraginaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg from Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

This Week in Iowa Nature: Oct 26 - 30

Clean out purple martin apartments, bluebird boxes, bird baths, and feeders before winter sets in.

From The Iowa Nature Calendar