Field Guide

Ebony jewelwings flutter around streams in wooded areas. Like other damselflies, they prey on mosquitoes, midges, and other small insects.

Butterfly weed blooms in native prairies and other sunny habitats. A magnet for butterflies, it’s our only orange-flowered milkweed.

Gray treefrogs call from the water’s edge or the trees above, with birdlike or buzzing trills. They add music to our early summer evenings.

On float trips and hikes, look for maidenhair ferns growing in moist, rich, cool locations. Missouri has two easy-to-distinguish species.