Body
Get Out!
- Sing along with Emmy Award-winning singer/songwriters Jan and George Syrigos at Nature’s Superheroes With Wildheart. Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center. May 6, 7-8 p.m.
- For more information, call 573-290-5218.
- Discover and explore the importance of butterflies and caterpillars with Pipevine the toy caterpillar in Butterfly Magic with The Fishin’ Magicians. Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center. May 13, 7 p.m. Register at 314-301-1500.
- Become a skilled archer at Conservation Kids: Archery (ages 7-12 only). Springfield Conservation Nature Center. May 26, 6-7:30 p.m. All equipment provided. Register at 417-888-4237.
- Learn about the little water critters that live in Jacks Fork River at Nature Nuts: Macroinvertebrate Mayhem. Twin Pines Conservation Education Center in Winona. June 18, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Register at 573-325-1381.
- At Sharing Nature with Dad, we’ll take a hike and then create a craft especially for Dad. Walter Woods Conservation Area in Joplin. June 14, 6-7:30 p.m. Register at 417-629-3423.
May and June are great months to get outside and explore nature! Listen and watch for these natural events.
- May 14 - Watch for lightning bugs on warm evenings.
- May 19 - Listen for cricket frogs. Their calls sound like small pebbles being struck rapidly together.
- May 22 - Antlers begin to grow on white-tailed deer bucks.
- June 7 - Raspberries begin ripening - yum!
- June 14 - Watch for birds carrying food to their young.
- June 26 - Watch for nonvenomous northern watersnakes basking near water.
Looking for more ways to have fun outside? Find out about Discover Nature programs in your area at mdc.mo.gov/events.
What Is It?
- I appear in the spring as two fuzzy buttons.
- I soon branch out and grow inches per week.
- My outside is soft, but my inside is hard.
- I’m good in a fight, but I easily bleed.
Every year, bucks grow a new set of antlers. They start as "buttons" covered in fuzzy, tender, blood-rich skin called velvet. Actually bones, these buttons can grow at a rate of 2 inches per week! When they stop growing in late August, the velvet peels away, and the bone hardens. Bucks fight with their antlers in fall, and then shed them.
And More...
This Issue's Staff
Bonnie Chasteen
Les Fortenberry
Karen Hudson
Angie Daly Morfeld
Noppadol Paothong
Marci Porter
Mark Raithel
Laura Scheuler
Matt Seek
David Stonner
Nichole LeClair Terrill
Stephanie Thurber
Cliff White
Les Fortenberry
Karen Hudson
Angie Daly Morfeld
Noppadol Paothong
Marci Porter
Mark Raithel
Laura Scheuler
Matt Seek
David Stonner
Nichole LeClair Terrill
Stephanie Thurber
Cliff White