Early to mid summer is often the least interesting time of year to visit Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, southwest of Columbia. The migrant flocks have moved on, the spring frenzy is beginning to fade and oppressive heat suppresses the daytime activity of its wild residents. Nevertheless, this Missouri River floodplain refuge offers something of interest in any season.
Yesterday, we were greeted by a scissor-tailed flycatcher along the entry road, where mixed flocks of swallows, dickcissels and mourning doves perched on the powerlines. Noisy killdeer families gathered on the drying fields while flocks of turkey vultures lounged on the levees, awaiting the late morning thermals. Great blue herons and great egrets foraged in the shallows and a group of double-crested fished on one of the few deep pools. Belted kingfishers, yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoos, northern harriers and wood ducks flew overhead as we drove through the refuge, which was adorned with the blooms of mullein and showy milkweed. Highlights included a group of red-headed woodpeckers in a drowned grove of trees and a lone black-necked stilt that flushed from a roadside marsh.
Some might ignore nature preserves during "non-productive off-seasons," confining their visits to the spring and fall migrations. But naturalists know that we cannot truly appreciate natural ecosystems unless we visit them throughout the year, witnessing the complex cycle of life that they harbor and protect.
