Field Guide - Linda & Robert Scarth

As the Winter Olympics comes to an end, we would like to suggest a new sport for the Summer Olympics (if it does not already exist) — Synchronized Diving. We were photographing Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) as they fished in the shallows behind the dunes on the Florida Atlantic coast when this pair appeared further out than we would ordinarily make images. The new Canon 7D’s focus is so precise and the lens sharpness good enough to crop these three from a series of test images.

Brown Pelicans are sky divers while White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) are herders (synchronized swimmers). White Pelicans often swim in patterns as they herd schooling fish and then feed in a circle. Brown Pelicans dive steeply out of the sky and apply the brakes just as they hit the water. Seeing these two in close synchronized formation demonstrates their great skill.

When first sighted they were in tight formation.

Separating slightly just before touchdown.

Still in close formation as they hit the water. The next image in the sequence is the remains of the two merging identical splashes. That both led with their left wings and seemed to use their right wings as rudders seems evidence of planning or perhaps the one in back was imitating and taking advantage of the fish sighting. Either way, it was spectacular.

The shutter speeds were such that the birds are sharp against the sky (1/6400 second) and only marginally slower and still very sharp when they were in the water (1/4000 second).  The difference is because the camera was set on AV (aperature priority) which directs the camera to select the shutter speed in relation to the selected f-stop.

Behavior sequences in photographs sometimes allows humans to see what our eyes miss during an event. We are eager to photograph more flying sequences.

Whenever we take a photo trip to Florida we include a stop at the Venice Rookery behind the county administration building in South Venice. The Audubon Society looks after the rookery. It seems many photographers do visit the rookery because the thicket on the ‘island’ in the pond is often recognizable in published images. It is a place where one is almost guaranteed a good Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodius) image.

This year we were early in the nesting season, though there were two Great Blue Heron nests with very loud babies being attended by their parents. One pair, still working on their nest and bonding rituals, was of the most interest. It was a gray windy morning so, between the birds raising their feathers and the wind ruffling them, there were some striking images to be made.

This pose was at the end of a series of beak-crossing and grasping behavior at their nest site. We later saw one of this pair fly to the pond edge and select and pluck a straight branch from a shrub and take it back to the nest. It gave it to the other who placed it in the nest.

The tiny island also had Anhingas, Great Egrets, and Black-crowned Nightherons working on nests. There were probably others on the back side of the island. Several bird watchers were scanning the pond and saw several otters. Amazing in a tourist town with busy roads.

A few days before the Venice stop we had photographed 3 fluffy Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) babies in and around their nest in a dense thicket at Shark Valley in the Everglades National Park. Fascinating to watch them bicker, though the brushy surroundings obscured one or more at a time. The photo backgrounds are not as clean as we prefer.

We are still sorting and culling images from this trip before copying them to a second external drive. That needs to be done today. Periodically we copy all images, RAWs and converted/optimized files, to a third drive that is kept off site. Years ago, Justin Wilson, a Cajun entertainer and former safety engineer, often said he believed in ‘belts and suspenders’. Photographers should also subscribe to that philosophy for their digital images, whether film scans or ‘born digital’ files. It is not, if a computer or drive will go bad, it is just a matter of when. 

We have been traveling and giving our new Canon EOS 7D camera bodies a good workout. Among the many images that we made (and are pleased with) is this White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) and its many legged (unidentified crab) lunch. The image itself is an example of one where very light and dark pixels are represented without ‘burning out’ the white or totally ‘blocking’ the black ends of the histogram. An images’ histogram is one of the wonderful tools available to photographers as we work in all sorts of light conditions. The object (especially when photographing light subjects) is to weight pixels at the right end of the histogram without loosing them beyond what can be recorded in a digital file.

The water was very dark and the bird very light. This is almost a classic zone system range. The difference is that there are few middle zones or tones represented. The percentage of dark in the image weighted the histogram tail to the left with only a small peak on the tail for the white near the right edge. This is a case where the brightness of the white did not allow for as much historgram shift to the right as is often advised. That works best for images with many midtones and little white or bright yellow in our experience. A high contrast image with white or yellow may require some compromises to get the most useful image file.

The Canon EOS 7Ds promise to become our favorite cameras ever. Each upgrade has that status but this one may stick a long time. They bring out the best in our full range of Canon lenses.

Eggs figure in many proverbs and are sometimes overlooked as subjects. Winter cold can keep even the most intrepid photographer inside, especially when keeping camera batteries sufficiently warm is necessary. Tabletop photography can be fun and instructive. Where better to practice lighting and composition approaches? Art students sometimes practice perspective and shading while drawing spheres and other rounded shapes.

These lovely eggs, from some ‘rare breed’ hens owned by a friend, offered studies in color, shadows, and shapes. In this image there is both cross and top lighting. Even though the light is diffused it makes a collection of overlapping shadow puddles of varying intensity that repeats the curves of the eggs.

Some photographers, especially working in black and white, use fruits and vegetables to make abstract studies where shadows and shapes are emphasized. We work primarily in color but try to think in black and white when composing images. Thinking in black and white can help produce images with more depth and adds a third dimension to this two-dimensional art form.

Eggs are a symbol of Spring. After another single degree Farenheit night, we are ready for Spring.

On Tuesday morning this week there was a story on NPR (National Public Radio) about a study of the migration and nesting patterns of shore birds in the Arctic. In the story the example of a long distance flyer was the White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis). The photo here is one we observed on Volunteer Beach, East Falkland, Falkland Islands last January. This bird was at 52° south latitude and they nest at as far north as 75° north. This is about 8,000 miles “as the crow flies” and much longer as birds move with winds, food locations and the geography.

The chicks in the photo on the NPR web site are cryptically colored and fluffy with tiny wings. They will develop quickly in the Arctic summer to be ready for their long flight to the tip of South America and islands of the South Atlantic. The example natural nest pictured in the article is that of the less common Baird’s Sandpipers (Calidris bairdii) which appear quite similar to the White-rumped. In fact, until one of birds on Volunteer Beach stretched revealing its white rump, that is what we thought they were. The sandpipers were somewhat camouflaged when they were among the tangled kelp on the white sand beach. They stayed close to the kelp feeding on large flies. We did get one image with a large fly entering the frame.

Also this week, a New York Times story reported on the tiny geolocators that are being used to track Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea) on their long similarly long migrations. Arctic Terns are over twice as heavy as White-rumped Sandpipers (110 grams vs. 42 grams) so are able to carry the miniscule (1.4 grams) geolocators. The distances traveled in the yearly migration cycles are amazing.

Volunteer Beach, where we saw the White-rumped Sandpipers, is famous for its King Penguin colony. We spent most of our time observing and photographing the penguins. However the White-rumped Sandpipers were a special delight as they busied themselves without much concern for the person and tripod that followed their activities. In fact one was curious about the shiny soft drink can parked next to the camera bag on the sand. One can see the strangest things in unexpected places.

Freezing rain is dangerous and damaging. It encases food needed by birds and other animals, is hazardous to walkers, drivers, airplanes and human-made infrastructure, and damages trees. Many years ago when we lived in the Southeastern U.S. there was a heavy ice storm in the night which caused the yellow pine in the nearby woods to break and crack with the sound of rifle shots. However, each winter we look for ice jewels that we hope will only last as long as needed for an intriguing image. Sometimes we find them. Here is one that amazes in its delicacy.

The supercooled rain that coated these buds encapsulated them in a silvery glaze. As more rain slowly fell, it dripped to form a slender stalactite. As the temperature dropped further, it built the pendant. The pendant seems to be something in between the clear ice of the glaze and a denser ice coating called rime, which is white because of many tiny trapped air bubbles. When rime forms the very tiny rainsdrops do not spread out but form a mass of dense, porous ice. We think that the pendant’s glaze captured and held some of these tiny quickly forming ice particles engulfing them with spreading drops to make the interior facets.

All this happens when the things to be glazed are at or very close to 0° Celcius (32° Farenheit). The raindrops themselves fell through layers of cold and warm air before reaching the cold air near the ground. The whole process is amazingly fast as the forming ice cools the substrate allowing more rain to stick and spread.

As we enjoy the beauty of ice we are reminded that sometimes glass artists make lovely globs of glass with sparkly inclusions just as nature does with freezing water. That two such different phenomena - fire and ice - while potentially destructive, also produce such beauty is something to ponder. Especially when safely warm inside on a cold winter’s day.

There are no Red Squirrels (Tamiascurius hudsonicus) in our immediate area, but when we head north we enjoy encountering these vocal wood sprites. This one was seen on a very gray day in the north woods several years ago. This winter in the Midwest has kept us closer to home. Our resident Eastern Fox Squirrels (Sqiurus niger) are twice as big and much quieter.

This was one of several that scolded us vociferously as we sheltered near the bird feeders they wanted to raid. Red Squirrels spend the late summer and autumn stockpiling all sorts of tree cones and other nuts and seeds in logs and burrows for winter food. They also harvest and dry mushrooms. Tree buds, leaf galls and some barks supplement their diet.

In the Pacific Northwest there is a related species named Chickaree (Tamiascurius douglasi) - perhaps a tribute to their chattering vocalizations. It is also called the Douglas Squirrel. Other local names for both species include Pine Squirrels and Spruce Squirrels.

Red Squirrels are found in both coniferous and deciduous forests. Their homes may be nests made of leaves, twigs, hair and other materials or in hollows in trees. The globular shaped nests are more likely in coniferous forests where there are few hollow trees.

Last summer we camped under some tall trees in Wisconsin that were claimed by the Red Squirrel who chattered as it as it traveled from tree to tree in the overarching canopy. It kept up its complaints for some time. Red Squirrels are generally solitary with established territories. Seeing several feeding together at bird feeders indicates a truce of sorts to take advantage of a good food source.

Last year at this time we were preparing for a trip to the Falkland Islands for two weeks of photography in mid and late January 2009. We flew to Santiago, Chile and from there on to Mount Pleasant Airport on East Falkland. We traveled between the islands on small, bright red FIGAS (Falkland Islands Government Air Service) planes.

The kelp beds, for which the Falklands are well known, can make this patch of the South Atlantic look like plowed fields when viewed from the air. The islands are the home of Kelp Geese which feed on the kelp. Kelp Geese are also found in the kelp beds along the coast of southern South America.

Female Kelp Geese are among the most beautiful geese we have seen. With warm, dark brown backs and wings, overlapping herring bone patterned fronts, trimmed with pale pink bills, yellow legs and white tails, they are regal, poised and gracious as they shepherd their goslings between tussock grass shelters and rocky shores. Their mates are solid, glistening white with black bills and yellow feet. Seen together the make a striking couple.

There is a novel about the Islands at the time of the Falkland’s War titled “Skeletons for Sadness” by Ewen Southby-Tailyour (Seafarer Books, 2007 and Sheridan House, 2008). In it, ‘Kelp Goose’ is the term of endearment used by Edward, the narrator, for Heather, the woman he has come to love. Edward is not very likeable much of the time, but the story is fascinating and the Islands, themselves, are the main characters. The endearment, ‘Kelp Goose’, is best understood after observing these lovely birds.

The goose in this image was on Sea Lion Island, the most southern one we visited. It is a government nature preserve with a guest lodge. The photography is wonderful - penguins, albatross, geese, elephant seals, sea lions and more.

Several months ago we commented on the experience of being interviewed by the editor of a midwestern environmental magazine. This was followed by correspondence that led to his stories about our book, Deep Nature: Photographs from Iowa, and about us as photographers. We just received copies of the winter issue of Woodlands & Prairies magazine with the stories and photographs. We are delighted in the many stories about people and their land ethics, and the high quality printing that this regional publication continues to offer.

In his article, Rollie Henkes commented that we sometimes turn dry flower stalks into art. Here is another such attempt. This jaunty snow-capped coneflower looks like those peeking out of snowbanks in the front yard as additional flakes fell today. For a while there was a fluffy snow-globe world outside our windows.

This has been a week of positive experiences connected with our book. The University of Iowa Alumni Association has an article about it in its latest Alumni Magazine. And last night we did a presentation about the book at a dinner in support of the activities of the Johnson County (Iowa) Heritage Trust. The book is doing what we hoped it would. It is getting people to look more closely and talk about the beauty that is close around each of us and the need to both care and act in maintaining the natural world for ourselves and for nature itself.

This is another occasion to repeat the immortal (and apocryphal) Yogi Berra statement - “Your can see a lot by just looking.”

In the wake of last week’s blizzard, the blast of cold air from the north is keeping us close to home. It is a good time to review and cull image files. We discard the obvious right after downloading our RAW files with the promise to do more culling later. That task is hard to get back to as there are always more images to be made. Today while weeding files we came upon a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) head study that seems a good follow-up to the recent feather post.

At a distance Blue Jays appear to be blue and white with black trim. In reality the blue colors we see vary from a blue gray to a bright cyan - all caused by the way their feathers reflect light. They also vary in intensity - some adults being called dark and others, light. This one is light with its pale nape and gray-blue back. This bird’s wing feathers are probably quite fresh because the blue is so bright and the black bars so distinct.

All jay species are considered noisy and rather aggressive except during nesting season when they are very secretive. We are more likely to be visited by Blue Jays in winter, though this last summer a family group chased about the neighborhood. The fledglings pursued their parents relentlessly for several weeks.

Back to reviewing and discarding in the morning.

The feathers of the bird’s at the feeders are fluffed against the bitter cold. The blizzard that passed through yesterday has left frigid temperatures in its wake. Staying inside to photograph some feathers, including a few moulted by Scarlet, our Solomon Island Eclectus parrot, provided warmth on a cold day.

This feather shows both pigment and structural color. As it is angled against the light the colors change from red to green to blue. The red-orange is pigment and the blues are seen because miniscule air pockets in the feather barbs scatter light that is seen as blue. Most blue feathers are produced this way. The red colors are produced by several types of pigments which in combination with melanins can produce a wide variety of colors from yellow to orange, red, maroon and green.

The feather below is a tiny breast feather with a downy base and bright barbs at the tip. Eclectus’ feathers are almost like dense fur - soft, firm and tightly packed.

The even tinier blue feathers around her eyes and in the narrow neck scarf will be a project for another day.

Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) are so common through southern Canada and the lower 48 U.S. states that one can miss the regal beauty of even this non-breeding adult. This one was standing on the ice of a near-by urban lake and provided a subject for a nice head study with a long lens.

Photography allows us to stop time and vision to see what we humans may ordinarily miss. The subtle pink, green and yellow colors on the bill are more interesting than the dark ring for which it is named. Field guides just mention the yellow. Even with good binoculars, few may notice the intricate eye make-up suitable to a lovely science fiction film character.

A photograph allows us to look at great length and enjoy for even longer, as the image is stored in memory. Though the bird is in sharp focus, the soft speckled feather patterns on the back of the neck appear a bit blurred because of the natural ‘feathering’ of the edges and color gradations. ‘Feathering’ is a technique use in preparing some images to blend optimizing layers.

This bird is just another example of how common things can be uncommonly beautiful.

The three sea duck visitors to the nearby urban lake attracted birders and photographers from some distance this weekend, in spite of the overcast skies that hampered photography today. There is a Long-tailed Duck, a Black Scoter, and the Surf Scoter pictured here. This was the most obliging of the three, coming in closest to the bridge on the bike trail late this afternoon while we were there.

‘Bald skies’, so dreaded by many photographers, have their counterpart in ‘bald water’. The uniform gray skies reflected on the water, leaving it largely colorless and without texture in most directions. Accustomed to making lemonade when presented with lemons, we decided to make the ‘bald water’ a design element in our photos. There seems to be a current fashion of photographing rare or endangered species against white backgrounds for magazines and gallery exhibits. Why not let nature provide a pale background for this handsome duck?

We are interested in showing behavior as well as making portraits, so when it turned almost broadside to scratch its chin, shutters clicked. Shutter speeds were a bit slow because of the low light. However, the blur of the foot is a nice contrast to the sharpness of the rigidly motionless bill. We kept our tripod legs short to be down near eye level with the ducks.

We hope they are still there tomorrow morning and that the light is warmer. Will take our flashes and flash extenders, just in case. More of a catch light in the eyes would be good.

Each November an event comparible, in our minds, to the Sandhill Crane Spring migration through Nebraska happens at the Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) resting location along the Mississippi River. Not the same enormous numbers seen the Sandhills’ northern migration, but a very impressive event occurs along the river from Pools 4 through 11 in the backwaters behind the dams.  These magnificent birds rest after their trip from the Arctic. Mississippi River Pools 8 and 9, in particular, have become a major stopover for Tundra Swans and are an important bird watchers’ destination.

The Tundra Swans rest, eat and teach their youngsters while preparing to continue on to the Chesapeake Bay area.  Bald Eagles are also seen flying over and roosting on snags in the river. The Tundras are often there until river shallows freeze. They have traveled from their Arctic nesting sites in stages and will continue on to the East Coast. Another large migration from the Western Artic will winter on the West Coast from Washington to California. Many Tundra Swans winter along salt water estuaries unlike Trumpeter’s, the other big swan (Cygnus buccinator), which usually winters in fresh water areas.

Within the large gatherings in the sloughs and shallows along the river between Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, the family groups can be observed. The birds loaf and feed mostly on plant materials under the water. One parent usually feeds tipped head down to pulls roots, bulbs and other vegetation. The other stands (floats) at attention. They are territorial and very protective of their youngsters. Pairs of adults often have the two to four remaining cygnets from this year’s hatch. They usually lay two to eight eggs and as ground nesters have to contend with small preditors and larger ones like foxes, wolves, bears.

This adult and juvenile were seen at the overlook deck south of Brownsville, MN just before a train went by. The swans moved out to join the thousands which could be seen out in the shallows northeast of the overlook. The juvenile’s pink bill will darken to black as it matures. Its feathers will be completely white by spring. The cycle will continue as they head north to establish bonds and nest again.

Lately we have been a bit nostalgic for the years we lived “Down Under” in Australia. Looking through old negatives, photographs and slides is a good way to travel back. In the process we found that some film is showing its age. When we scanned this negative we found scratches and embedded dust. So it was Photoshop to the rescue. When a photo optimizing software is used to restore images it is also restoring memories.

The dunes, near the ruins of the old telegraph station at Eucla, Western Australia, are a classic landscape. The telegraph station was built in 1877 near the state line with South Australia. A thriving small town developed but a rabbit plague in the 1890’s devoured the grass on the dunes. The destabilized Delisser Dunes grew and started moving, as they still do. The town was moved and the telegraph station was abandoned. We visited on a trip along the Great Australian Bight to see the Nullarbor Plain and watch for Right Whales from the cliffs along the coast. This is morning light as we were looking north.

After ’spotting’ the dust and cloning out the the scratches, the image was optimized by dodging the dark side of the dune to reveal more detail. Optimizing the image was an exercise in thinking about and using the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer to guide the range of illumination and amount of contrast distributed throughout the image. The resulting illumination and contrast in the negative and the image processing was controlled to emphasizes the lines.

In color work we think of it as the Tone System to spread the luminance from dark to light, irrespective of the colors. The digital darkroom emulates a wet darkroom without the chemicals and with greater control of the results.

This image breaks some landscape rules and is stronger for doing so. Instead of a line down the middle, it is often suggested that there be a diagonal through the landscape. The central line works because of the different textures and the counterbalancing of image weight (dark and light) in the lower right and upper left of the image. The dune edge line is repeated in the foreground ripples.

BTW, from a cliff top we did see a mother Right Whale, with the size and proportions of a box car, and her baby. The baby wanted to play with some dolphins that were cavorting nearby. But mother was a strict disciplinarian and kept the baby at her ‘hip’. There are sharks out there in the Bight.

Last summer as the Japanese Beetles (Papillia japonica) filigreed vegetation in the area, we picked and saved some leaves for future study and photographs. Japanese Beetles are thought to have arrived in the U.S. in 1916 in some imported iris bulbs. Over the years they spread throughout the Eastern U.S., becoming the bane of gardeners, farmers and naturalists. They crossed the Mississippi River and are now a growing problem as they move west. Here is Iowa they are one of the main topics on gardening talk shows in midsummer when the adults are in full force. Without native predators and diseases, the population has burgeoned as it spread.

State Extension Services and gardening publications offer information on the identification and control of this pest. The list of the beetle’s preferred plants grows with each new publication and now is around 400. The grubs are destructive of grass roots and the adults skeletonize the leaves of native, horticultural and agricultural plants. We took out our native grape vines because they are a favorite beetle meal and our efforts with flicking beetles into soapy water could not keep them in check. They, like many of the beetles that make up 40% of the insect kingdom, are handsome. They have coppery elytra (wing covers), a green pronotum (front end behind the head) and bits of white trim.

As the beetles eat leaves they leave the veins. The leaves we saved dried and became pale colored and more lace-like. For this image we placed a colorful autumn maple leaf about 10 inches behind the skeletonized leaf in the light tent. The out-of-focus maple leaf provides a silky background for the crisp lacey leaf. We have also positioned them on colored tissue papers on a light table which made dark silouettes of the lace. When nature provides such patterns, we wonder if even something as destructive as beetles could have inspired early lace makers to imitate and improve on natural designs.

This fall members of the Iowa Insects email discussion group have been sharing images and pointing to information on the Bug Guide site about insect galls of many kinds. Yesterday while walking in a newly protected, beautiful woodland near here, we picked up a several species of oak leaves with interesting galls. This one is photogenic because of its color and texture and its placement on the leaf. The composition was irresistable so is included here.

Lately we have been thinking more about photographic art in terms of being both figurative and abstract, without being too much of either. Accurately presented natural subjects (like this gall) are at their best when their colors, shapes, positions and relationships are also abstractions beyond their physical reality. The essence and presentation of the subject elicits the art.

This oak leaf gall was made by a Cynipid gall wasp, probably an Acraspis species. Some of these tiny black wasp species have convoluted and complex reproduction sequences. Generations alternate with parthogenesis producing one generation and sexual reproduction the next within a given year. The galls are different depending on whether the developing wasp was produced by parthogenesis or two-sex reproduction. Some species usually place their eggs on the mid-rib of an oak leaf and the gall is made of the leaf’s tissue. The various wasp species have distinctive galls - some rough; some smooth; some spherical; some flatter; and some faceted and bristly like this one. They also place the eggs at different locations on plants. The bristles are sometimes quite colorful.

These patterns are just another reminder of the importance of looking at our world from all angles.

The light tent table has violet seeds scattered everywhere. We have been picking late blooming violets’ seed pods from our ‘lawn’. The three parts of an open capsule look like miniature wind turbines, especially after the seeds have ejected. These seeds do not need wind to scatter them. After the seed pods open, the individual capsule sections contract as they dry and the seeds are propelled up to about two feet away from the pod. Or at least that is what happened as we photographed. If this were outside, ants would collect the seeds and scatter them further.

We did not get any action photos of the seeds popping, though we saw some fly as the pod squeezed the cluster of ’seed pearl’ seeds. We had picked a number of pods and had them in old film canister ‘vases’. Each time we went up to work with them, there were more seeds on the table and floor.

This image is a composite of two images using Helicon Focus. Perhaps a third would have been useful to bring the rear top into sharper focus. However, having the stem and top seeds slightly out of focus increases the three dimensional quality of the image. Every composition can be interpreted in many ways. That is the artist’s perogative. Differing planes of focus can add a third dimension to a two-dimensional medium like photography.

Speaking of late blooming blue violets, there was one blooming along a neighbor’s sidewalk yesterday. We had thought the pods in our yard were very late. Also saw a dandelion bloom in another neighbor’s yard. This November is unseasonably warm.

There are several small Brown-eyed Susan blossoms in sheltered corners of the garden that has mostly gone to seed. We are enjoying bringing in seeds to photograph. These Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) seeds are too flighty for outdoor photographs. They are almost too flighty for indoor ones as well. One must breathe carefully after posing them or they bounce around the light tent. The long curved fruit or follicle is tightly packed with overlapping seeds that expand their parachutes when the fruit splits in the late autumn to be distributed by wind.

Their tufts of gossamer silky hairs are like cascading silvery fireworks as they float. We convinced these to balance on their parachutes on one of the out-of-focus foliage photographs we use as backgrounds in the light tent. This results in the soft shadows seen under the seeds. As usual we used a macro lens on a tripod and lit the tent from both sides and the top.

Butterfly Milkweed are usually orange but occasionally a yellow blossomed plant will occur. The common names include Yellow Milkweed; also, Indian Posy, Butterfly-weed and Pleurisy-root. It is wide-spread throughout North America, usually in dry prairies. It has many blossoms in clusters but few get pollinated. Insects must get a leg briefly stuck in a specific slit in a blossom to collect and deposit pollen. Only one of the plants in our native garden had pods this fall.

Walking in the autumn woods in eastern North America, one will often encounter a tall plant with gorgeous, thick, red stalks decorated with racemes of shiny purple-black berries on rosy stems. Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana) is not particularly noticable earlier in the year in our area when its small white blossoms occur. However, it stands out among the fallen yellow leaves. It may also be found along roadways and in untended fields.

This is a case of toxic beauty. Though, when properly prepared, the early spring sprouts were eaten like asparagus; the roots, mature stalks, leaves and berries are very poisonous. It can be a bothersome weed in some areas and is an invasive in parts of Europe. Invasives go in many directions. They are also very pretty. Very few of our field guides of native plants mention their highly toxic nature. Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands by Runkel and Bull (1987) states that is a powerful and dangerous emetic. Birds eat them with no apparent ill effects.

Like many widely distributed native plants, the Pokeberry goes by many names. Among them are: Poke, Pigeon-berry, Inkberry, Red-ink plant, American Nightshade, Coakum, and Pocan-bush. It is a member of the Pokeweed family; not the Nightshade family. Common names sometimes confuse the facts, but are the way most of us recognize and know the plants in our own habitats. The name Poke is said to come from ‘pocan’, an Algonquian name for a plant that produces a yellow or red dye. Soldiers during the Civil War sometimes used the berry juice for ink.