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From Treehouse Hideaway taken by me 5/20/08.

I think Pine Warbler taken by me in Treetop Hideaway 5/20/08.

Common in the higher fields around ROLF, I almost always see them coming in from the Crossroads store. They also have a sweet and upbeat song. They like to sit of wires to song.

Found in the slow-moving riffles in the North Fork, where the bottom is gravel and rock and the water cold and clear. (Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation).

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Fairly common in southern Missouri. I saw one nesting in a Bluebird House at Caney Mountain Refuge last June 2007. The are not colonial nesters and prefer Bluebird Houses when they can find them. They are beautiful birds with shiny green backs. They are fascinated with feathers and can spend hours flying, dropping, and catching them before they reach the ground. They are summer residents of Southern Missouri.

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A sleek bird that spends almost all of is hours on wing. Steel Blue back feathers and an orange throat. Can be found at ROLF where ever he can find an overhand to build his mud nest underneath. This bird has a forked tail that is very easy to see. A twittering call. A summer resident of ROLF.

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Common along the North Fork River and at ROLF. A colonial nesting swallow. Blair bridge, especially, the downstream side had a huge population of these swallows (maybe 100-200) nesting in 2005. They also nest under overhangs in rocks or in holes in rock on bluffs along the river.

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Rounding out the swallows in southern Missouri is the Purple Martin. A colony could easily be started a ROLF but you rarely see them unless a “Purple Martin House” is nearby. They are colonial nesters and are also our largest swallow.

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This cheerful, widespread wildflower is common across Missouri and at ROFL. Bright-yellow, 2-3 in. wide, daisy-like flowers with dark centers are its claim-to-fame. They occur singly atop 1-2 ft. stems. The stems and scattered, oval leaves are covered with bristly hairs. Coarse, rough-stemmed plant with daisy-like flower heads made up of showy golden-yellow ray flowers, with disk flowers forming a brown central cone. There are actually several species in Missouri with minor differences.

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Diurnal. Terrestrial; the Five-lined Skink climbs only to bask on stumps or the lower reaches of tree trunks. It feeds on insects and their larvae, spiders, earthworms, crustaceans, lizards, even small mice. Often have blue tails. Common on the porches at ROLF. Eats plenty of insects. Male in breeding has red head.