Places to Go: Stony Point Prairie CA

Stony Point Prairie Conservation Area

Flower sniffin’ and bird watchin’

Just as some actors and actresses become typecast as action heroes, villains, or “the quirky best friend,” the same thing can happen to Missouri’s few remaining remnant prairies when they become known primarily for “flower sniffin’ and bird watchin’.”

Such is the case with Stony Point Prairie Conservation Area (CA), whose 960 acres in Dade County host an abundance of both birds and blooms.

A maintenance regime that includes both grazing and prescribed fire keeps the area constantly regenerating, resulting in a variety of brighter blooms, attracting more insects and creating a welcome mat for grassland bird species, said North Slope Managing District Supervisor Kyle Hedges.

“Because of the grazing and because of the disturbance regime … you get shorter areas and taller areas, so the grasshopper sparrows prefer the shorter stuff, Henslow’s sparrows prefer the thicker, thatchy areas,” Hedges said. “We have high numbers of both of those.”

The number and variety of birds found on the area have landed it on the Missouri Birding Trail, and the variety of birds is matched by the variety of plants, Hedges said.

“There’s well over 200 species of plants there.”