Ken Lassman has been keeping this almanac for over a decade, He invites you to share your observations and photos in the comments section. You can find his book Wild Douglas County at The Raven Bookstore and The Community Mercantile in Lawrence.
July: Buffalo Mating Moon
The Osages commemorate the keystone species of the prairie, the bison, for its mating season, which used to be one of the greatest spectacles found in North America. The book The Osages has descriptions of the titanic battles between competing bulls and how they would plow up large areas of prairie sod as they pushed each other aroound. Read that and you’ll understand why the Osage clled this the Bufffalo Mating Moon.
This month is a time when many songbirds molt, or lose their colorful feathers that helped attract a mate in the spring. It is a time when many gooseberries are ripe in the woods, when warm season grasses shoot up tall and wildflowers grow taller to compete for the sun. Cicadas sing during the day, with damelflies and dragonflies eating mosquitoes while dodging the watchful eye of the bullfrog. At night, katydids begin their song while lightning bugs stitch across yards, meadows and fields.
Thunderstorms seem to lose their way, appearing, moving and disappearing almost at random this time of year, causing flash flooding at one spot while leaving nearby areas dry. A wet road at night can host steamy fog and fast jumping frogs crossing the pavement, while moonlit nights can bring out many a nocturnal animal beating the heat of the day. If the moon isn’t bright, take a look at the milky way that the summer so nicely showcases, including the constellation Sagittarius in the south, which looks like a teapot outline in the sky but holds the center of our galaxy.
Kaw Valley Almanac 
I love this info-thank you! What is the difference on the moon chart between a full moon and 100% illumination? Thanks, Marsha Buhler
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Great question! It made me look at the ephemeris, which includes a minute-by-minute description of the moon’s illumination. I use the Carte du Ciel/Sky Chart open source software for my data, and recommend its wonderful night sky software program that is also included in their free download. At any rate, the moment of Full Moon occurs when the moon is exactly opposite the sun in the sky (and if the alignment is perfect, we get a total lunar eclipse), which was at 9:51am, daylight savings time on Halloween. Of course that moment occurred while the moon was invisible from Kansas as it hadn’t yet risen. The typical way the Full Moon is described, however, is not just for that millisecond that it is exactly 180 degrees opposite from the sun, rather it is expanded because for all practical purposes, someone cannot see shadows beginning to form on the edge of the Full moon for a while, even through a telescope, because it is very subtle. The ephemeris says that it takes approximately 19 hours past that exact point of Full Moon before it shifts from 100% illumination to 99% illumination. This means that the moon looked 100% illuminated as late as 3:48am on Sunday, Nov. 1, so they marked that day 100% illuminated even though the exact moment of Full moon was on Halloween. There! Probably way more information than you expected and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask away! Ken Lassman
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