An extremely rare albino hummingbird recently visited a feeder at a Lake Waukomis home and the bird may still be in the area.  On August 8, birdwatchers Nancy and Michael Morrison spotted a white hummingbird with a pink beak, pink legs, and pink eyes hovering at a feeder in their yard. The bird then visited the feeder daily or rested at a butterfly bush at the Morrison’s home.  Three days later it was gone.

Conservation Department officials say white hummingbirds have poor survival rates because they stand out to predators.  The albino in Morrison’s yard was likely born this year in the Kansas City area. If it survives it will soon migrate south to the Gulf Coast or Central America.

The Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition will land at the Remington Nature Center September 7.  The two replica Pirogues are large boats, one 41 feet long, the other 39 feet.  They’ll be featured at a free Open Camp where the public can learn about uniforms and weapons, fire-marking, rope-making, 1804 medicine, and the boats themselves.  Re-enactors will demonstrate what life on the river was like during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Open Camp will be held from 9 am to 2 pm September 8.  The boats will leave Saint Joseph the next morning.  For more information about the Expedition click here.

A new smartphone app walks drivers through crucial steps to take if they’re in an auto accident.  Missouri Insurance Department Director John Huff says the WreckCheck app is a quick reference that removes the guesswork about what personal information to share.

The free app from the state Department of Insurance is designed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.  For more about how it works click here.  The WreckCheck app is available for both Android and iPhone devices.

Law officers throughout the region are on the lookout for a convict who escaped from the minimum security lockup at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth.

Forty-nine-year-old Joel Rodriguez is listed as an escapee by the federal inmate locator.

Rodriguez was missing from his assigned quarters Sunday afternoon. A statement from the prison did not indicate how he got out.

Rodriguez was serving a 98 month federal drug sentence.

The deadline has been extended for ticket sales to the “Best Party Ever,” supporting Second Harvest Community Food Bank.

Officials say you now have until September 4th to buy tickets and sponsorships.

 

Expect Charades, Parades and Masquerades, decadent food, unique entertainment and a veil of mystery.The event is Saturday, September 8th from 7 – 10 p.m. at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, 2818 Frederick.

Find out more at the Second Harvest Web site here.

A Saint Joseph woman was injured when a truck she was riding in failed to climb a steep hill in a back yard and overturned at least twice. Police Sergeant Richard Eaton says the accident in South Saint Joseph happened at 1:30 this morning. After overturning, the truck came to a stop in the 56-hundred block of King Hill Avenue. The male driver was unhurt, but his female passenger was taken to Heartland for treatment of what were considered non-life-threatening injuries.

It may not be enough to break the drought, but nearly one inch of rain over the weekend was a step in the right direction.  A three-day total of .94 of an inch was measured officially at Rosecrans Airport in Saint Joseph.  It started with .05 late Friday morning, resumed early Saturday morning, and wrapped up Sunday morning. The heaviest rain happened between midnight and one a.m. Sunday, when .17 of an inch fell.

The weekend rain came after a long dry period which saw just .52 of an inch total the previous days of August, and .29 of an inch for all of July.

The Pony Express Museum has opened a new exhibit that looks like a lot of fun for horse lovers.

“Whimsical Horses” includes sculptures of horses, paintings and prints of horses, miniature horses, hobby horses, and a merry-go-round horse. You’ll find horses fashioned out of bronze, glass, brass, cast iron, tin and resin.

The collection includes a rare MOBO self-propelled, ride-on horse, and artist Bill Miller’s prize-winning paint “Ghost Horse.”

Horse-inspired artwork will be displayed with the stabled horses at the museum. The exhibit will be offered through February at the museum at 914 Penn Street,

The photographs below were supplied by Brenda Eaves of the Pony Express Museum.

A huge fire that charred hundreds of acres of pasture in Caldwell County started when a mechanical shredder caught fire and ignited the drought-parched vegetation.

A farmer was pulling the device behind a tractor and didn’t notice when the clutch caught fire.

The blaze, first reported Thursday south and west of Braymer, burned about 1,280 acres.

Captain Bob Gaffey of the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office tells us the fire was put out Thursday night, but members of the Braymer Fire Department remained on the scene to monitor any possible flare-ups. At least 18 fire departments helped put the fire out.

Captain Gaffey says no structures caught fire, and there were no injuries.