Humming Right Along

August 17, 2010

I was watching hummingbirds this morning while eating breakfast. They are such territorial little critters! It doesn’t matter how much food is in the feeder, they don’t want to share.

There was one young male that was being especially aggressive this morning. He sat on a little tree branch where he could see the feeder.

young male hummingbird

Standing Guard

The red patch on his throat is barely starting to show, but evidently those male hormones are in full swing!  He’d swoop down on any other hummingbird that came close, then hover for a while until he was sure they’d gone.

hummingbird flying

Making it clear it is HIS feeder.

The cardinals are much more sedate, and pay little attention to the hummers.

red bird

Cardinal on Honeysuckle

But me?  I like watching their antics!

Friday’s Farm Fotos

May 21, 2010

Here we are, another Friday, and time for some miscellaneous pictures from around the farm this week. Per usual, in the order they came out of the camera.  Here we go!

Here’s the retired matriarch of our Shetland sheep, Miss Coconut.

female sheep

Got it made in the shade. . .

 She loves having her head scratched and is always looking for treats.  (I have NO idea how she got that way.  Must be The Farmer handing out treats, yeah, that’s it. . .)

This one is an interesting combination of beauty and the beast… beastly odor that is.

Beauty and the Beast(ly odor)

That Monarch butterfly is on a Voodoo Lily.  It’s the only one I see growing this year.  *Someone* keeps mowing down the bank where they grow. . .

Here’s a closer look:

Dracunculus vulgaris

When that big bloom opens, it generally will lay down horizontal.  And smell.  And attract a LOT of bugs.  (There’s more pictures and info about this plant at Voodoo Magic.)

And of course, I have lots of hens and baby chicken pictures, so here’s a couple of those:

On the move!

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chicks

A chick, chick here. . .

Oh, and here’s another picture of the rambling rose growing up in a big oak tree.  I put a couple of arrows in there so you can see better how far it is up into the tree.

Paul's Himalayan Musk Rambling Rose

And while we have lots of bluebirds and Tufted Titmouse birds and robins and such flitting around, there are also still lots of cardinals to brighten up the place.

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

And speaking of bluebirds, we have some nesting nearby.  Here’s one after it took off from the nest. . .

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)

And one of the bluebirds is looking down at the hidden nest here. . .

Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Their nest is hidden in a pipe that is bracing a gate post.

The arrow marks the spot!

The nest is just below a hole in the pipe, so I can see it’s there, but I can’t see in it.  Can’t see down the pipe either, because it’s too close against the fence post.

It’s been raining this morning, so I wondered how the little Tufted Titmouse baby birds were doing since that’s just an open hole in the post.

Rain doesn't seem to dim the appetite of baby birds!

They seem to be doing fine, in spite of the rainy weather!

The rain doesn’t keep the sheep from getting out to graze either.

A Trio of Shetland Ewes

And last for today, a picture of a bloom and buds on my Country Lady rose bush.

Country Lady Rose

That’s it for this week.  Have a great week-end!

Fowl Spring

March 5, 2010

It’s March and even when the weather doesn’t cooperate, the fowl – both wild and domestic, think it’s spring time.

I see wild birds out courting and building nests.  A pair of bluebirds were rummaging around in the old garden area looking for nesting materials.

bluebirds

See anything you like?

One of the local cardinal girls tried to give them some advice.

Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and female Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

"Are you looking for good building materials?"

Then one of the cardinal dudes decided to help them out.

Pair of bluebirds and male cardinal.

"Okay kids, here's the best way to gather materials."

Evidently he was a little too pushy, because the female bluebird decided to just up and leave.

Pair of bluebirds with cardinal.

"That's it!..I've heard enough."

She eventually came back in time for one of the roosters to wander by and check out what they were doing.

Rooster and bluebirds.

"Well, they haven't got anything to crow about!"

And speaking of nothing to crow about. . . since the days are getting longer, another fowl fact is we’re starting to get more eggs.  This morning I was making some scrambled eggs and used up the last two store-bought eggs.  (EGG-LAND’S BEST!  ALL NATURAL!)

Store eggs vs. farm eggs

Mass produced eggs are a pale imitation of REAL free range eggs.

Well, they may be Egg-land’s best, but those mass produced type of eggs don’t compare with our little farm’s truly free-ranging chicken eggs.  Look at the difference in color between the store-bought eggs, and the rich color of an egg from one of our chickens.

Yep, those store eggs are just a pale imitation.

Even More Weather Changes

March 2, 2010

So we went from a sunny day on Sunday, gloomy on Monday (all sounds kind of appropriate, doesn’t it?)… and today… it’s snowing.

For a while it was coming down pretty hard.

Snow!

A little snow, or a lot, it doesn’t seem to bother the cardinals.

Cardinal in snow storm.

Snowy days always seem like a good excuse to go walking in the woods and alongside the creek.

Snow on banks along creek.

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Creek with snowy banks.

Some of the snow was getting slushy and falling off the trees into the creek with little “splats!”

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There’s not really a lot of snow on the ground, but Toby had fun running around in the woods.

Toby having fun in the woods.

There was a little snow along the slews.

Slue and snowy ground.

Spot decided to come out and see what we were doing when we got down around the pond.

Spot walking through snow.

The bottom pasture was also snowy of course.

Snowy field.

By then it was getting so slushy, and so much water kept dropping on my camera lens, I just gave it up and went inside.

Toby and I were tired out anyway.  (Okay, maybe it was just me.)

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