Buring is a part of our spring ritual. We burn to control weeds and knock out small woody plants. The fire department knows us well as we learn what not to do. Note the glass of wine that is always needed when burning near the vineyard.
You need to look close to see the young horned owl in this photo. Mother nature provides a number of protective devices including camouflage. Moments later I took the flight picture. It was a great "nature" day -- two horned owls and 45 wild turkeys in one day. The turkeys were going through their mating display on the ridge.
The first time I saw a horned owl on our land, I was surprised. I was unaware that horned owls nested in this area of the country. We found a female nesting in "oak park" portion of our land late in winter of 2004. She had taken over a red tailed hawks nest high in an oak tree and we watched the white owlet grow. This past week I noticed a brid low in a tree during the day near the pigeons cage. I got to within 25 feet before it took to flight. Surprisingly, I got this picture with a slow digital camera. Note the size of the talons. Wow!
You can easily see this large nest high in a tall oak tree. This was taken in mid-April; long before the leaves come out making the nest easily detected. However, horned owls have few natural enemies. The crow is their biggest enemy as they will distract the mother and go to the nest and push the owlette(s) out. Each time we go to this nest to see their progress, the mother flies away and within minutes you hear crows cawing. Soon crows from every direction gather to sitt in trees surrounding the owl and caw at her. eventually this comes to an end as the mother stays put. She does not want to draw them back to the nest and they do not want any part of her razor sharp talons.
A huge burr oak stands by itself on the fenceline. It escaped farmers cutting it down for many years. The tree is slated to be the state tree of Iowa at some point in the future but it is not offical yet. It is an interesting tree as it is not uniform and has bumps and lumps that make it look weird. This tree is estimated to be 85 to 95 feet tall.
On a calm evening smoke climbs and then settles down in the valley of our land. This firepit was established before we owned the property and we spent many a night watching the fire burn. Before we built our home on this land, we often cooked "foil dinners" over the fire.
A empty hummingbird's nest is flanked by buds on a wild plum tree. The nests typically go undetected until the leaves fall.
It is hard to hide against a bright green backround if you are yellow and the size of a baseball.
The prize! A large, fresh morel was spotted by "old eagle eye" on Mother's Day. These were found on a northern slope under a dead elm.
One of the clan takes a break from morel hunting. It does not seem to be the most comfortable place but options are limited.