This and That

Just some extra pictures from the last week or so.

Stormy

Buster (with Fionn in the background)

Sky’s favorite toy is still his Jolly Ball.  Best toy ever!  And, yes, I almost got hit by the ball and run over by the dog.

Sky

These two girls are still cranky whenever they see Tony.  I am almost afraid to hope they are bred though, and it’s still a really long time before they would be due.

Odie and Maybeline

I think I shared that I couldn’t touch Hera anymore after I caught her and put the horn apparatus back on her.  She finally got to where I could pet her again, and then I had to catch her and give her a dose of copper.  You guessed it.  I can’t touch her again.  I am certainly planning on locking her in with a buck in a small space so I can get her back to being friendly.

Hera

Clover and Wanda

Leo is doing well.  We thought he might have diabetes last spring, but he is actually doing quite well now.  I’m thrilled and amazed since he’s pushing eighteen.

Leo

I am very happy to report that we haven’t had any coyote attacks out in pasture.  The goats are out there almost as soon as the sun comes up, but everyone has stayed safe.  I’m going to credit the fence away from the woodlot.

The good news about Zinnia not being bred is that I can keep milking her all the way until the first of May if she stays in milk.  I’m not sure she will, but I can try.

Zinnia

A woodpecker climbing up the maple tree–even if I just get to see their back side, I enjoy them.  The red-bellied woodpeckers are my favorites.

I told you I was going to take lots of pictures on the weekends to make sure I could blog through the week.

Scenes from Pasture

bug on the wild aster

Pretty sure this was right before they flew the coop.

barn swallows

Damselfly

Fritillary on alfalfa

A squirrel was enjoying the walnuts that grow in the pasture.

woodpecker

I think there were a pair of newly fledged barn swallows (but not from the nest above).  At least, I was getting dived at by another one, and these two just sat there unconcerned about my presence.

We’ve had enough rain that it’s still green and pretty out in pasture right now.  There are lots of wildlife too.

A Bunch of Birds and Rambling

Today was a birding kind of day.  I had just made it over the first hill in the Back Forty when I heard the sound I’ve been waiting to hear for the last few weeks–the bobolinks are back!

bobolink

I love their song and their bright breeding colors.  They were putting on quite the show for me!

It makes me wish I hadn’t had my 300mm lens on my camera because, even though I can zoom in really close, I have horrible lens shake with it.

I need a monopod, and I do have one, but I haven’t figured out how to change it from a tripod to a monopod, and the directions are very unclear.  Almost as unclear as my pictures handheld with this lens.

Anyhow, I can live with a little shake in the bluebird.

I am seeing the northern flickers almost everyday because there’s a whole family of them living out here.  The robin on top was just a bonus.

I missed the nuthatch because they are such quick little things.  I also saw a ton of blackbirds and sparrows.  Here are more birds from pasture–

blue jay

red bellied woodpecker

eastern meadowlark

When I was hanging laundry out this morning, I got to see a Baltimore oriole, but I didn’t have my camera.  It sat there and watched me and let me tell him how beautiful he was, and he was gone by the time I got back with my camera.  That’s okay because I got to see the red-headed woodpeckers that live in the paddock north of my barn.

When I was in pasture, the orioles were still trolling me.  Nothing but a fly-bye shot.

Later when I was doing laundry, I saw the male cardinal.  I think there’s a pair that are living in the pine trees on the north edge of my yard.  Since I was again doing laundry and didn’t have my camera, this shot is from a couple of evenings ago.

Here’s the eastern kingbird.

Another wind/lens shake shot–this time the eastern goldfinch.

Luckily, by the time I got up from the pasture, they had figured out I put out the bird feeders in their summer location north of the house.

The red-breasted grosbeak found it too!

It was definitely a good birding day.  Now I just need the hummingbirds to find their feeder.