Naturalist quote of day: Aldo Leopold on danger of not owning a farm
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace. To avoid the first danger,...
View ArticleWalking with Great Blue Herons
The grove peninsula. This is one of several peninsulas formed by the meandering Salt Creek (December 2011). Blue Heron tracks along a still pool of water in Salt Creek (December 2011). I walked in the...
View ArticleJuniper: an evergreen for all my seasons
Juniper in Flying Hat Ranchito grove, often referred to as cedar (J. Matthews, 2011). (As a disclosure, I use “cedar” and “juniper” interchangeably. See notes below from Encyclopedia Britannica and...
View ArticleMeadow lark with morning sun
Early morning landing. Early this morning as I walked down the road to feed Star, I saw these meadow larks (Sturnella neglecta) sunning on the barbed wire fence between the house and arena pasture. I...
View ArticleFlowers of Flying Hat (1-4): Late Winter blossoms
Human beings set goals, or at least I think they should. On the other hand, doing what comes naturally has its attraction too. I have set several objectives regarding nature observations on my 53...
View ArticleFlowers of Flying Hat (5): Ground plum, not yummy
Yesterday evening as I came back a different path from the barn after feeding Star, I discovered this flowering plant, the Ground plum, milkvetch. I spent over an hour perusing field books until I...
View ArticleFlowers of Flying Hat (6-8): Sow thistle is not a weed.
Far field clouds, March 2012. 6. False Garlic, Crow Poison (Nothoscordum bivalve), March 2012. This False Garlic flowers early and there are several colonies clustered together throughout the ranchito....
View ArticleYes, I know it’s a sparrow, but what kind?
Of course you know how it all starts out. Going to do one thing, then end up doing another! The rain ceased today, this morning actually, and I walked to the pond the see if it was overflowing (it was,...
View ArticleVacation chores
My Spring vacation ends today. Tomorrow back to work, teaching. On the list of chores for ‘vacation,’ several tasks were accomplished, some were not. I changed the flatbed tire, carted the Case...
View ArticleRanchito blossoms: Flowers of Flying Hat (14-19)
In my continuing task of photographing all different species of blossoms for one year on Flying Hat Ranchito (less than 2560 acres in western America), I have six new pictures to post, only two have I...
View ArticleBerries and birds
I am almost, but not completely, compelled to camp next to this chokecherry (?) tree in my front yard to watch the birds (juncos, etc.) strip the tree and come back time and time again. Last year I saw...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....