Birds And Flowers, Flowers And Birds

The old fashioned roses in the side yard began blooming in June, and especially this brightly colored gem. This rose was almost killed by a large maple tree and then, when the maple was cut down, mowed over for many years. One day I discovered a 6" shoot sticking up out of the ground with a small, red rosebud on it. I mowed around it for several years and now it is at least 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide, growing more beautiful every year - and hardy to below -30 degrees:

This year it had an abundance of buds. I'll surely be posting photos of the whole plant in bloom soon:

Likewise, I discovered Peonies which had been mowed over for many years and allowed them to spring up. Only one has bloomed before, so I don't even know what color the flowers will be on the newly revived plants. But as a bonus, this yellow Day-Lily sprang up from inside a clump of Peony:

One day I couldn't find the cows, so I set out walking across the north field to be sure they were OK. A Meadowlark flew up at my feet, startling me. I realized that there must be a nest near my feet. I checked down in the grass and found this "cave" of woven grasses, much like a Robin's nest turned on its side - with newly hatched, baby Meadowlarks inside:

Here's a close-up. You can most plainly see the bottom center baby, upside down with its beak pointing toward the upper right and its feet curled up at the bottom left:

The yellow and purple Iris bloomed profusely, perhaps because I top-dressed them with composted manure. Alas, a downpour ruined the yellow Iris, but the purple ones must have been made of sturdier stuff:

I drove the tractor out to the far end of the south field to close some gates to keep the cattle out. I noticed what I thought were Snowball Bushes blooming in the hedgerows and went over for a closer look:

I knew enough botany to notice the opposite leaves, parallel veins and four petaled flowers. I decided this must be in the Dogwood family, so I came back into the house and Googled it. I concluded that these huge, profusely blooming bushes were Cornus drummondii, or Roughleaf Dogwood. It was originally from the Midwest but has spread, via hedgerows, into New York state:

Here's a close-up. You can see the Dogwood resemblance in the tiny, individual flowers. In the familiar, large flowered Dogwood trees, the "petals" are actually bracts, a specialized leaf - but these are really petals:

And large patches of Ragged Robin in bloom, mixed with Buttercups. I especially liked this photo because it also shows the dirt road, the fence line and more of the hay field:

A close-up of the Ragged Robin. This photo also has a meaningful background, showing my house and barn as well as the neighbors' barn:

And now that I've mentioned birds, lets include the chickens. They invade the barn every time a door is left open, however briefly. I shoo them back out when I can, but they love to scratch in the hay for seeds and eat spilled grain from the cattle stalls: