Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Around The Farm

We've had confusing weather this year, with spring weather in February and winter weather in April. But the cattle were happy when the snow melted:

 Canada Geese and Snow Geese are returning to our area on their way north. Some of the skeins are mixed species, but mostly they have been Snow Geese:

 And speaking of Snow Geese, they have been stopping in corn fields near me, ideal for taking pictures:

 There are two color phases of Snow Geese, white and blue. The light gray birds are the immature blue phase:

 They are spectacular birds but more shy than Canada Geese. I always need my zoom lens to photograph them. Even if they're right next to the road when I see them, they are moving rapidly away by the time I stop and grab my camera:

 I saw this bold fox walking across my south field one morning when I was feeding the cattle. It turned in my direction when it arrived at the gravel road and began walking toward me, stopping only when I pointed a camera at it. I saw fox tracks every morning we had new snow. That is not good news for the chickens:

 The miniature horses seem immune to the cold and snow, but I'm sure they'll be happy to have green pastures once again where they can feed and play:

 We had one really nice day before the latest snowstorm, and I opened the door for hens to come outside:

 They had to cross a snow pile to get out, then ran down the driveway toward the bird feeders:

 They pecked around, looking for goodies:

 And then moved to the bird feeders (just to the left of this photo), where there was lots of spilled seed:

 I am almost out of bird seed and have a big rat which is feeding on spilled seed. I've been unable to trap the rat so far, but either way, I'll stop feeding the wild birds very soon:

2 comments:

  1. Your pictures of the spectacular snow geese are very cool. I wonder that Blue and Remy don't serve as guardians around the barn to keep bold Mr. Fox away like a donkey might with his sheep? The chickens run down the driveway (they know what they want) tickles me. Oh, and the rat- mama mia- I never think about there being rats in the country.
    Hope you can discourage these marauders, Bill.
    What a story your pictures tell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. These critters sure keep me busy, sometimes happily and sometimes not.

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