After recent mowing of side fields and rain we are at last seeing fire ant mounds – why is this good news, surely it’s better to not see fire ants? Well, just cause you don’t seem them doesn’t mean they are not there! When in drought they go deep...
Wildlife Management – 2013
Wrapping category to wrap all 2013 wildlife activities
Quail! (and mowing)
Was out mowing this morning trying to beat the broom and ragweed which is starting to release pollen and came across some quail which was really a bonus as our last birding survey didn’t report any quail. The quail were spotted along the fence where I was mowing on...
Coyote
Besides these two images caught on our trail camera (happens to be near the old farmhouse) we have never seen any coyote – now we know with certainty that they are around. We have also purchased an additional camera which we will use to discover what is inhabiting the...
Weeding effort
Well, looks like hot summer has taken its toll on a lot of the weeds but not on the broomweed and ragweed (at least that’s what I assume they are). While an important part of land restoration I have started mowing these as well before they go into flower...
Stocking Tank
Decided to add fish to the water tank. We added catfish, perch and minnows.
Seeding/Weed Control
As part of wildlife and land restoration we control and sowing of native seeds is part of our program. We want to minimize use of poisons in order to protect wildlife and trees, but I am not sure how much we can accomplish without applying poison. For now we...
Pond Restoration – Images
Took some macro photos of insects and bugs in wildflowers growing along edge of newly restored pond edge. Amazing how much life there is in such a little space!
Supplemental Water
The pond restoration has been pretty successful and water level, while dropping, is looking good. Unfortunately the rainfall has not been sufficient to keep the supplemental water tanks that harvest rain water full so we had to fill these ourselves – actually a fun job with everyone getting wet...
Turkeys – Aug 2012
Looks like we have had a pretty successful breeding year for the turkeys. Seems to be way more baby chicks than last year – could be due to early spring rain? Rough count shows somewhere between 40 and 50 babies between two crops. Attached pictures show one such crop.
Reseed effort
While wildflowers are looking really pretty at the moment we still have a lot of weeds – I am assured this is all part of the restoration process. Already after only one year we can see a lot of native grasses starting to pop up. One of our challenges...