A Spring Morning in the Pasture

I was going to write this post about ewes and their lambs but found a lot more subjects to photograph--not all sheep. Loretta and triplets.Ginseng and twins. Look at the horn spread on that ram lamb. They all have lilac coloring.This is Foxglove's ram lamb, also a lilac.Puddleduck Melinda and one of her lambs. Alexandria.Eliza.It is balloon season. Rusty is hiding in the barn. These ewes were waiting for me to change the fence and let them into that tall grass but I was distracted by other things. Do you see the bird on the fence behind them? Don't look too hard for it. See it below.I looked it up. Western Kingbird. I know my birder friends will tell me if I'm wrong.I think there is pair nesting nearby. I was mowing the pasture later in the day and they followed the tractor catching bugs. They would zoom off toward the trees and then come back for more.  Balloon getting lower. In the meantime......I saw this hawk being harassed by another bird.I didn't know until I zoomed in on the photo on my computer that the hawk had something in it's talons.   Balloon has landed and now I can change the fence. Happy sheep.

Jepson Prairie in Early April

Yesterday I visited Jepson Prairie, a nature preserve owned by the Solano Land Trust, that is only about 15 miles from here. This is the time of year to see the wildflowers in this remnant of native landscape.   The patches of goldfields (Lasthenia species) are spectacular.   View to the southwest.View to the west. But there is more than just goldfields in this gold field.The yellow and white flowers are butter and eggs (Triphysaria erianthum)

The purple flowers here are Downingia species.    Brass buttons (Cotula coronopifolia). I looked this up and its a native of Africa. The other flowers I've listed are CA natives. How about the name of this one? It's a species of Wool Flower, requiring a host support. Another species that grows in my pasture is shown here. (If you like this then google hippos and manatees in Stockton.)

Jepson Prairie is also home to wildlife.

 I rather amazed myself by getting some decent shots of flying birds...maybe not National Geographic quality, but OK for me. These are Canada geese.

I saw these birds walking across the gravel road to get from one part of the lake to the other. I thought that was rather odd......but looked them up and found that "coots have strong legs and can walk and run vigorously. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers"This bird is an avocet. I will admit that although I know the Canada goose, I didn't know the other birds. I ran into a docent in the preserve and asked him. Maybe I'll remember these two.

I want to go back before the wildflower season is completely over. There are docent-led walks every weekend through Mother's Day so maybe I'll make one of those.