Sunday Morning in the Pasture
/I switched lenses this morning to get a different view of What's In The Pasture.
The sheep followed me to the horse pasture gate but I didn't let them out there. 
Instead I climbed on the gate to get a photo of the neighbor's alfalfa being cut.
This hawk was flying over the field hopeful that breakfast would be flushed out from the alfalfa harvest.
Western Kingbird on the powerline at the south end of the pasture.
Swainson's hawk over our pasture.
Buckeye butterfly. I read that adults live for a little over a week and that plantain is one of the plants where they lay eggs. There is plenty of that in the pasture right now. I'll have to go inspect those for eggs and caterpillars.
This might be a Forage Looper Moth--that is the closest ID I got from browsing the internet for look-alike moths and butterflies.
Johnson grass. This grass is taller than me and is growing at the south end of the pasture. We try to get rid of it when we find it because it is very competitive and the sheep won't eat the coarse leaves and stems. From the internet: "Under certain conditions, the leaves of johnsongrass (and sorghum) can produce toxic amounts of hydrocyanic acid, which can poison livestock when ingested." 
The medusahead is drying out. 
I moved the fence and the sheep were ready to go out for breakfast.
This is the ditch that runs north-south and brings the water from the upper ditch to the one that goes from west to east along the bigger pasture.
This photo is looking the same direction but from a little bit west of the first one. You can see the same row of overgrown blackberries along the fence. The standpipe where the water comes in is in the upper left corner. In the lower center of the photo is one of the cut-outs that lets the water flow from the ditch into the field.
Looking to the east as the water is flooding the pasture from north to south. In this photo the water hasn't gotten very far into the paddock where the sheep are.
Here is that tarp I showed in the last post.
There are things to see besides just water and grass. One of the first things I noticed after the water filled the ditch was buzzing. These insects were everywhere over the water. I tried to ID it on the internet but didn't find it. Anyone know what this is? 
This is one of the pair of Swainson's hawks that lives nearby and hunts in our pasture.
We have enough gophers to feed an army of hawks.
I was hoping to see the hawk catch something but it continued to soar higher and higher. When I saw the buzzard (upper right) it reminded me of watching airplanes that you know are in different flight paths, although they look as though they'll fly right into each other.