The July summer days are being filled with beautiful lilies blooming. Oranges, yellow, red and pinks dot the landscape.
Summertime Lily
Picture of the Day for July 13, 2013
Having the windows open when a cool breeze is blowing is always a treat in the summer but that also means you can hear the screaming kids outside. And this week, the crying kids are the baby Baltimore Orioles who sit near the sugar water feeder and screams until one of the parents tanks up on the juice and delivers it to the screaming kid. Grape jelly is another way to feed the screaming babies.
Baltimore Orioles prefer darkest colored berries, ignoring green and yellow berries even if ripe. And when they find dark berries, they will stab the berry with a closed bill and then open their mouth to cut a juicy swath to drink the juices.
The young males do not molt into the bright orange plumage until the fall of their second year but sometimes the drab first-year young males will attract a mate and raise a family. The females become deeper orange each time they molt and some older females can be almost as bright orange as a male.
Baltimore Oriole Eating Jelly
Picture of the Day for July 12, 2013
The need for barbed wire arose in the 19th century as the American frontier moved westward into the Great Plains and traditional fence materials—wooden rails and stone—became scarce and expensive. Of the many early types of barbed wire, the type invented in Illinois in 1873 by Joseph F. Glidden proved most popular.
Glidden fashioned barbs on an improvised coffee bean grinder, placed them at intervals along a smooth wire, and twisted another wire around the first to hold the barbs in a fixed position. His U.S. patent was issued November 24, 1874 and the patent survived court challenges from other inventors. Joseph Glidden prevailed in litigation and in sales. Today, it remains the most familiar style of barbed wire.
Joseph Glidden’s wire fences were cheaper to erect than their alternatives and when they became widely available in the late 19th century in the United States they made it affordable to fence much bigger areas than before. Joseph Farwell Glidden’s simple invention, barbed wire, changed forever the development of the American West.
Barbed Wire
Picture of the Day for July 11, 2013
I did a double take when I saw what looked like an old truck with failed brakes coming through the barn wall.
Old Truck through the Barn Wall
Picture of the Day for July 10, 2013
The family of geese are out for a nice summer time swim. The young often remain with their parents for their entire first year.
At least 11 subspecies of Canada Goose have been recognized, although only a couple are distinctive. In general, the geese get smaller as you move northward, and darker as you go westward. The four smallest forms are now considered a different species: the Cackling Goose.
The “giant” Canada Goose, Branta canadensis maxima, bred from central Manitoba to Kentucky but was nearly driven extinct in the early 1900s. Programs to reestablish the subspecies to its original range were in many places so successful that the geese have become a nuisance in many urban and suburban areas. And it is no fun stepping in goose poop!
Swimming Geese
Picture of the Day for July 9, 2013
These horses might like to hid inside yesterday’s barn picture with the approaching storm even if the roof might leak a little. No sunny pasture today for them like the other day.
Sunny Horses
Picture of the Day for July 8, 2013
This old barn may have more of its boards than yesterday’s barn picture, but there are some missing and the door is off its track. The roof has seen better days too but I bet this old barn has plenty of stories to tell from the horse and buggy days to the age of big machinery.
Aged Barn
Picture of the Day for July 7, 2013
This old barn has seen a lot of sunsets, but its sunsets might be numbered as the side boards are already gone and its useful days are gone.
Sunset Barn
Picture of the Day for July 6, 2013
My pond some times has a Green Heron as a frequent visitor and on occasion, the larger Great Blue Heron visits and leaves foot prints on the pond floor several feet away from the shore. Great blue herons are waders and expert fishers. Herons snare their aquatic prey by walking slowly, or standing still for long periods of time and waiting for fish to come within range of their long necks and blade-like bills. The deathblow is delivered with a quick thrust of the sharp bill, and the prey is swallowed whole. Though they are best known as fishers, mice constitute a large part of their diet, and they also eat insects and other small creatures.
Great Blue Herons’ size (3.2 to 4.5 feet) and wide wingspan (5.5 to 6.6 feet) make them a joy to see in flight. They can cruise at some 20 to 30 miles an hour as they curl their neck into an S shape for a more aerodynamic flight profile. Despite their impressive size, Great Blue Herons weigh only 5 to 6 pounds thanks in part to their hollow bones—a feature all birds share.
Great Blue Herons have specialized feathers on their chest that continually grow and fray. The herons comb this “powder down” with a fringed claw on their middle toes, using the down like a washcloth to remove fish slime and other oils from their feathers as they preen. Applying the powder to their underparts protects their feathers against the slime and oils of swamps.
Great Blue Heron
Picture of the Day for July 5, 2013
A variety of birds may be seen near a pond, like colorful ducks, herons or song birds getting a drink of water. If the pond is large enough, it may be the home to Trumpeter Swans, which are the largest bird in North America and gets its name from its trumpet-like call. In a standing position, Trumpeter Swans are approximately 4 feet high. However, if the neck and legs are outstretched they can measure nearly 6 feet long from bill to feet.
Although more common today, the Trumpeter Swan was reduced to near extinction by the early 20th century as they were hunted for its feathers throughout the 1600s – 1800s. Its largest flight feathers made what were considered to be the best quality quill pens. It was a good thing ball point pens were invented.
Every year adult swans go through a flightless period in which they molt all their feathers at once thus making them flightless for a 1-2 month period of time. This typically occurs during the warmest months, namely July and August. During this period they are particularly vulnerable and may act more secretive than usual.
Trumpeter Swans may form pair bonds as early as their second winter and some may nest for the first time at three years of age. Most Trumpeters, however, don’t nest until they are four to six years old. Trumpeter Swan cygnets (young birds) are typically hatched gray in color.
Trumpeter Swan Family
