Picture of the Day for April 30, 2015

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Many birds are busy making nests or even sitting on eggs already in birdhouses I have made so I didn’t appreciate the Northern Flicker trying to drill through the top of one the birdhouses. It wasn’t my fault the wind blew down the dead tree a week ago where it nested in last year so he didn’t need to try to destroy another nesting site.

The Northern Flicker spends a lot of time on the ground looking for insects and I see plenty of ants around, one of its favorite foods, for it is eat and capture with its tongue which can extend two inches beyond the end of its bill.

Northern Flicker Looking for Insects

Northern Flicker Looking for Insects

Picture of the Day for April 29, 2015

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Over a blanket green, dainty white flowers extend upward on slender stems and tremble in the breeze and therefore is sometimes called Wind Flowers, although the more common name is Wood Anemone for Anemone quinquefolia.

The flowers usually stay open during the day but close during the night to protect the male and female parts of the flower while it is not being pollinated and since I was out late evening, the flowers were closing up but that allowed me to see the pinkish color on the outer layer. Wood Anemone tends to grow in thick mats, spreading via rhizomes. A single plant may take 5 years or longer to flower, so often only a few flowers are seen among the leaves.

Wood Anemone

Wood Anemone

Picture of the Day for April 26, 2015

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On a hill in southwestern Wisconsin, a small chapel built in 1903 overlooks the valleys emerging from long winter as signs of spring begin to emerge. The small shrine was rededicated to Our Lady of the Fields in 1958 by Bishop William O’Connor.

With the spring planting underway, ladies and men are working in the fields and inside the shrine is a statue of Saint Isidore, the patron saint of farmers.

Our Lady of the Fields Shrine

Our Lady of the Fields Shrine

Saint Isidore

Saint Isidore

Picture of the Day for April 24, 2015

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The last Friday in April in National Arbor Day (from the Latin arbor, meaning tree), a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees, although some states observe it on different dates to coincide with the local area’s best planting times. For instance, Hawaii celebrates it on the first Friday of November, and Alaskans celebrate it on the third Monday in May.

The first American Arbor Day was originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska by J. Sterling Morton who had moved from Michigan to 160 treeless acres in Nebraska felt the state’s landscape and economy would benefit from the wide-scale planting of trees. On April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted in Nebraska.

This poor old willow tree has seen better days and lost many big limbs last year, reducing the shade which the beef cattle love in the summertime, so planting some trees in this area probably be appreciated by the critters.

Old Willow Tree

Old Willow Tree

Picture of the Day for April 23, 2015

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Generally my barn pictures are outside shots since I am shooting from the road, but once in a while I get to venture inside an old wooden barn. Each barn in unique with knot holes letting light seeping through or how it is built.

This barn has a rare piece of loose hay equipment called a “mower” and not a mower that cuts hay, but a platform which distributes the hay. Most older barns had a system of pulleys and tracks for the hayfork to raise the loose hay up from the wagon to the barn haymow and across the barn and tripped to drop the hay to the floor.  The platform of the mower tips to either side to dump the hay closer to the side walls so required less pitching by hand when stacking the loose hay in the barn.

The exact year when this platform mower was added to the barn is unclear but the article I found about the mower was in the November 1921 issue of the Popular Mechanics magazine. The platform mower can be seen in the upper right corner and a closer view in the second picture.

The Haymow

The Haymow

The Platform of the Mower

The Platform of the Mower

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