The Cardinal in the Coal Mine

 No, I actually don't have any photo's of a coal mine, just a couple today, this one is a blossom from one of our apple trees in our backyard.  We've got some apples on them, one's even starting to redden, we also lost quite a few of them though, but no worries.

 Sorry, this one's a little blurry because I tried to take it to fast, not giving the camera time to focus properly.   He landed on a small power line we have going to a light we have on our property, so I thought I would take advantage.

This one I had a little better timing.  The Cardinal is probably the bird that causes the most bird-watchers to go watching, with a tie to another bird that doesn't seem as common, but I've spotted a few times down here, the Blue-Jay.     

   I hope to get a bit more variety tomorrow, so please look forward to it.

The bugs and the trees.

 So, for the first few pictures, this is a young cicada, even if you've only seen the husks, you've probably heard them, this was the first time I saw a live one, and I think the wings on it look amazing.

                                        From the little research I've done, this is one of the 'Annual Cicada' group, specifically a "Dog Day" cicada.  Annual Cicada's have a life span of 2-5 years, and are the norm for most of the world.  In the North Eastern United States, there are types known as Periodical Cicadas, which swarm every 13 and 17 years, depending on the type.

       

This picture was just to show off how big it was,  I'd say, length wise was probably about finger-length, maybe finger and a half (very scientific measurements)

 This was just a picture that I took artistically, I thought the contrast of the shadow in the middle and the white flower/buds was pretty nice.  I don't know what kind of plant it is, but they are pretty common in the yard, I've seen them on their own, around pecan trees, pretty much anywhere.

In our backyard, we have an orchard with a couple apple trees, and they seem to be doing fair, we also have a pear tree near by, however, it doesn't bear any fruit yet.

Sorry this one looks a bit off, it's a small bug that was climbing on my shoulder while I was out mowing our yard, and I tried to take this photo with a regular camera.  This little bug looks like a leaf hopper to me, which are slightly bad for plants, but not terribly so.  Fun Fact:  There are more species of Leaf Hoppers than all species of mammals, amphibians, birds, and reptiles combined.  That is, a lot.   Source:  Planet Natural's webpage on Leaf Hoppers.

 This is one of our young pecan trees, around 7 years old or so I think, shown here with a person to show it's size.  The power lines are actually a good bit farther back and are in no danger of hitting the tree.    Pecans are a huge business around this area, when it's pecan season you can't turn almost a single corner in nearby Alexandria without going past someone buying them.  While they used to buy them to make stuff with them, most of the buyers just buy them to make Pecan Oil now, I think.


How do you think the photo's turned out?     Which do you think was the best?   Personally, I liked the first Cicada photo on the top left the best, because the wings in that one are very nice looking.   

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the post.

A few spring/summer flowers and critters

Took a few pictures of the new flowering various plants, and  a couple of little critters around.
    
We have a couple apple trees in our back yard, and they seem to have some nice pieces coming in, hopefully they come through all the way to full size without getting snatched by some critter running around

 This was a picture of some flowers on one of our Catalpa trees, taken by my mom.  Catalpa trees are pretty well liked by hummingbirds, and grow pretty fast, for a tree, as well as having a pretty good rot resistance so get used for wood quite often.



This one, on the right, is a Canna Indica, it comes from in fairly large bushes, and the only real 'use' is that they look pretty, the seeds have been used in jewelry before, and they are not particularly aggressive plants, they dont spread very much past their bushes.

As promised, the first of the two critters, a toad living in our cow bowl, a large bowl that used to hold water for cows, but is now home to some minnows, some shiners, a catfish, and this toad.





Outside of my home, I have a walkway, made out of pallets, and this Broadhead Skink lives under it.  The Broadhead Skink is the largest of the skink types natural to Louisiana, are adept at climbing, and are good at preying on bugs and other lizards.  They prefer the heat and, like me, can be rather sluggish in the cold.

 This two I think were my favorite, and I think they turned out the best.   A couple of pictures of some magnolia flowers off of one of our Magnolia trees.   In addition to being pretty trees, Magnolia trees are also very good as shade trees, and can provide a lot of it.

A few pictures from around the farm.

 Took a few pictures around the farm, this one is from some sort of caterpillar that creates these 'web balls', kind of all over the place.  Almost drove into this one a couple times while mowing, haha.

 For some reason, turtles like this girl here love to come over to our yard from their places to lay their eggs, so we usually have quite a few around the yard in spring.

This is a great (in my opinion) picture of a Mangolia tree blossom, one of the trees out in our pasture had quite a few of them.









Thanks for checking out this post, if you have any thoughts, let me know.  My next one will be a little different, they will be what I think of as a more Artistic type of photograph, with a bit more work on them.

Apples, trees, and blossoms

A few pictures of what may become some apples one day.   I think.