So, the egrets are back again, they love to come around, especially when we're mowing, since all the bugs are riled up from the mowers. They're not terribly afraid of them either, since they've been around them so long, I guess, they will get right next to them and run along with them, or follow right behind them, with no worries.
I don't really know what these are, the smaller seeds/fruits/nuts look kind of like the Elderberry plants, but the plant itself is more tree-like than the Elderberry, but it's pretty prominent in one small area near one of our fences.
My next two photo's aren't from around the yard, but from out in the nearby city of Alexandria.
This was a photo of the sun setting over a nearby medical center, and I thought made for a pretty good photo.
This river is known as the Red River, it is, in my opinion, a rather large river that runs right through Alexandria, or, technically in between it and the neighbor city of Pineville, which is right on the otherside of the river. During another time of year the Red River is the sight of quite a few different festivities, one of them being the Alexandria River Fete, usually during March I believe it is.
I plan to start taking more photo's from out in town also, to add to photo's from the farmyard, so if you like the 'in town' photo's, please let me know, although the next ones will probably be from different places.
So, I took some more pictures of one of the quite a few spouts of Elderberry bushes we have, because I think the flowering on them looks very nice
And these are the actual Elderberries, or, at least what will become them if they grow long enough. Elderberries are used quite often in pies, jellies, and even wines for their unusual taste. However, caution must be used as all parts of the Elderberry plant are considered toxic, according to the LSUA Agriculture Center Source Links to LSUA Ag PDF at LSUA site : http://www.lsuagcenter.com/~/media/system/f/7/c/8/f7c8e5621f22d1959b0c8f3f147a8441/listpoisonousornamentalplants.pdf
This poor wasp here got caught in a really big web, that spanned a good 7 or 8 feet from the ground to a tree branch, I assume it was made by a very tenacious spider, as the web at that location has been destroyed at least twice during mowing, but it keeps putting it back up. This time I decided to pay honor to the tenacity of the insect and left the web alone and just didn't mow that patch of grass at all.
This is a very small pink flower, the Shameplant, known by many names, such as the Touch-me-not, or the Tickle-me, 'The Sensitive Plant' is a plant which will actually move and respond to touching, though it's only similar to a muscular reflex, and not actual conscious response.
This butterfly here is known as a Black Swallowtail, a member of the Dark Swallowtail group, consisting of this kind and 3 other types. It is, to the best of my knowledge, a male. Swallowtails tend to fly higher and move faster than some other types of butterflies. They tend towards hosting with members of the Carrot family, such as hemlock (very poisonous, caution is recommended), Bishopweed, and Roughfruit Scaleseed.
Which of the pictures do you think was the best or your favorite? Personally, I liked the first Elderberry one the best, Elderberry is just a very photogenic plant, and looks great in pictures, in my opinion.
Got you, these are actually of a lizard, a Broadhead Skink, specifically. Pretty big one that hangs around my trailer. Here it is sitting on a normal sized pallet, you can see a little of how big it is. It's been around me long enough that it doesn't even worry about me anymore, I've stepped less than a foot from it, and it won't even budge, just hangs around, eats bugs, lives the life of a broadhead skink.
But I do have a couple pictures of some wild raspberries growing on one of our in-yard fences, I wouldn't try eating them, personally, but they add a nice little bit of color to the yard, I think. It looks to be just one vine for now, but given some time, who knows how big it might grow.
I am planning on trying to post more regularly, going to try for everyday from now on, even if it's just some photo's from around the yard or in the nearby Alexandria/LeCompte.
