Cool Nature Photos

[masseyrider]

We usually start our seeds indoors on Good Friday (Easter Weekend) for things like tomatoes, peppers, etc.... carrots, peas onions and potatoes can go into the ground now.

Historically, here, last freeze is April 15 and last frost is May 15. It's been pretty hard on fruit trees the past few years, because the really warm springs have made them bud out early, then the get a hard freeze and it wipes the fruit out for the years. Grapes, too.

Apricots that tend to bloom the earliest have been frosted a number of times the last 6-7 years.
Same with Japanese plums. A couple springs they were in full bloom and covered in wet snow.
Peaches and nectarines have done well.

 

[MossRoad]

I planted a few peach trees three - four years ago. They got a bunch of flowers, then froze. Two of my three apple trees did the same. Nectarine tree has never survived a spring here. Apricots did well, surprisingly. Sour cherry did so-so, but it's robins not frost on those. Mama robin brings her chicks into the tree and shows them how to eat em. But I get enough to make a few pies and that's good enough.

 

[kenmbz]

I just planted a few apple trees,
Our peaches did fine last year and I lost a tree due to age, so just replaced it last fall.
Our pear trees did not do well last year, I pruned them back a lot this year and hope that will help, mostly my fault for not pruning them.
Still waiting to see if my fig survived the ice, it's not dead, but don't see the growth like I expect.

 

[masseyrider]

I planted a few peach trees three - four years ago. They got a bunch of flowers, then froze. Two of my three apple trees did the same. Nectarine tree has never survived a spring here. Apricots did well, surprisingly. Sour cherry did so-so, but it's robins not frost on those. Mama robin brings her chicks into the tree and shows them how to eat em. But I get enough to make a few pies and that's good enough.

Robins are so destructive to gardens and farmers yet city people love them.
When I was farming I had a good size acreage of dessert grapes. Robins would take up residence and go to destroying.
Cost many of them their tail feathers.

 

[MossRoad]

I've had really good success with bird netting over the years, but eventually the trees got too big to net them. My kids used to like going out and removing the angry birds from the nets and letting them go.

Think about how terrifying a robin would be if it were 6' tall!

 

[masseyrider]

At the old farm we had a back neighbor who grew grapes for ice wine.
They had to be netted until they froze or there would be nothing left.
When I used to take the Muttley gang for walks I'd go through the vineyard and release birds that had gotten hung up in the meshing.
When my Italian neighbor found out what I was doing he'd go out and collect the birds, mostly starlings, in a sack and take them home for eating.

 

[BnRidge]

Morning walk in the marsh. Sandhill crane at sunrise. Same nest and I believe the same pair for many years. Takes a bit of concentration to pick it out, they are absolutely motionless and blend so perfectly.

 

[dj1701]

Taken the other day before we got another 4.5" of snow.

 

[MossRoad]

Morning walk in the marsh. Sandhill crane at sunrise. Same nest and I believe the same pair for many years. Takes a bit of concentration to pick it out, they are absolutely motionless and blend so perfectly.
View attachment 3276675View attachment 3276676

I've seen thousands of them but never a nest. Thanks!

 

[kenmbz]

Do bees survive at 39 degrees?
This one seems frozen in time.