Sweet Acacia transplants doing superb! Thank you Bill Fontenot.

Dug these thorny Sweet Acacias up as 9-12" single stem pop ups in Bill Fontenot's yard in  2015.  Man are they taking off 6 feet tall now!

Unfortunate Necessities

I have always hated fences, and still do. I now hate building them too. I decided last winter to put up a barbed wire fence to keep out the locals on four wheelers which in fact took me most of the winter to build (a day here and weekend there). This month I finally built a gate for the corner. It was one spot the local poachers used to sit and shoot at deer and pigs from. They will have a much harder time now as their view and access is obstructed. I don't have to make it easy for them anyway, do I? Now I have to spend a lot of time maintaining the fence too.

View from gate corner prior to gate.

H brace.

 

 

Gate with modified fencing runners screwed to the metal tubing.

New gate with 8' fence boards to obstruct poachers view!

View from outside property.  No open shooting lane anymore!

 

2017 Prairie Burn

A Few Migrants thus far...I have not gotten out much but here are a few good shots.

House Wren. October 1, 2016; 8:43 AM

Male Common Yellowthroat. October 1, 2016; 8:36 AM.

White-Eyed Vireo....White-Eye-ing C. Chickadee. October 1, 2016; 8:04 AM

Potential Willow Flycatcher; right time window, this one found a couple days after I heard what I thought was a willow in the same spot.  September 6, 2016; 4:00  PM.

September 6, 2016; 4:00  PM.

American Kestrel, October 1, 2016; 8:55 AM.

Carolina Chickadee, with White Eyed Vireo in background. October 1, 2016; 8:04 AM.

Female Common Yellowthroat. October 1, 2016; 8:03 AM.

Male Common Yellowthroat. October 1, 2016; 8:36 AM.



Downy Woodpecker. October 1, 2016; 9:54 AM.

House Wren. October 1, 2016; 8:43 AM

Magnolia Warbler.  October 1, 2016; 9:38 AM

Magnolia Warbler.  October 1, 2016; 9:38 AM

Magnolia Warbler. House Wren. October 1, 2016; 9:38 AM

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher. October 1, 2016; 8:08 AM

Least Flycatcher. October 1, 2016; 7:58 AM

Yellow Warbler. August 23, 2016; 6:46 PM.

Yellow Warbler. August 23, 2016; 6:52 PM.

Come on Sparrows !

Added first of several tray feeders (originally on ground) to attempt to lure a few sparrows that I have not yet gotten yet. Raised the feeders to lessen competition with Armadillos and Raccoons.

 

The Prairie areas are really nice right now....Pluchea, Boneset, Mist Flower,Hairy Cluster Vine, Morning Glory, Bluestems, Beggars Ticks, Blazing Star, Swamp Sunflower, American Beautyberry, Goldenrods, False Foxglove, Ragweeds, Ironweed, to name a few .....Oh my! The whole place is buzzing.

Invasive/ Tallow Udate

A few post back I spoke about ClearCast, the chemical I had flown onto about 52 acres of the property that supposedly kills Tallow trees but has little effect on most native trees. The verdict is still not 100% certain, but Andy Dolan (USFWS) and I made an inspection a couple weeks ago and looks very, very promising.  Tallow trees in the unsprayed area and off the property are fully leafed out and bright green. On the entire portion of the property we sprayed I have yet to find a Tallow  tree leafing out or a sapling in the understory popping up .  The trees also seem to be heavily laden with lichens which I take as a good sign. If you grab a lower branch and pull down with little effort the branch will snap and is bone dry in the interior and the cambium layer seems dead. The understory is full of bright green flowering springtime herbaceous species and native saplings (with leaves).


Helicopter application, August 15, 2015

Tallow trees just beginning to show signs of treatment, September 13, 2015

Tallow trees just beginning to show signs of treatment, September 13, 2015
Oddly enough the leaves did not dry up or crinkle. Instead the top of the tree showed yellowing around the leaf margins, then all the leaves began falling off the trees from the bottom up. Before winter hit the entire forest looked like it was dead of winter in Jan-Feb...no leaves on any Tallows. Only the Natives.

Tallow trees on March 20, 2016 !!

Tallow trees on March 20, 2016 !!

If nothing re-sprouts  then this chemical saved literally countless hours of backpack spraying and a lot of sweat....probably blood too.

Burn Baby Burn!

Finally, after two years worth of attempts, the timing was right where I actually had the time and the weather conditions were right. Got two of the three prairie plots to really burn (ran out of time on the third) which is a much needed ingredient in prairie ecology. I have noticed lots of good prairie species trying to make it but suspect that lack of burning the last two years is holding them back. We'll see about that now. More on prairie page.....

13 FEB 2016 68 Degrees, wind 13mph from the north, low relative humidity. Northwestern end of pipeline right of way (or middle prairie plot) up in flames!

13 FEB 2016 northern prairie plot.  A beautiful thing.