What a great time of year to be in the pastures! Butterfly season is in full display. What is your favorite color? Brown, white, yellow, blue, black, orange or yellow? God’s diversity is amazing. To bad butterflies are so difficult to photograph, they just don’t like to sit very long. You are invited to come visit our pastures to watch the butterflies, just let us know you are coming and we can point you in the direction of the best flowers.
Our main concern with visitors is personal safety. “Biosecurity” is not an issue on a farm operating with a regenerative approach. We are trying to build immunity into the animals and overall farm by encouraging nature to diversity from the bacteria in our soil to the trees along the stream.
We hope to see you soon and leave you with a number of photos of past visitors and some of the birds, bees and butterflies you just might see here in the pastures.
BIRDS
On this May 2018 birding adventure we saw:
- Orchard oriole, Dickcissel, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Grasshoper Sparrow, Bobwhite Quail, Brown headed COW Bird, Grackle and our first Monarch Butterfly of the year.
More bird photos on our Instagram feed:
- Baltimore Oriole male and female
- Eastern Meadowlark nest with eggs (hmm, guess we need to get a photo of a Meadowlark!)
- Young woodpecker found in a downed tree
- Young Mourning Doves in nest.
- Brown headed COW Bird (on fence, left side of brown cow).
- Bobwhite quail nest with eggs.
- Bobwhite quail trying to distract Doug from her clutch of chicks.
- Listen for chirping Dickcissel and Bobwhite quail whistle in background of this video.
- OK, not at our farm, but Nebraska Sandhills Cranes during migration.
- No longer at our farm, but boys use to show these at the fair.
- Sure to see these at our farm twice a year and could end up in your freezer 😉
BEES
We love the native bumblebees. So docile, just going about their work. The two pictured above easily caught Doug’s eye driving through the pasture. Could these be Black and Gold Bumblebees? Please email Doug if you can identify. Here is another photo from a different angle on Instagram.
BUTTERFLIES
On Instagram:
- Painted Lady and Monarch
- Black Swallowtail!
- Monarch caterpillar on milkweed.
- Monarch on purple thistle with NE State Flower in background.
Hopefully you have enjoyed these photos!
Again, feel free to contact us to take a walk in our pastures for a first hand view of how the herd is actually a key part in the continued health of the birds, bees and butterflies!
We will leave you with a photo of another very key insect we stumbled across recently. We feel that all the pretty photos above are good indicators that we are truly working with nature in our operation. But the appearance and continued abundance of this special friend is a well-known indicator that our management is moving in the direction of Regenerative Agriculture.
Let’s just say Doug was very excited when he saw this guy working with the herd! Watch for a future post for further details. As always, if you have any comments or questions, please write us on our FaceBook page.