Wild Life On The Farm

Today I started on getting one of the fields ready to plant buckwheat. The field is out a ways from the barnyard so I had a chance to observe the wild things from the tractor seat on my way back and forth hauling manure to the field. I saw four different kinds of butterflies a few fritillary, periwinkles, and two other types I had never saw before. Both were small one was orange, and the other was black. After I got the manure spread I was driving out to disc the manure under and I saw a pair of Killdeers with their young. Four of them, newly hatch little fuzz balls the same color as their parents. Hanna took pictures of them and then I took them out a ways from the barnyard so the cats would not find them. It seems early to see Killdeer chicks already but every thing is early this year. The rye I planted last fall is heading out already too! I'v never seen it head out the first week of may. But I have never planted rye before as a grain crop so I do not have any thing to compare it with, but have grown it as a green manure, and a few plant will come back up after I'v tilled it under and go to seed. But this is not until the corn is ankle high in June. So I can't say for sure that it's too early since the rye's growth was not set back by tilling.

This is one of the parent Killdeers trying to distract us away from the chicks