The First Small Steps To Conservation
November 2017 - a dream; connecting with nature, habitat creation, and photography.
Slumbering under the winter snowfall is a landscape surprise to be revealed in the coming months. First, it was time for other adventures, like snowshoeing in the crisp, fresh air.
Springtime presented the first signs of photo opportunities, with several disagreements in the dugout.
Keeping an eye on the action and using a fast camera shutter speed captured the ruckus.
As spring gave way to early summer, the landscape and foliage of numerous varieties emerged, prompting discussions on what to do.
I finally decided on a tractor, my favorite color from farm days gone by, and a 44-inch rough-cut mower. I experienced several frights while navigating the unfamiliar landscape and discovered ruts that looked like canyons, relative to the size of my tires. I soon upsized one model!
Over 40 hours, countless stops, and walks to check for hazards, the first mowing of the emerging noxious weeds was complete. When meeting one of the neighbors a few weeks later, she said, “If I had a mower, I would have helped you.” I appreciated the thought each time she drove by, and we’d wave!
It’s probably a good thing I didn’t foresee how many times weed cutting would be repeated.
At times, it felt like thrashing my way through a jungle, and wasps chased me one day. Thankfully, only once.
During the summer of 2018, I got to see Trumpeter Swans fly overhead fairly regularly. Talk about lucky!
After discovering they were frequent flyers, I soon learned to set up my tripod and camera as my top priority. Sometimes it’s easy to say, “next time.” Well, those opportunities for next time became fewer each year, and the nearby slough they frequented was completely dry by the summer of 2025.
Another wonderful discovery was a female Northern Harrier gliding over the landscape, searching for prey below. On this particular day, she caught me by surprise, with barely enough time to grab my camera, quickly aim, and click.
By this time, I’d learned to pack my camera on the tractor, just in case. She made my day!
While these birds were thrilling to see and photograph, it didn’t take long to declare, “Let’s plant some trees!”
And so, on a very wet day in May, we went tree-shopping, then dug holes by hand, packed water (uphill) from the dugout, staked securely, captured the fun, and went home to clean up.
And this is how 2018 began.
