The birds didn’t change that much, but the trees did.
Hullo, pines!
Our garden has shifted through a number of really good habitat permutations already this spring, and the most recent confluence of flora and fauna happens to be the coral bells and buzzbirds (hummingbirds, to you normals). Unfortunately, I have not been patient enough or lucky enough to capture the little zippers with my camera, despite their ballsy gregariousness around people. However, this Giant Swallowtail and tank of a bee were really polite about being slow and deliberate in their coral bell visits, thus allowing me to stalk them to the best of my abilities.
I practice the same principles in my photography that hunters do in their quest for the perfect shot. My walk is deliberate and quiet, I approach from up wind (or at least up sun), wait for the bird to be right in my sights, and exhale slowly as I depress the trigger. Difference is, I can take multiple perfect shots of the same bird.
Oh, and I don’t kill things.
Over the past glorious year, I have learned a lot about conventional and organic agriculture. One practice implemented in both types of cropping systems is called cover cropping, which basically is the use of a secondary crop that is planted when the main crop is not in the field. These cover crops can control weeds, limit soil erosion, promote insect diversity, and increase the amount of important nutrients such as nitrogen in the soil. Plants such as rye, wheat, vetch, peas, and clovers are used to keep something going in the field at all times, potentially reducing the overall inputs on the land, whether it be fertilizer, herbicides, or even plowing.
what Was, what Is, and what Will Be 