Warm enough (70 plus) to trigger the chorus frogs. Balancing calls and meetings with trailing cows.
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More low clouds, fog, and mist. East crab apple tree blooms mightily. Bees should follow.
Misty rain all day. Damp but not deep. Snipe starting to sing. Drifting cows back to SG2 and into rotation. Phlox hoodi blooming on the protected south slopes.
Clear and nice with special light at dusk. No moves. Dogs flushed one sage grouse in NG2. So, what lek serves the 8 total birds seen 2.5 miles SE from the house? Non-native Allysum desertorum is almost everywhere, among healthy native cover, as a finely dense understory of almost hair-like seedlings. This is a result of heavy late fall rains in 2015 that sprouted the annual mustard.
Overcast and damp but little accumulation. Moved the calves to WL4 after gathering odd groups from 4 paddocks, resulting from my “float idea” the day before. Cows moved to N1/2 of NG5. Say’s phoebe arrives. Milk vetches are starting to bloom: Asrtragulus purshii, Astragulus spatulatus, and Astragulus gilviflorus .
A storm blew in yesterday afternoon and dropped .35 of moisture. I let the calves into NBW5 to float toward WL. The phantom pipeline water leak was finally discovered and fixed. The leak was under an older tank south of Ryan’s house, and had been leaking for some time. A few common grackles arrive.
Another day on the road in Winnett facilitating the CMR Community Working Group. Great progress made, along with a commitment to develop a bison committee. Before I left the ranch I checked out the sharp tail lek-7 males. A pair of curlews were feeding in the same area. And…McGown’s Longspurs have returned. No moves.
I helped facilitate the Governor’s Conference for Invasive species in Helena. Returning, there was a noticeable uptick in singing-the meadowlarks are filling all the spaces in the prairie. No moves. Fritillaria pudica is now blooming on the north slopes of the pine sandstone breaks. Ribes setosum and Ribes cereum also bloomjng in the rocks.
Hard frost. Trailed cows east to mix with 3’s in NG4 and NG6. Meadowlarks and Musineon are now abundant-yellow on yellow.
4/1/16-4/10/16
I was away at a soto zen retreat in Helena and Max’s (grandson’s) birthday in Polson. While gone there was wind, warm days, cold days, no new flowers, up to 9 out of season healthy calves, more grass, a new pipeline leak (maybe the puzzle piece to our water pressure problem), more ducks, and this evening I heard my first curlew. Great to be home! Cows moved through SG4, SG3, and one day in SG2. On 4.4 calves moved to W1/2 SNG8 and then on 4.9 calves moved to NBW3 and bulls to W1/2 SNG8. Walking on Sleeping Giant Mountain north of Helena caught early bloom of Douglasia Montana on gravelly outcrops. |
Bill Milton
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