Riveroflife

There were 2 fawns. I believe one was actually hiding under the porch. Then I discovered a second in the woods to the right of the front porch. The doe came every evening and night to check on them. They were not tame at all. I did get a picture of one fawn in the late afternoon.

At a flow of approximately 340 Million Gallons per Day (May 17, 2009), with the ground saturated in May across Ozark County, the spring was really rolling. The spring is locate about 1 1/2 miles upstream from River of Life Farm. It property is strictly private.

Click on image to enlarge

This is the best birding or bird watching location in Missouri. Not only are there grasslands, forests, hills, glades, deep valleys, and old fields, but River of Life Farm give you a platform for watching or photographing birds.

What a surprise !!! I was hiking the canyon at ROLF, above the spring, when I ran across this nest on a wooded hillside.

Taken from Tree Top Loft. 4/25/09.

Taken by the bluebird house nearest the falls. 4/26/09.

About 20 minutes from ROLF. Definitely, worth the drive.

This picture was taken from the Treetop Loft cabin. The bird was hovering and looking at the feeder attached to the railing. Lately, I have become interested in photographing birds that are flying at 1/1000th or 1/1250th of a seconds at f/4-f/5.6 with a Cannon 1DS Mark II.

This bird was the first I have seen since late November – early December, when they were migrating south. It is eating maple sap from a hard Maple tree with woodpecker holes leaking the sap out on warm sunny days.

There are plenty of good pictures to be posted and stories to be told. I have been tied up at work since I returned and should be able to post some entires 5/3/09. The bluebirds were nesting in every house and I spend a lot of time trying to photograph the nesting activity. The warblers and vireos were actively nesting; many surprises also. More later ……