Sunday, August 8, 2021

Natural Pest Control Has Wings


Barn Owls have the best ♡ shaped faces.



Shy barn owlet peeking out.

It's a lot to read but this article is very rewarding if you are at all concerned about pesticides on your fruit or in your wine. Fruit growers in California have begun putting up nest boxes in their orchards and vineyards and letting the occupants help with pest and insect control. They are finding the birds are outperforming the pesticides and I find that to be quite thrilling. I always enjoy Penelope Bianchi's owl videos on Instagram showing her barn owls bringing vermin back to the nest box to feed their young. Of course, bluebirds in nest boxes help with insect control as do other small birds.

I have two more dahlia photos awaiting processing which I will add to this post later. I have to transfer them from my Nikon camera on my attic computer which has a card reader. I am waiting for my generator to come on for the weekly 15 minute test cycle before I turn on the computer. I'm glad so many of you are still enjoying my cottage flower photos. xo


The green background seems to fighting the green dahlia foliage of this Black Velvet beauty in my backyard.



I enlarged this dahlia by cropping out all but the flower. It's the same photo I posted yesterday minus the rooster.

5 comments:

Pam said...

Rosemary, I am so happy that your dahlias are thriving. It's fun to have prolonged blooming. Even though I don't have as many flowers as I used to, I still enjoy looking at the buds and tracking their development to full flowers. Beautiful owl! I had such a good surprise last week. I looked out the dining room window and saw a small barn owl at the foot of an oak tree. I think she was eating something she had caught. I can't imagine just how many pests they have "cleared" for us over the years we've been on our farm. We need our owl friends!

Mom said...

Never do I get tired of seeing your exquisite dahlias. We need more birds and less pesticides!

Penelope Bianchi said...

Your dahlias are breathtaking!!!
Thank you for the lovely compliment about owls! You will inspire so many followers!! Bravo!!!!

Lisa D. said...

Love the barn owls, especially the shy one.

Susan said...

Oh, how I love dahlias...and barn owls!