December 31, 2021 — Best New Year’s Eve ever! We built a fire at the pond and cooked hot dogs. Warm–Like 85 degrees warm, but in the 70s overnight. The temp is supposed to start dropping tonight.

December 28, 2021 — What a way to end a year! Gloriously beautiful, warm days when you can sit on the boat dock with the sun in your face listening to the ducks dabble nearby and the leaves rustling as the dogs chase squirrels. Rhett caught a rabbit a few days ago which he shared with Morgan. Our little Pied-billed Grebe, the Lonely Duck, as we called her is back for the season and seems to have formed some kind of relationship with the domestics. It isn’t that she swims among the four, but she is nearby as they work their way around the pond filter feeding along the edge. I wonder if they are jealous that she can dive and stay down so long?

December 22, 2021 — Three days of winter is enough! Lows in the low 40s at night and low 50s in the day put us all in the Christmas spirit, but that’s quite enough and Christmas Day is forecast to be in the 80s. The Winter Solstice was yesterday and I’m already in better spirits just knowing the sun is on its way back to the Northern Hemisphere. The Ring-neck population is HUGE –can’t count them all! The Muscovys keep their distance.

December 14, 2021 — Warm and sunny again today. Great weather! The Ring-neck duck count was 48 this morning. They are in about three groups with a few lone pairs. There may be a couple of female Redheads in the flock, too. Small, brown, white tufted feathers under the tail, dark cap over the head that ends above the base of the neck; not social.

December 12, 2021 — Clear sunny skies and cool temps. Just beautiful! There were 31 wild Ring-necked ducks on the pond this morning at 7:30–the most we’ve had at one time this season. The population has been slowly building since October and they seem to be pairing off now. The Muscovys and domestics have nothing to do with them and they never come near the feeding station on the south side of the pond. No deer have been spotted, but there are lots of tracks on the north side and a clear trail through the wood where they move.

December 7, 2021 — FINALLY, a couple of days of rain! And a chance to ride through the meadows. Along the east property line where a row of young oak trees are about 15 – 20 feet tall there were dozens of black, red and white moths flitting about. Their speed and opposition to resting on anything made it difficult to photograph one or even get a good look. Eventually, a dead moth was spotted clinging to a dried sedge stalk and it turns out to be the adult moth of last year’s Buck Moth hatch. These are terrible, stinging insects that will cause intense pain if they are touched, but I haven’t seen any damage to the trees.

November 22, 2021 — A new duck was spotted yesterday on the pond. I’m not ready to say for sure it’s a female Hooded Merganser, but it is small, grayish and was displaying a orangy-gold crest most of the time. It was about in the middle of the pond, but because of it’s size I could not get a photo clear enough to use. Hopefully, she will hang around the other ducks long enough to make a good identification. Had a brief, heavy rain last night. Today is sunny and cool.

November 21, 2021 — Still no rain! The weatherman predicts, but the storms seem to go around us. The old red 1959 Ferguson tractor quit running while cutting the tall grass in the south meadow. I think it has water in the fuel, but someone has to have time to find out. As of now, it sits where it stalled. There are now five ring-necked ducks in the little flock. The gray muscovy has made friends with a pretty white one with brownish-black feathers.

November 15, 2021 — It’s been a month or more without rain, but the days are beautiful. The cooler temps are a blessing. Two wild ring-necked ducks flew in and are keeping the muscovys company at the pond. Currently there are six muscovys — all hens — and one of them is a beautiful mottled gray and white.

October 31, 2021 — In a matter of a few days all the sunflowers dropped their bright yellow petals. We had a strong storm with high wind early in the week leaving the ground littered with even more debris and sweeping away the remnants of summer. So much broken stuff fell it was too dangerous to be under the trees at all. By the time you hear a crack it’s too late to run even if you knew which direction to go, so we stayed in the meadow and other open areas. Very soon flocks of goldfinches will descend on the meadow to devour the acres of sunflower seeds.

October 23, 2021 — No measurable rain this week; only a small sprinkle on Tuesday. At least it’s cool in the mornings. Days are hot and very humid due to a south wind bringing warm air in from the gulf. In other words, it’s a normal fall in south Louisiana.

October 11, 2021– Two months and counting since the storm and nature has begun to heal itself. The fallen trees are becoming homes for all kinds of small wildlife–birds and rabbits mostly. The woodpeckers are loving it. Mosquitoes are swarming. The asters in the meadow are at their peak. No rain in weeks so we are able to cross the wetland in the trail wagon and explore the damage on the far side of the pond.

September 25, 2021 — It’s been almost a month since Hurricane Ida swept through Vista Farm as a Cat 3 storm. There are downed trees everywhere. We had two across the driveway. Most of them were old and might be expected to fall in +100mph wind, but the 20-year-old Black Willow at the southwest corner of the pond is laying across the fence and that’s a disappointment. The task of cleaning up is overwhelming–even deciding where to begin now that the driveway is open.

August 27, 2021 — While waiting for what is now called TS Ida, we found time to sit on the new boat dock and make a few bird sightings. It’s taken a long time, but I had a very brief moment to catch a Northern Flicker–the southern species with the golden feathers under its wings and tail. You can just barely make out those in this very bad photo shot from quite a distance.

August 26, 2021 — There’s a new storm moving into the gulf this weekend and the forecast is for it to be south of New Orleans with winds at 110mph and move inland somewhere to the west. That will put us on the northeast quadrant where the most of a storm’s damage occurs. Needless to say, we are preparing. Hoping for the best.

August 25, 2021 — It’s late August now and hot as summer in south Louisiana. It’s also dry. Except for a few afternoon showers we haven’t seen a long soaking rain in a couple of weeks. After a short vacation we are back in the meadow and making new discoveries. While checking the Partridge Peas last evening a well-camouflaged Cloudless Sulphur butterfly in its caterpillar stage was spotted munching away. Nearby, a small green katydid with reddish-pink and black markings was hiding. Its species is unidentified at this point.

August 17, 2021 — Gorgeous, sunny days lately. The meadows are alive with Swallowtails and dragonflies. One beautiful dragonfly we have missed the last couple of years is the Roseate Skimmer. This huge pink insect really stands out so we wondered what happened. A few days ago I was checking the Partridge Peas for bees and took a shot of an inordinately large brownish dragonfly nearby. Turns out it is the female Roseate Skimmer so they are still around, just more females than the bright, pink males.

August 14, 2021 — Most of the summer it’s been too wet to get into the meadow without sinking in the mud. Finally, a few days without a downpour. We’ve been giving the green canoe a custom paint job which we’ll unveil as soon as it gets another coat or too and is completely dry. Not likely for another week at least when the humidity is over 85% when it’s not raining. A second family of Whistling Ducks made a nest in one of the Wood Duck boxes and this morning very early mom and dad coaxed them out where they fell with a plop into the pond and began swimming. There are at least 15 tiny ducklings, too cute for words. A pair of Black Swallowtails were seen mating on the Cowbane and an Eastern Giant Swallowtail was seen feeding in the same patch of wildflowers.

August 5, 2021 — One of the two old, dead pine trees in the meadow fell in a windstorm a few days ago. Both were struck by lightning years ago and now one of them is gone. It will be missed by the red-tail hawk, a couple of herons, doves and swallows, but mostly by the woodpeckers that could always make a meal out of the abundance of insects in the decaying tree. We’re happy it’s finally down. Not knowing when or which direction it would fall put us all on guard when we were nearby and we always picked up our speed when passing it. I think we will leave the remains in the meadow as with others which have died and left a place for skinks, rabbits, birds, and others to find safe shelter. After 15 years and more than 10 acres of Cowbane I finally found a Swallowtail cocoon.

August 2, 2021 — Heavy downpours of short duration these last few days. The meadows are filled with Swallowtails laying their eggs and caterpillars chomping their way down stalks of Cowbane. Spotted a previously unidentified Palamedes Swallowtail, perfect from every angle feeding on bright orange Fewflower Milkweed. Still no sign of the Whistling Duck family.

July 30 — The Whistling ducks are, we’re guessing, still in the tall grass along the shoreline of the pond although they have not been seen since mom and dad escorted them there. We finished a walking path from the parking area to the boat dock and put up a rail.

July 29, 2021 – Our little Black-bellied Whistling Duck has hatched her babies. There are about 13 or more of them. They tumbled out of the wood duck boxes early this morning and swam as fast as they could, mom in front, dad bringing up the rear, all in a line across the pond to the grasses and reeds on the opposite side. They are well-hidden and presumably will be there until the parents decide it’s safe to come out. Little baby duck is the favorite food of the Great Blue Heron and ours has been sitting in a tree patiently waiting for a taste. Whistling ducks feed at night so hopefully they will escape a heron attach.

July 26, 2021 — It’s hotter than July in south Louisiana meaning that the temperature is in the 90s and the deer flies are attacking. They actually thrive on insect repellent. It was mostly sunny over the weekend with a few downpours here and there. We’re starting to dry out a little so we took the Trailwagon into the meadow hoping to find the soft spots before they found us. The Partridge Peas are starting to bloom and the Cowbane is growing tall. More so than last year it seems. Like 7 feet or more tall. The Swallowtails are already laying their eggs on it.

July 21, 2021 — A little rain already this morning, but not like yesterday. We have had an entire year’s worth of rain in the last month. It’s just incredible. The whole farm is a wetland. The whistling duck is still sitting on her nest inside the Wood Duck box. Dad is keeping a lookout.

July 20, 2021 — Big flood today. We had 6.9 inches of rain between 5:00am and 7:00am. Showers began in the early morning hours. There was a break between 4:00 and 4:30, then the downpour. Drains are overwhelmed and the ditches are running like mountain streams.

July 15, 2021 — Ahhhh. Sun! Finally.

July 11, 2021 — It’s still raining, believe it or not! In the breaks between downpours we identified a new milkwort in the meadow. Thought it was some kind of early season goldenrod, but not. Low Pinebarren Milkwort is a small, plant with a cluster of gorgeous, tiny, yellow flowers that top the stalk much like goldenrod.

July 5, 2021 — Showers almost every day, but the temperatures have been below average. It’s quite nice in the shade with a light breeze. We have observed more than a few Swallowtails, but have not identified what they are feeding on. The Herbwilliam (a fennel) crop was very small and I’m wondering where they are laying their eggs. What an exciting discovery yesterday! Two Black-bellied Whistling Ducks that have been hanging around at the pond for weeks have set up housekeeping in one of the Wood Duck boxes we put up in the spring.

June 28, 2021 — Rain, rain, rain. The meadows are soggy, but the Captain still managed to cut out the trails with the bushhog without getting stuck. We spent four days traveling Hwy. 82 through the marshes on the Louisiana coast. Cleanup from last year’s two hurricanes, Laura and Delta, is still ongoing and will be for quite a long time. All the restaurants are gone between Pecan Island and Sabine Pass and most of the gas/convenience stores. Parish services and utilities are scarce. Cell towers are running on generators. On the other hand the beaches are beautiful where the debris has been cleaned up and the wildlife is abundant. Native beach wildflowers, grasses and ground covers are holding the dunes in place. Only the people are missing.

June 16, 2021 — The weather forecast shows the possibility of a tropical storm developing in the Bay of Campeche and heading north by Friday. The path is towards Cameron Parish where we are planning a beach get-away for some wetland photography in the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. Our weatherman has been wrong before so we’re not making any bets. In the meantime we caught six nice bass in the pond and bagged up the scraps. Next day we dumped them in the pond right below the dock and waited to see if a catfish would find them. Well! No catfish but this rather large Diamondback Watersnake came directly to the scraps and began swallowing them whole, bones and all. Otherwise, it’s hotter than summer in south Louisiana, but the meadows are still soggy enough to get the TrailWagon and the big tractor stuck in the mud.

June 10, 2021 — After several days of pouring rain on and off, the weatherman has promised a week of drying out. We welcome the pause and a chance to take the Trail Wagon to the far side of the pond in a couple of more days. Despite the soggy meadows a couple of things are to be noted. One is that the Ladies Tresses orchids we look forward to every April were late this year. They did not start blooming until May and a few were still around the first week of June. Second, the dogs killed a Northern Cottonmouth, as identified at iNaturalist, that is a lighter brown color than others we’ve seen which are almost black. The markings are similar. Another ID of a common native species found in the wetland is Swamp Smartweed.

May 31, 2021 — Almost a week of beautiful, even coolish, days. The meadows are blooming and the bass are biting green worms. New bird babies all over the place. Imagine looking up and seeing a Great Crested Flycatcher leaving its nest in this pipe hanging over the Captain’s junkyard between two 40-foot storage containers. A new native sedge has appeared in the meadow this week. Sandswamp Whitetop Sedge, Rhynchospora latifolia, is a beautiful, tall grassy plant with delicate white flowers tipped in green. The Osprey seems to be a happy resident. Today it was perched high in one of the old dead pines high over the meadow where it can see three ponds.

May 22, 2021 — Four days of rain and wind upwards of 35-45 mph from the south have left Madisonville with high water and a lot of roads impassable. At Vista Farm the meadows are saturated and the ditch that keeps the wetland manageable is running like a mountain stream. The Ospreys are beginning to look like permanent residents, soaring overhead in the late afternoon and hunting for fish from a perch in pine high over the pond. We’re hoping they stay around.

May 17, 2021 — It seems like just as things are about to dry out, another torrential rainstorm hits and stops everything. We’ve been cutting up and clearing the debris from two fallen trees. Some of it went to a friend for firewood and some went into a brush pile. A highlight of the weekend was the sighting of an Osprey diving into the pond for fish. The spring wildflowers, like Fleabane, Lady Tresses orchids, Skullcap, and Longleaf Milkweed are about gone, but Fewflower Milkweed, Herbwilliam and Southern Sneezeweed are appearing.

May 7, 2021 — A beautiful day with a nice breeze of about 16-20mph. Lots of sun and warm temps. Perfect for making the grass grow and the birds sing. Tomorrow is the GLOBAL BIG DAY for birders. Simply sign up, download the free app, find a good spot and start counting the number and species of birds you see. Then enter them in your own database, pictures or audio too if you can get them. According to the website, “Last year, Global Big Day brought more birders together virtually than ever before. More than 50,000 people from 175 countries submitted a staggering 120,000 checklists with eBird, setting a new world record for a single day of birding.”

May 2, 2021 — After a week or so of drying out it’s still impossible to drive the Trail Wagon through the meadows without getting stuck in deep mud. We had another storm last night, but between all the rainstorms we finished a 14′ square floating boat dock and fishing platform built with 55-gallon drums, stainless steel brackets and heavy pressure-treated lumber. Launch day was Thursday. We’ve identified four native Dahoon Holly trees, Ilex cassine, in the thickets around the meadows and am in the process of clearing the yaupon to give them a little more growing room. In the fall we will be able to identify which are male and which are female.

April 22, 2021 — Three days of steadily improving weather. Low humidity, very cool at night and today in the low 70s. The bees and other pollinators are a little sluggish, but the birds are out. For only the second time I spotted a Great Crested Flycatcher. He was sitting in a live oak when I spotted him, and moving from tree to tree catching flies. It’s time to stain the boat dock. Waiting for a morning that’s just a little warmer.

April 17, 2021 — A solid week of rain, very heavy at times. The weather report said we’ve had over 11 inches. Vista Farm is a soggy bog. We lost this massive water oak at the edge of the wetland. The endangered Southern Plains Bumble Bee spotted last September in the Partridge Pea patch is back. Here he is in April in the thistles.

April 8, 2021 — A perfect, cloudless and cool morning after torrential rain and lightning overnight with a tornado warning at 2:30am. The ditches are running and the pond is full. Everything is alive and the air is clean and sweet.

April 4, 2021 — A perfect, cloudless Easter Sunday. At least six Monarch butterflies were actively laying their eggs on milkweed plants in the meadow. Scroll down to the bottom of the Home Page and click to make the video full screen.

April 3, 2021 — After a chilly, windy Good Friday, Easter weekend is set to be gorgeous. What could be better than seeing the first Blue Flag iris in the lush, green wetland. We identified three new species for the first time–Crowpoison, a little white flower growing from a bulb, Southern Carpenter Bee, a fit orange and black bee with big greenish yellow eyes, and Potato Dandelion, a pretty little yellow aster.

April 1, 2021 — After a bit of rain on the weekend and beautiful sun yesterday, it’s the Easter Cool Snap, right on schedule. It never fails. Just when you think it’s over, a morning in the 40s slaps you. No new sightings, but there will be something new on the pond this summer. A floating dock built with pressure treated lumber and 55-gallon barrels is almost ready to launch. Here’s a sneak peek.

March 26, 2021 — After almost a week of torrential rain it’s still cloudy but mostly dry. The meadow is in standing water and the wetland is deep in muck. Things are starting to bloom and the thistles are attracting all the early pollinators. The day started off with the first sighting of the season of a Monarch, followed by bees, beetles and various other bugs. Two new species sightings were exciting: some kind of yet-to-be-identified Mason bee and a beautiful little fruit fly called Paracantha culta. A Red-Marked Pachodynerus Wasp, was also seen earlier in the year in Madisonville. Lots of Zebra Longhorn Beetles making baby Zebras on the thistles, too. Buckets full of Leaf-footed bugs, aka stinkbugs and a cute little Ladybug.

March 16, 2021 — What a catch! We found a Snapping Turtle up by the pond which was NOT happy about being turned over for a photo opp. Beautiful day. Three wood ducks–one male and two females–eating corn at the feeding station.

March 14, 2021 — A week of beautiful weather with warm sun. The creatures are stirring and the Yellow Jessamine is blooming. A Five-lined Skink was seen basking in the sun on an old weathered log.

March 8, 2021 — Lots of activity with temps in the low 70s and sunshine. We made a bug condo and set it on a tall post in the meadow where it is awaiting its first guests–solitary bees, I hope. Over the weekend we set out two wood duck nest boxes at the edge of the pond in hopes the pair we see will build inside. Read more about the project in our post on the Blog page. Saw the first yellow butterfly of the season.

February 26, 2021 — What an absolutely gorgeous day! The birds have started building, the little Downy will soon be looking for a mate, and a pair of rabbits ran across the driveway this morning. Spring is coming, but we’re looking for the Easter cool snap before we can say winter is over.

February 22, 2021 — After a week of bitterly cold days in the low 30s and nights in the upper teens the sun is out, the birds are chirping and it was in the 70s. Looks like a little Downy Woodpecker has found a home.

February 15, 2021 — Very wet and cold forecast for today and tomorrow with temps dropping into the 20s. Too cold and wet to explore.

February 6, 2021 — Gloomy, rainy and cold, but the birds were out. Watched the Belted Kingfisher, a long-time resident, flying at full speed over the pond.

February 5, 2021 — Spring is coming! The red maples are blooming.

January 29, 2021 — Finally, a beautiful, sunny day with temps in the mid-50s. Birds everywhere. Identified a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a Pine Warbler and others. See the Inventory for the latest photos.

January 27, 2021 — Another week of gloom, but at least it’s in the upper 60s. The robins are still around. After some rain the ground is still saturated from last week. Fishing is not too bad. Caught a white crappie called a Sac-a-lait in Cajun French, and some bass.

January 14, 2021 — After a week of dark gloomy cold today was in the upper 60s and sunny. It seemed like every bird in the world was out making up for lost time. Robins have returned for their annual January migration. Found the Loggerhead Shrike‘s cache–a small bird skewered on a barb. I watched him hunting over the open meadow for a while hoping to see him catch something. It was simply glorious today!

January 12, 2021 — These cold, gloomy days should end today when it’s predicted the sun will finally come out. Not a moment too soon! The Muscovys found a place under some live oak branches that hang in the water where they can get out of the wind, but the wild Scaup don’t seem to mind the temp or the wind and continue to dive for food no matter.

January 6, 2021 — A great start to the new year with mild temps and plenty of sun. I was startled yesterday by three white-tailed deer who jumped up out of the tall grass in the northeast meadow and ran into the woods. What a sight! So many birds have made homes in the new brush piles we made last month.