I’ve been in the middle of two video projects, trying to find the opportunities to finish them, so naturally I add a third. But I got a handful of photos today as well, so here’s what’s been happening here (except for the other things which you’ll see eventually.)
First off, I noticed something slightly odd-looking about a few of the wood ducks (Aix sponsa) this morning, so I fired off a few frames, then got a video clip as well.
For some reason, I simply couldn’t get focus nailed on these guys so they’re not as sharp as they should be, but it suffices to illustrate what I was seeing, anyway. There were two like this, though I only captured one at any given time, but at least I could time one next to an obvious adult.
We can see that the really bold stripe above the buff sides hasn’t made an appearance yet, but the iridescent wing colors are showing up nicely. I have to wonder if this is one of the males that was captured a couple of weeks ago that was just beginning to show the head stripes then. Regardless, we know there were several broods this year, spaced out a bit in timing, so this is likely one of them.
Ya gotta appreciate those markings, though.
Now we switch over to the greenhouse, since the Key lime trees (Citrus × aurantiifolia) are blooming even though most of the fruit has not fully ripened yet.
This made me get out the big paintbrushes that I use for pollination, even though it appears that the flowers are doing just fine pollinating themselves. We’ve considered putting a small fan in the greenhouse to stir up the air and assist in this function, but we’ve also been opening the vent windows, and when needed the door, as the days get warm enough, so pollinating insects may also be coming to visit. The trees probably don’t need my help, is what I’m saying, but I’ll keep it up anyway since we’d rather not find out too late that they weren’t germinating as well as we’d thought.
This is one that allowed us to see whether or not the stigma, the yellow blob at the top of the blossom, was actually receiving pollen. We go in much closer:
Yep, there are definitely a few pollen grains adhering to it, so it’s safe to say that this one is taken care of, or at least, as far as it’s possible to tell. The blossoming period when they’re wide open like this is remarkably short, so this will probably be a daily task, not that it’s arduous or anything. The lemon trees aren’t blooming yet, but we expect them fairly soon – they’re still heavily laden with lemons that don’t want to let go even with a firm tug, so we’re assuming they’re not fully ripened yet, though they’re brilliant yellow – from what I’ve read, the Meyer variety actually gets a tad orangish at full ripeness.
By the way, several Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) have made the greenhouse their winter home, as usual, and so I’m typically greeted by at least a few as I go in there. This one doesn’t appear thrilled by the encounter:
And yes, it’s been over a week, so this is okay.