The firebird appears to be a Carolina wren.
This Thryothorus ludovicianus didn’t seem to mind that I was three feet from it. Continue readingCategory Archives: Longleaf
![[Carolina wren]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2020-04-21--phoenix-bird/20200510_102404.jpg)
Swamp burn 2020-03-01
When you live in a fire forest, you must burn every few years. We caught up on about 23 acres of burning of piney woods, seepage slope, and swamp. All this was inside concentric rings of firebreaks, with no danger of it escaping off our property.
Don’t worry, for the wildlife there are plenty of brambles and woods and swamp unburned this year. More next year. And quail, gopher tortoises, and other wildlife don’t like the woods too thick anyway.
![[Gretchen spreading fire with a rake]](http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/pictures/2020-03-01--burn/20200301_121754.jpg)
Gretchen spreading fire with a rake
For why we burn, see Continue reading
Longleaf small and large 2019-04-20
Gopher tortoise burrow in burned longleaf, with dogs 2019-01-27
After the prescribed burn, it’s a lot easier to see, and there are more gopher tortoise burrows than we thought.
Here’s another Gopherus polyphemus near the road. It’s good there are so many. Gophers are a keystone species, hosting Continue reading
Longleaf sky
Strolling the driveway one evening,
a pair of longleaf I did spy
Took their picture, saw them rising,
Candelabra to the sky.
Prescribed Burn
Less than an acre of planted pines, never burned since planted ten years ago.
Lit right up, burned real nice.
Here are some videos, and there are pictures below. Continue reading
Dog catching expedition
Gretchen yesterday saw a stray small dog with a collar cowering in a thicket, so she was trying again to catch it.
Spreading Fire
What do you do if someboby else is using the firestarter? Spread the prescribe burn with a rake!
Getting lit
Why not to wait 20 years between burns
Prescribed burns
Gretchen and I burned some woods the last couple days. Here’s why we burn: longleaf pine unharmed, while small trees of other species (slash and loblolly pine, an especially oaks) are weeded out by the fire.
Click on any picture for a bigger one. -jsq