Same morning, opposite ends of the same pond
Jul 17, 2022 09:17:57 #
Our small town park pond is habitat to a variety of birds and wildlife.
Transmission lines across one end provide a good lookout perch for a female Belted Kingfisher:
FemaleBeltedKingfisher15Jul2022_053 by Marshall Smith, on Flickr
While on the other end, tobacco sticks driven into the bottom as part of a Fish&Wildlife project provided a landing spot for this Green Heron, who was considerate enough to fly from the bank for me:
GreenHeronOnATobaccoStick15Jul2022_105 by Marshall Smith, on Flickr
Marshall
Transmission lines across one end provide a good lookout perch for a female Belted Kingfisher:
FemaleBeltedKingfisher15Jul2022_053 by Marshall Smith, on FlickrWhile on the other end, tobacco sticks driven into the bottom as part of a Fish&Wildlife project provided a landing spot for this Green Heron, who was considerate enough to fly from the bank for me:
GreenHeronOnATobaccoStick15Jul2022_105 by Marshall Smith, on FlickrMarshall
Jul 17, 2022 09:29:07 #
Jul 17, 2022 09:33:38 #
These are very nice. Not often you get Kingfishers to cooperate but she definitely felt the love here. Looks like a fin morning. Thanks for sharing.
Jul 17, 2022 09:43:51 #
Jul 17, 2022 09:44:29 #
Jul 17, 2022 10:13:57 #
Jul 17, 2022 10:32:21 #
bluezzzzz wrote:
Our small town park pond is habitat to a variety o... (show quote)
Tobacco stick? Likely meaning a bail of tobacco leaves. How did a wooden post get to be called the former.
Jul 17, 2022 11:03:32 #
Jul 17, 2022 11:08:18 #
lamiaceae wrote:
Tobacco stick? Likely meaning a bail of tobacco leaves. How did a wooden post get to be called the former.
lamiaceae, thanks for your interest.
Here in Kentucky and in other southern tobacco producing states, producing the crop was a very labor intensive process. Baling tobacco leaves was a later technique to reduce the time and cost of harvesting.
The old-time method was for men, "cutters", to walk through the tobacco rows, cutting stalks as they go and spearing each stalk onto a strong "tobacco stick" made of a hand-riven hardwood stick about 4 feet long. When this stick was full it was left standing in the field and the cutter moved on to a new stick.
Later all of the sticks were picked up, put on a wagon, and taken to a barn, to cure. There they were passed up hand to hand to men standing on joists in the barn, starting at the very top of the barn and working their way down. The leaves on the stalk hung from these sticks and cured in the barn. Then the process was reversed and the tobacco was taken back down and to market. Brutal and dangerous work.
I spent one day helping a neighbor load his crop on his wagon, and that was enough for a lifetime, for me...
Marshall
Jul 17, 2022 11:44:09 #
Jul 17, 2022 12:58:01 #
kpmac wrote:
Two great images. I just can't get Kingfishers to pose for me.
Nalu and kpmac, keep trying! They are a very skittish bird and I've had the best luck when they were intent on their next meal and weren't worried about being one. lol!
Marshall
Jul 17, 2022 13:38:10 #
Jul 17, 2022 18:48:25 #
Jul 17, 2022 19:53:13 #
bluezzzzz wrote:
Our small town park pond is habitat to a variety o... (show quote)
Beautiful detailed captures
Fran
Jul 17, 2022 20:56:38 #
lamiaceae wrote:
Tobacco stick? Likely meaning a bail of tobacco leaves. How did a wooden post get to be called the former.
My description of a "tobacco stick" in a previous reply is correct, but this video really shows the method, the "spear" placed on the end of the stick, and the cutting knife are shown, too. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video might be worth a thousand pictures.
They had one of these competitions every year here in Scott County and I'd drive by the site on my way to work at the Toyota Plant. The same guy would win it nearly every year; might be the same guy as in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsHGZrI6ODU
Marshall
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