Farming in the shade

Our farm has a county drain running through it, right alongside the road. We have all sorts of wildlife that live in our ditch, but we've never seen this scene before. We think it's a she, and we think she's laying eggs. What do you think? Other than taking her photo, we left her alone. Anyone want to take a guess what kind she is? And then another day, much further away from the ditch, the girls found this little guy. He was mighty cute. Hope we didn't disturb his life cycle by picking him up. The girls put him right at the edge of the ditch. Apparently, it's a good year for turtles.

I recently read a statistic that 75% of wildlife habitat in this country is provided or protected by agriculture. I am amazed at what I saw today. I took a walk earlier this morning, but didn't look up. The Farmer, on one of his missions, saw this big bird, and told me about it at noon. It was still there after lunch, so he called me from the cab of the tractor to tell me. Can it be? Whoa... I think it is! (Click on any of the photos to zoom in.) A bald eagle. Amazing! Apparently I was paying a little too much attention to him (or muttering my amazement too loudly), as he flew off. See the white tail? Beautiful...