Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a seasonal holiday principally observed in the United States and Canada. The tradition of recognizing the bounty of harvested crops and reflecting on family, friendships, and bonds between neighbors is traced to gatherings of Native Americans and Colonists that took place in New England in the early 1600s. With European farmland becoming less capable of feeding the expanding population, colonists crossed the Atlantic Ocean, largely, to settle the New World’s ample farmland. However, many colonists encountered extreme hardships in their first years in the new land. For many, survival depended upon the assistance Native Americans provided in teaching the colonists how to hunt, plant crops, and harvest native foods. Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest with a feast at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, and Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony held their first Thanksgiving celebration in 1630. Large amounts of game, fish, and harvested crops were served. The Europeans especially enjoyed the wild turkeys of the New World, and they introduced them to Europe. Today, domesticated turkeys are the foundation of most Thanksgiving Day dinners. European colonists impacted the New World environment and agriculture when they brought in Old World plants, cattle, hogs, earthworms, and honey bees.

Thanksgiving is a reminder to us of how important, and sometimes fragile, is our food supply. In the 1600s, people left Europe to seek new, fertile lands to produce food. Today, we feed the world, in large part, by industrial agriculture. Hopefully, we can balance the need to produce large volumes of food while protecting the soil, air, and water. People today have the same needs as our colonial ancestors: protection from the elements, food, and an environment free of toxins. Our bees, likewise, have the same requirements. We met many people at farmers markets this week gathering food for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Among them was our friend, beekeeper and urban farmer, Mary Phillips. This Thanksgiving Day I am enriched by beekeeping friends from across the country and around the world.

--Richard

Conservation Agriculture

Beekeeping is a small but important part of a changing agriculture. Every year sees changes being made in agricultural production techniques resulting from efforts by farmers to produce food and fiber to an ever increasing world population. Along with greater demands for agricultural products there is an increasing pressure on the producers to adjust to increases in fuel and other costs. One of the easiest ways to reduce fuel costs is for farmers to find ways to reduce tillage of the soil. Such approaches, which may be called “conservation agriculture,” can have benefits for the farmer and the environment. Conservation agriculture is based on farming techniques that keep a cover crop on the ground at all times, disturb the soil at a minimum, and provide for crop rotations. For more, see http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/. Any changes in agriculture affect beekeeping operations in the area. The lessened plowing of fields should immediately benefit many native bees that nest in the soil. These bees lose habitat through industrial agricultural practices that destroy their nest along field margins. Today’s photo shows soybeans being planted into unbroken soil covered in annual grasses. In the distance, a winter wheat field is harvested in the morning and planted the same afternoon without tilling the soil. The grasses and competing crop weeds are killed by an application of herbicides. This planting technique reduces fuel usage, saves ground water, and helps conserve organic matter in the soil, increasing tilth. No-till planting lessens soil erosion, and sometimes reduces fertilizer use. Since weeds spring from broken ground, no-till planting reduces the germination of weed seeds.

A New York Times piece, http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/damaging-the-earth-to-feed-its-people/, describes how no-till planting may lessens the release of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. Agriculture accounts for the release of a considerable amount of the greenhouse gases that are affecting the world’s climate. All forms of agriculture, including beekeeping, are looking for management practices that are more sustainable and less damaging to the environment. All stand to benefit from careful planting.

--Richard

Operation Migration

We see evidence of successes in wildlife conservation efforts. In recent decades, the whooping crane almost became extinct. However, with the concerted efforts of public and private groups, these beautiful birds are slowly increasing in numbers. The whooping crane population declined from an estimated high of 1400 cranes in 1860 to an all-time low of 15 birds in 1941. The only naturally-occurring flock of whooping cranes summers in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada. The wild flock, which now numbers 180 birds, migrates to the Gulf of Mexico coast of Texas. A consortium of wildlife experts recognized that the population was at risk with all of the birds sharing the same territory and migration route. In an effort to protect the whooping crane from extinction, another flock of cranes was established with a separate migration path through its historic range. This Eastern population now has 96 cranes which migrate from Wisconsin to Northwest Florida. Whooping cranes are guided on their first migration by pilots using ultralight aircraft. My friend, Shirley Murphy, keeps me informed of the whooping crane migration. Today the 11 young cranes making the migration guided by human fliers in ultralight aircraft are resting in Hardin County, Tennessee in the vicinity of Shirley’s Tennessee River home and bee yard. They are at the half-way point of their 1285 mile migration. You can follow the progress of the flight at http://operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html. The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership is a group of non-profit organizations, individuals, and governmental agencies that are working together to establish the Eastern population of cranes. Their work can be viewed at http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/.

Here at Peace Farm, we also see the results of successful conservation efforts. We are visited by birds extending their range: black-necked stilt, tundra swan, and bald eagle. This week, I noticed that a number of the nesting holes that Rita drilled into a dead tree trunk had been used by blue orchard bees, like the one I photographed gathering pollen from evening primrose flowers.

--Richard

Catch-On in Nashville?

One day after publication of my letter to the editor of Memphis’ The Commercial Appeal, I have heard a number of comments about my suggestion that we consider a highway right-of-way management plan involving plantings of native wildflowers and grasses. The comments have been thoughtful and supportive. The purpose of the change from mowing roadside grasses to tending meadows is to support honey bees and native pollinators by providing forage, habitat, and nesting areas. Issues brought up include motorists’ safety, the value of increasing plant and pollinator diversity, the benefit to pollinators by increasing forage and nesting places, mowing cost reductions, herbicide and pesticide reductions, invasive species control, prevention of soil erosion, and landscape beautification. One gracious writer said, “That makes perfect sense from a naturalist’s point of view; the energy savings from a conservationist’s point of view; the dollar savings from an economist’s point of view; the carbon savings from the environmentalist’s point of view and the tax savings from the taxpayer’s point of view. Don’t expect it to catch on in Nashville.” Sure, changes in public policy and procedure don’t come about easily. However, I do believe that there is growing interest in the need to protect the pollinators, increase biodiversity, conserve our resources, and protect the environment. Pollinator plantings are being employed in a number of states. The environmental and management concepts are well developed, and successful pollinator plantings are established. We should see more pollinator pastures along the highways; and, eventually, they will be connected into corridors connecting diverse habitats.

Today’s photo shows small red wasps pollinating wildflowers in Colorado. On a recent visit, I found abundant, diverse wildflowers along the roadsides. The blooms attracted many species of wasps and solitary bees. I found no honey bees at this high altitude. I thank all who have entered into the discussion of how we can help our bees and native pollinators. Eventually, pollinator corridors will catch on in Nashville.

--Richard

Pollinator Corridors

A recent front page story in Memphis’ The Commercial Appeal, “To save a buck, state lets grass grow along I-40 in West Tennessee,” described the overgrown interstate highway roadsides resulting from reduced mowing. The following is an excerpt from a letter that I wrote the editor in response:

“While that is quite understandable in tough budget times, perhaps it is time to explore an alternative highway right-of-way management strategy. The interstate highway right-of-way is currently managed as a grassland of perennial grasses. Roadsides and medians are basically lawns of tall fescue with spring-blooming crimson and white clover. Some designated areas are left un-mowed as wildflower plots or pollinator pastures. An alternative strategy could involve expanding the wildflower plots into pollinator corridors along highway rights-of-way.”

“Some electrical power and petroleum pipeline rights-of-way are being maintained according to designed integrated plant management plans. Here, appropriate native grasses and wildflowers are allowed to grow in unmowed prairie habitats. Native wildflower species are chosen to provide continuous blooming throughout the growing seasons, and native shrubs are allowed to line the margins of rights-of-way.

“The resulting prairie affords vehicle entry into the rights-of-way while providing important habitat and forage for honey bees and native pollinators, songbirds, and small mammals. The honey bees and native pollinators, important for the production of one-third of our human diet, are declining in numbers across North America.

“These prairie corridors along highway rights-of-way may provide a lower-maintenance alternative to mowing, provide important habitat and forage for pollinators, and present colorful, attractive foliage along our highways.”

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has prepared an overview of the conservation potential of roadside habitat. It may be viewed at http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation-roadsides/. Just at bison and large mammals benefit from established wildlife corridors in the American West, honey bees and butterflies can benefit from pollinator corridors along our interstate highways. Today’s photo shows a honey bee foraging vetch among asters and buttercups.

--Richard

Wildlife Corridors

For any form of wildlife to exist in an area, the animals require food, water, some form of protective cover, and adequate space. Most warm-bloodied animals must have a continuous supply of food to provide energy for motion and to maintain body heat. I encountered a number of the large mammals on my recent travel through the American West. While some warm-blooded animals, like bears, hibernate in the winter, other animals migrate from one location to another to obtain food throughout the year. To allow for the long migrations of these animals, individuals and agencies are establishing corridors for the animals to safely travel. One of these corridors involves Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and the lands connecting the parks. These corridors allow elk, bison, pronghorn antelope, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep to pass between areas that otherwise would be wildlife islands. The wildlife food is comprised principally grasses, but also includes browse of twigs and wildflowers. I observed a mule deer consume large amounts of flowering plants, pollinated by solitary native bees. Today’s picture shows a bison dominating a road in Yellowstone National Park. Bison use their massive head and their shoulder muscles to dig into deep snow to find plant material. Its presence is evidence of the results of years of conservation efforts.

Cold-blooded animals have an advantage in that they can survive in an area that does not have a continuous supply of food. The animal’s body temperature remains the same as its surroundings. Fish, reptiles, amphibians, and insects are cold-blooded creatures. The honey bee is a unique insect that can generate body heat. It derives energy to produce this heat from eating honey which it gets from flowering plants. The bees pollinate the plants and assist in their reproduction. The flowering plants contribute greatly to the food available for wildlife. The wildlife corridors make for greatly enhanced habitat and forage areas for animals, large and small. Animals from bison to bees benefit.

--Richard

Across the West

A drive across the American West gave me quite a view of breath-taking scenery. It also revealed much about the state of our agriculture, wildlife, honey bees, native pollinators, and the success of concerted conservation efforts by many. Travelling to Washington State University, Wes and I passed through eight western states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. My observations revealed an agriculture dominated by large-scale farms and ranches employing mono-cultural plantings of crops and largely supporting the production of beef. Considerable acreage is devoted to pasture grasses, corn, and wheat. Each of these is a grass, a plant propagated by wind and not requiring insect pollinators. Alfalfa, a legume, is a high-quality, high-protein crop grown for livestock food. Alfalfa is often grown in the arid West in irrigated fields. In several locations I observed that pallets of migratory bee hives had been brought in to pollinate the alfalfa. Having sufficient numbers of insect pollinators is especially important where the alfalfa is being grown to produce seed.

Wildlife seems to be thriving in the agricultural areas, forests, national parks, and even in the urban areas. I observed a number of mammals along the way: prairie dogs, ground squirrels, white tailed deer, mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, mountain goats, bison, and moose. A number of birds were observed: magpies, ravens, and shandhill cranes. Birds of prey I observed included red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, golden eagles, and osprey. Beekeepers always watch for bee hives as they travel. I spotted several bee yards along the way. Stationary bee yards were located on small farms with diverse crops and in residential areas. Migratory honey bee hives were located near fields of alfalfa. Wildlife thrives in the natural areas designated as national parks, and conservationists are connecting these to build corridors as migratory routes for animals such as elk, pronghorn antelope, and bison. Bumblebees, like this one pollinating flowers on the Frank Phillips ranch in Oklahoma, have hairy abdomens unlike carpenter bees.

--Richard

4-H at 100 Years

Tod and I headed out for Martin, Tennessee, crossing the Mississippi River near Dyersburg. In the early morning light we spotted a peregrine falcon near the river. Beyond the river bluff we saw a bald eagle perched atop a dead tree high above an oxbow lake. Our destination was the 4-H Roundup being held at The University of Tennessee-Martin campus. For one hundred years the 4-H has been training young students in leadership and useful skills. The program teaches agricultural skills, but is expanding into areas not specific to the farm. In Tennessee 300 thousand students participate in 4-H projects. Tod and I were honored to participate in the 4-H Roundup, the competition among the state’s determined participants. We joined John Skinner of The University of Tennessee in judging presentations of the finalists among 17 hundred who participated in the entomology program. These students studied insects, learning how some are beneficial and some are pests. They studied insect control methods using biological controls as well as insecticides. Some in the entomology program are learning to manage honey bees.

The peregrine falcon and the bald eagle both are recovering in the South after their numbers were decimated as the result of the birds taking in persistent insecticides in their diets. Being at the top of the food chain, the birds received a concentrated amount of insecticides, including DDT. The chemicals were often absorbed from the soil by earthworms and passed along to birds and fish which were then eaten by the carnivorous falcons and eagles. The insecticides stopped the birds’ reproduction by making their egg shells thin and subject to breaking. In the photo, I am presenting awards on behalf of the Tennessee Beekeepers Association to the entomology program students at the 4-H awards banquet. A number of students received college scholarships for their efforts. I felt good after the day’s events, knowing that Tennessee is producing new generations of powerful birds of prey and agricultural leaders.

--Richard

Honey Bees and Eagles

The bald eagle appeared on Independence Day, The Fourth of July, in a nearby rice field. What a fitting sight of the national symbol on the holiday commemorating the 1776 declaration of the founding of the United States of America! The next day the adult eagle with snow white head and tail dove into the Peace Farm lake adjacent to our queen bee evaluation yard to catch a fish. Bald eagles are recovering from near local extinction in the South. We have been seeing them in the area for the past four years, but this is the first time we have seen one on our farm. The eagles declined drastically in decades past largely as a result of their absorbing insecticides and environmental chemicals through their diet. Now we have honey bees declining in numbers, and insecticides and environmental chemicals are suspected as contributing to their decline. Just as chemicals are stored in fat tissue of eagles, chemicals are stored in the beeswax comb of bee hives. The loss of either eagles or honey bees can serve as indicators of the health of the environment. The recovery of their populations is a measure of the resiliency of each species. When they are restored, they will be considered a success for our conservation efforts. Meanwhile, the eagles and honey bees tell much about the condition of the environment.

In the photo we see a non-chemical approach to controlling parasitic Varroa mites, dusting the hive with powdered sugar. The sugar causes the mites to lose their grip on the bees as well as encouraging the bees to preen and remove mites. Other Integrated Pest Management measures that can be considered safer for the honey bees and the environment include the use of resistant honey bee stocks, screened bottom boards, removable drone combs, vegetable oil patties, and the use of less-harsh agents like organic acids and thymol for Varroa control. Diligent beekeepers and chemical users are making conditions safer for eagles and honey bees.

--Richard

Birds on the Bee Farm

The same elements that make for healthy habitat for honey bees also support a number of other forms of wildlife. All wildlife need food, water, adequate space, and protective cover. We try to provide all of these elements at Peace Bee Farm. We consider the presence of wildlife as a good indicator of the health of the environment. Since birds thrive in the same habitats that support healthy populations of honey bees, we have designated large portions of the farm as a bird sanctuary. The birds and the bees are able to move freely among open agricultural fields, grasslands, forests, lakes, marshes, and swamps. This week we were pleased to have Mary Phillips and her long-time friend from Seattle, Washington, Sarah Pierce, come out to look for songbirds. Sarah, a student of ornithology, attended Warren Wilson College with Mary.

They found a number of birds on the farm including blue jays not found around Sarah’s Pacific Northwest home. The blue jay, a member of the American crow family, is making a comeback after its numbers were reduced by West Nile Virus, vectored by mosquitoes. Other bird visitors this week included the colorfully-named bronzed grackle, red-winged blackbird, Eastern bluebird, brown thrasher, great blue heron, and purple martin. More observed visitors were Eurasian ring-necked dove, bob-white quail, Baltimore oriole, Canada goose, mallard, wood duck, and great heron. Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned hawks dropped in to steal domestic poultry. Both bird and honey bee sampling projects are measuring the condition of these environmentally-sensitive creatures. Peace Bee Farm is participating in several sampling studies of honey bees. The Great Sunflower Project reminds us that it is now time to plant seeds. Visit http://www.greatsunflower.org/ to participate. This study of the effect of bees on garden plants, crops, and wild plants will be useful; as the bees, plants, and the birds are greatly related in the environment. Sarah was interested in learning that the ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, was found in Arkansas’ Cache River basin.

--Richard

Earth Day

April 22 is designated as Earth Day. For forty years concerned citizens of the world have stopped to consider our effect upon the planet. Once a year we look at how we are affecting our environment. We see areas where the environment is damaged and consider ways to take corrective action. We also see areas in which we have made considerable progress in improving the environment and protecting the creatures that share the earth with us. We ponder the effect on the world-wide environment from natural occurrences like the volcano in Iceland spewing gasses and dust into the atmosphere. We also consider the effect of one hundred years of internal combustion automobile engines spewing exhaust gasses and particles into the atmosphere. Our soil, air, streams, rivers, and oceans need protection. We need to be thoughtful in our energy production and use. We should continue to Reduce the number of items that we use, Reuse them after their first use, and Recycle the materials when items are no longer useful. The excessive clearing of forests affects the environment of the entire world. We need to plant trees wherever we can. Grasslands and prairies need to be restored. Those interested in land restoration at mining and landfill sites as well as those working with forage, biofuels, landscaping, and wildlife management can gain information from The Center for Native Grasslands Management, which will be holding a symposium in Knoxville, Tennessee in October. Visit http://nativegrasses.utk.edu/ for details.

The decline in the numbers of honey bees and native pollinators gives us reason to carefully consider our actions. Many beekeepers feel that the loss of bees is associated with our over-use of pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals in the environment among other issues. The spread of honey bee pests and pathogens around the world is troubling, but we are also spreading knowledge worldwide on ways to keep the bees healthy. Today’s picture shows a honey bee foraging in buttercups, composite wildflowers which paint the Arkansas Delta bright yellow.

--Richard

Pollination in Kentucky

The state of Kentucky is in the process of turning mountain lands of Appalachia that have been used for surface mining of coal into habitat for honey bees and native pollinators. The Kentucky Senate passed a pollinator bill that acknowledges current efforts to make mine reclamation more environmentally responsible by allowing pollination sites to be established on reclaimed land. The efforts also involve planting of trees and undercanopy plants that are attractive to bees and other pollinators. Among the trees being used for reforestation are sourwood and American chestnut. Bees make famous honey from sourwood grown at elevation in the mountains. The American chestnut is being restored after being decimated by blight in the 1900s. Not only are the Kentucky efforts restoring the foliage in the mountains, they are starting a beekeeping industry to provide economic opportunities in Appalachia. Among those who have been working to change the mine reclamation practices is Tammy Horn, who helped establish the Coal Country Beeworks. The Beeworks is training beekeepers and placing honey bee hives on former mining sites. The sites employed a type of mining known as mountain top removal, a technique in which rock and coal are removed without drilling mine shafts. Tammy Horn, the author of Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation, wrote a piece in today’s New York Times about the honey bee. To read an interesting description of the evolution of our honey bee, its worldwide spread by humans, and its use by beekeepers visit http://www.nytimes.com/info/bees/. I congratulate Tammy and all who are working to restore pollinator habitat in Appalachia. They are helping the local economy while building a “honey corridor” in the region.

Today’s photo shows a honey bee collecting nectar from forsythia, an old-time favorite shrub and one of the first colorful plants to bloom in the late winter. The honey bees learn to access the forsythia’s nectary from the sides of the blossom, reaching the nectar between the flower petals.
--Richard

Kentucky Provides for Bees

The Kentucky legislature is in the process of codifying into law the environmental practices that the coal companies have started using as they reclaim the land used in surface mining. The mining procedure is called mountain top removal. Just as the name implies, the entire tops of mountains are being removed to extract coal. The procedure is considered safer and more economical than digging mines into the earth. One serious problem with mountain top removal is rebuilding the terrain in a suitable manner using the rubble from the mining effort. The shape of the land and water courses must be rebuilt. The rocky soil must be compacted enough to safely hold in place. One of the problems with the compaction efforts has been the fact that trees and understory plants do not grow well in the hard, compacted soils.

When the case was presented to Kentucky’s House Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Environment, the representatives voted unanimously in favor of the bill to continue the efforts to restore pollinator habitat and forage on reclaimed surface mining land. The mining companies will plant trees and understory foliage plants that provide habitat and food for honey bees, bumble bees, and other native pollinators. Coal Country Beeworks is placing honey bee hives on reclaimed mining sites and training individuals to build a beekeeping industry in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky. They have plans for developing a queen bee raising program with the goal of producing queen bees that are suitable for the local area. A part of the restoration effort is the planting of trees and understory plants that are beneficial to pollinators. These plants will include sourwood trees, famous for honey, and the American chestnut tree. This native tree once comprised one third of the forest before it was decimated by blight. Today’s picture, following an environmental note, is a young raccoon that Rita and I found living in one of our wood duck nesting boxes. Congratulations, Kentucky friends.
--Richard

Repairing Damaged Mountains

Tammy Horn is a soft-spoken beekeeper who has been able to move people who literally move mountains. Coal mining companies in the mountains of Appalachia have been increasingly employing a technique of mining called mountain top removal to extract coal without digging mine shafts. As the name implies, the tops of mountains are taken apart and the coal removed, leaving the rubble of remaining rock and soil. Following land restoration rules which were not designed to optimize the environmental effect, the coal companies restore the scarred landscape by pushing the rubble into contours. The rubble is then compacted using heavy machinery. Tammy, who grew up in Hazard, Kentucky and learned beekeeping from her grandparents, recognized the potential for using the restored coal mine land for beekeeping. There exists a need for economic development in Appalachia, and Tammy sees in beekeeping a potential cottage industry. The area is also the natural range for some of the best of the honey plants: tuliptree, black locust, and sourwood. Tammy helped convince the coal companies that they could alter their reclamation techniques to make the mountain soil suitable for growing nectar-producing trees and plants. The magnificent American chestnut is even being reintroduced into its native Appalachian range.

Go to http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/coal-mines-bee-friendly.html to follow the great environmental work that the coal companies, universities, foresters, and beekeepers are doing to improve life and the environment in what Tammy sees as a “honey corridor” in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. She wants to put bee hives on the 33,000 acres of reclaimed coal mine land and establish “genetic islands” of honey bees. Today’s photo, taken by Alice Jones, shows Tammy Horn and her colleague, Allen Meyers, working bees at the James River Coal site near Hazard, Kentucky. There’s yellow clover in the foreground and sourwood in the margins of the forest. Tammy is the author of an excellent history, Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation. I’m anxiously waiting for her next book.
--Richard

Swan Identification Continues

I sent a photo of the swan that I spotted yesterday to Van Harris who writes a regular article about birds for the Memphis newspaper, The Commercial Appeal. Van, a former president of the Memphis Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, said that it is likely that the swan was possibly not a trumpeter swan, but instead North America’s other native species, the tundra swan. As its name implies, the tundra swan lives in the arctic tundra. Its winter-time migration normally takes it to the East or West coast of the United States. Both birds are quite similar in appearance, with the tundra swan somewhat smaller in size. Van directed me to The Trumpeter Swan Society, a conservation group involved in restoration of the species that came very close to extinction in the early 1900s. You can view the group’s efforts at http://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/. I will continue to watch this swan and report it to the group. By observing new locations for trumpeter and tundra swan migrations, the group attempts to plan conservation efforts in the South. Habitat restoration efforts for swans benefit numerous other species. This single swan shared a large flooded rice field with hundreds of northern shovelers, mallards, and northern pintails. The wildlife that we observe serves as an indicator of the condition of our environment. The presence of waterfowl in particular illustrates the successful efforts of many concerned individuals and groups.

I am posting another picture of the swan, probably a tundra; I will continue to refine the identification. If you click on the picture, you can see the swan preening its feathers. Behind the magnificent swan are northern shovelers, beautiful ducks with broad bills. The wide-open expanses of the Arkansas Delta can be seen in this deceptive photo, taken in rain and low light. The upright light poles are located at a railroad terminal three miles in the distance. The heavy tree line is an old chute of the Mississippi River four miles away
--Richard