It’s a great time of the year when rice harvest begins. One of our favorite parts of harvest is the aroma of a freshly-harvested rice field. Maybe it has something to do with the bran or bran oil on the rice grain where the aroma is released in part by the harvest process. Whatever it is, it is earthy with a mildly sweet overtone. At least to many, the aroma is comforting. Have you driven the backroads at rice harvest time, rolled down a window and breathed in the sweet smell of harvested rice?
A very good sign
The photo that is shown with this post is of a Burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), photographed in the Conservancy’s Central Basin Reserve Area. It has become a “friend” of Conservancy field crews since it is so gregarious. Conservancy crews always recognize it because, as you can barely see in the …