Spring means preparing fields for planting. Here a four-bottom plow is used on a field on the other side of the highway. The area beyond the tractor was subdivided for houses just a few years ago - part of the slow transformation of our township from family farms to bedroom community for both Reading and the Lehigh Valley.

I was reminded of the old song Daisy recently when I saw this couple enjoying an afternoon ride on the back roads of Windsor Township. For the benefit of non-antiquarians, it went like this: "Daisy, Daisy, give me you answer, do. I'm half crazy over my love for you. It won't be a stylish marriage. We can't afford a carriage. But, you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two."

Here's another helicopter traveling overhead. It is not so clear as the prior one as it was done handheld and with a wide angle lens. But it does not appear to have a camera pod and there is a red cross prominently displayed, so I would guess it is a medical evacuation helicopter following I-78 to the level one trauma center at Lehigh Valley Hospital Center.

This is the Redwing Blackbird. It is fairly common here on the farm in Pennsylvania. This one is sitting on an electric power line and calling out. I'm no good with bird calls, so I won't try to represent the call. Like the House Sparrow posted earlier, this was done handheld with a 300 mm lens, this time at a distance of about 20 yards.

This view shows the redwing with the wings slightly extended. The more the wings extend, the larger the portion of the red and yellow stripes that are exposed. When strolling near a nest in a field, one first hears the bird's cry and the furious beating of the wings; then you see a blur of black with what seems a very large reddish spot atop either wing. At that moment, I have never noticed the yellow stripe below the red as a separate entity. Redwings, in my experience, will attempt to draw your attention away from the nest by flying relatively low and slow and calling loudly. Considering their proclivity for nesting in hayfields, it is marvelous that they persist in significant numbers here on the farm.

Male House Sparrow photographed this week in PA. A fairly common bird, but I was pleased that this came out so well handheld from about 15 yards in strong sunlight that overexposed lighter areas of many photos that morning.

It's not a black helicopter, but it was pretty dark and rather thin on markings - the only marking I could make out was the number 23 on the nose in this shot. After making a couple of passes over the mountain near my house (not much up there except the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomy Society observatory and some hiking trails) it went away to the southeast flying directly over my position. This was done with my DSLR on a tripod using a 70-300 zoom lens with a 2x teleconverter. I had to focus manually, so I tried focusing nearer than the subject and waiting for it to come into focus in the viewfinder. This was a trick I learned when I was the photographer for the Monroe Rifles drill team while in Army ROTC at The University.

The actual size of this moth was only about an inch across. It spent a night and most of the next day glued to the siding on the house last week. I was particularly struck by the silvery fringe on the trailing edges of the wings.

I should have put these up in the reverse of the order I did. This photo shows the interior of the bridge with details of its combination of arches, upright and diagonal columns, knee braces, etc.

The entrance to the Dreibelbis Bridge on PA 143, topped by a traditional Pennsylvania German hex sign for good luck. The sign on the right notes that the bridge was built in 1869.

This is the covered bridge over the Maiden Creek here in Windsor Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It can be found on PA Route 143, aka Ontelaunee Trail (Ontelaunee is the Lenni-Lenape Indian name that translates to Maiden Creek), between Lehhartsville and Virginville.