Birds and Floweres

Purple Finch

Daisy Fleabane
An annual plant with hairy stems to 2 1/2 feet tall with small daisy-like flowers.  All leaves are narrow, less than 1 inch wide.  The flowers are in spreading clusters at the top of branched steams. The flowers are about 1 inch across.  The habitat is generally open woods, dry prairies, fields, pastures, roadsides and disturbed areas.

The other day I was driving through the neighborhood and what should I see, chickens!  I wonder if these guys were left over from Easter.  My mom was kind enough to take them out to a farm.  These were just running around. Wonders will never cease.

Nodding Thistle

White Wild Indigo
There is a lot of that in bloom right now.  It is described as a smooth, shrubby plant to 5 feet tall. The branched stems have alternate leaves that are each divided into 3 leaflets. Stems emerge above the leaves with showy white flowers, each about 1 inch long with the structure of other flowers typical of the pea family.  Habitat is prairies, streamsides, fields, pastures, and roadsides. 

Nodding Thistle
This is from the aster family. It is a sturdy biennial with a spiny, winged-stem. It grows up to 7 feet tall.  First years leaves spread over the ground, radiating out from a central core. The second year they send up branching stems. Leaves are up to 10 inches long and 4 inches wide, smooth, deeply lobed with spiny tips. The flower heads are about 2 inches across, solitary, nodding at the ends of very long stems with numerous reddish purple flowers. Habitat is pastures, fields, roadsides and other disturbed areas. It is native to Europe, and you see occasionally throughout Illinois.