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Cones, catkins, extraordinary formations abound

Jerry Davis For Agri-View
May 31, 2025
May 31, 2025

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Caleb Howton of Birmingham, Alabama, displays a 24.1-pound turkey he shot May 17 in Iowa County, Wisconsin. He then traveled to Caledonia, Minnesota, where he killed a 23-pound gobbler the next day.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Fawn births are peaking in Wisconsin. A wobbly fawn is about one day old.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Wooly sower oak galls are caused by a harmless wasp.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Turkeys have small stones in their gizzards to assist with grinding hard food particles. The limestone stones in a Wisconsin turkey came from a gravel driveway. Stones in a Hawaiian bird were volcanic stones.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Hickory catkins and leaves are forming this month on hickory trees.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Clusters of white-pine pollen cones release wind-dispersed pollen grains.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

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Jerry Davis For Agri-View

Seeing a pine pollen cone, oak catkin or sower gall once each year is enough to continue to marvel at their beauty, unique shapes and purposes. Some extraordinary formations appear to be foreign, out-of-place or even unreal. Most are not.

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Jerry Davis is a freelance outdoors writer. Contact him at sivadjam@mhtc.net or 608-924-1112 for more information.