Earth Day

Here's what is going on in our little part of the planet this spring. 

The weather is abysmal, although we certainly would have enjoyed a day like this back in February. It is cold, and wet, and grey. All day, every day.

We are seeing a few flowers, a scattering of crocuses....now gone, one hyacinth, some squill and daffodils.

Migration seems to be lagging as well. Or maybe I just stink at finding warblers. Other people are logging all sorts of goodies, but so far we have seen a single Yellow-rumped Warbler on one hike and a flock of nine of same, in full breeding plumage and lovely with it, on another.

But where is my Palm Warbler? Didn't get one last year and so far none this year either.....

Yesterday we had the biggest congregation of Black-capped Chickadees I have ever seen though. There were thirteen on one set of feeders at one time, and a mess more in the trees. We have around six at the house all the time...tame enough to take seeds from my hand...and a few more elsewhere on the farm. However, this flock is plumb weird. There were as many as six on the red spiral feeder at one time...so many they were crowding each other off as they fluttered for a spot.

There are still quite a few of them here today. Two, which are no doubt our locals, landed on my hand as soon as I went out to fill feeders. Always makes my day.

Not a single White-crowned Sparrow though...of course I am jumping the gun on them so early...didn't see the first one until the second week in May last year, but some years they are here for most of April.

The boss bought me a forsythia bush.... He was lamenting the one he planted for his mother when he was 11. He was instructed to plant if at the corner of the old house over on the home farm and did so.

Except that it was the wrong corner and she was a bit wrathful because there were pipes there that she feared the bush would damage. It didn't.

The house has fallen into its own cellar hole now, and the driveway and the yard and that particular corner are gone as well, scooped away when the road was rebuilt. We thought the bush was gone as well, not having seen it in a while.

This is a bit that has sometimes been in our Christmas Bird Count Territory
(it has changed over the years)
Sure looks different in April than it does in December...

However, I walked over there the other day in a spitting rain and saw, down the creek and through the trees, a massive mound of yellow. We looked yesterday, and somehow the bush was shoved over near the creek. A second bit is growing on the edge of the artificial cliff....we always meant to transplant it, but I think it would be a pretty dangerous undertaking these days. Thus the new one. Plus a placement committee to decide on its location.

Forsythias are tough, but that one has outdone itself.

Earthquakes and Audio Books

We did stuff yesterday. A lot of stuff. We had plans; those plans fell through, and so we did other stuff.

Last night I was well past tired, falling asleep in the chair tired...so I went to bed early, managed to herd the gerbils off the mental wheel and into their various cages and slept the sleep of the really darned sleepy.

And then at 1:53 AM my cell phone peeped me awake..... Instantly. My ringtone for weather and safety-related alerts, is, alas, the same as the one for my boy. Thus the instantaneous wake up.

I was delighted to learn that there had been an earthquake of a 2.8 magnitude somewhere in eastern Canada. Oh, wow.

I have friends on the left coast and on the last frontier who wouldn't even roll over in bed for one of those, let alone one 250 miles away.

I am grateful for the emergency alert system....we experience some pretty dangerous weather around here for an inland area, and it is good to know about those severe thunderstorms and blizzards before the lightning is flashing and the snow is swirling.

However, the alert woke up every single one of those blessed gerbils and they hopped right on the worry wheel.

That's where the audio book came in. Becky has an Audible account, which she shares with me. We have discovered that even the most beloved of tales will lull the gerbils to sleep in about twenty minutes. There is a sleep timer on the app. So.....Father Tim and Barnabas and Dooley Barlow helped me to get through the rest of a night that otherwise would have been sleepless.

So glad Becky discovered this concept. Less glad that I snoozed through the part where Barnabas returns. Guess I'll have to play it again tonight.

Can you hide from Nap Time?

Somebody sure thinks so

"What are you doing, Peggy?"

"Hiding from the nap."

Headless Chicken

The head on the black chicken is surely attached, but I am not sure just how

Lousy photos...it was nearly dark and there was lots of action. These are just barnyard boys but they sure had some issues....

Boundaries

Bama Breeze as a little baby zephyr

We set out yesterday in the afternoon to repair the fence in the old heifer pasture. Moon and Bama and the beef heifer are itching to get outside and we are looking forward to them being able to eat new green grass rather than the hay we feed them. The old girls are both ten now....not young at all....but I'll bet you they'll be plenty frisky when they first hit that tasty green stuff.



However, they need firm boundaries to remind them that this is home. Thus brush must be cut, wires repaired, and posts propped and pounded in. It is a big job and hard for an elder hard-working fella with lingering injuries from last year....

Neon Moon, back when she was just a little crescent

However, he soldiers on and I follow, not much use to him except for company, and being the GoodBirdSpotter.

There are few things as lovely as early spring here in the foothills of the Adirondacks. Pale veils of soft green wisp the edges of the woods and the tops of the trees. Bright red maple buds look like lipstick on their branches, getting painted all up for pollination and reproduction. Everywhere seems a watercolor in pastel and pretty. If you stop to take a look around it is hard to get going again. So much to see and admire

He got the brush cut out of the fence up to the second corner in the cherry wood. I "got" two Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a pair of Brown Thrashers, first of the year for the latter, first for the county and the farm for the kinglets. Everywhere there was love in the air, pairs of everything, two by two, White-breasted Nuthatches with a new nest cavity, Downy Woodpeckers chasing each other up and down trees, even old farmers, although no trees or chasing were involved.

Now if only we could find a way around the boundaries set by the bazillions of ticks that are lurking everywhere. They seem to drink DEET like soda pop and love all of us nearly to death.

Anybody tried those permethrin clothes? We are getting desperate here.

White-throated Sparrow....they will soon head north and be gone until late fall
Already the American Tree Swallows have headed out

Tax Freedom Day

Found this cultivated into a farmer's field up near the folks' house.
Dunno why it is there, but it sure seems fitting for the day

Ain't gonna be here for a while yet in beautiful, Upstate NY. You can see how your state stacks up in the gouging and grabbing  taxation situation by checking the map in the story. Ours stacks up pretty much in the pits with a long way before anyone sees daylight.

It Ain't just Fries with That

We pay a lot of attention to news about Mickie D's as we have a manager in the family.

As you can see from this story, sometimes they are pretty darned intrepid and intelligent folks. I used to think I would do well at such a job, but it is considerably harder than it looks.

Did you make the Call Yet?

Cable TV at its finest

We saw this story when it came out, so it came as no surprise when our bill went up....significantly. It's happened before, back when we had Time Warner Cable.

Usually the bill would take a big jump because a promotion went off or somebody had a bad day or whatever. I would spent an unconscionable amount of time on the phone with someone and get the bill back down somewhere near where it used to be.

It was frustrating, but we could live with it. We usually got a decent deal; sometimes someone really helpful would even get the bill lowered a little.

This time when I called I at least quickly got to a live, pleasant, English-speaking person. However, the best deal offered cut about half the TV channels the boss likes to watch like NatGeo and the like and saved us FIVE WHOLE BUCKS. Yeah, five.

So we will eat the increase. On one hand I'm not surprised, but it is outrageous the way huge companies like this make deals with our government and then totally ignore them, to the detriment of customers and tax payers. 

By the way, the "promotion" that expired from the TWC days was in fact one of their standard pricing options.......I do believe that the new company "expired" it. Bah humbug!

Don't try this at Home

We had an hour to kill before we picked up Becky so we went rambling. Nothing stirring on the river, but the boss found a new venue to explore........

Yatesville Falls State Forest Our journey started as just another narrow dirt track making a right angle into some planted Red Pine and mixed hardwood stands. It seemed innocuous enough so we bumped slowly along, listening for birds and admiring the scenery, which was quite fine.

After a bit we began to encounter ever narrower spots, deep, swampy, holes, boggy bottoms, pot holes the size of small canyons, and other features which put me eerily in mind of the Golden Road. This made me nervous....very nervous. It is still early spring here in the Great Northeast. Ya never know what ya might find back in shady woods country.

I began to suggest that maybe the next time we spotted a place to turn around we might do so (the road was a scant lane wide.)

Then came the hills and valleys. Tricksy and twisted and still featuring soft spots and narrow spots and blind corners with barely room for all the tires to stay on the road at the same time. A few more turnarounds appeared and the road kept getting worse. My suggestions became more urgent. 

Finally I said, "This is on you. I don't have cell service so if you get stuck in this stuff we are here to stay unless we walk out. As far as I am concerned we can stop any time. Your call......"

I felt better then, having assigned potential blame somewhere besides on my own shoulders.

Suddenly the road dropped away on the passenger side of the car. And by away I mean A WAY DOWN THERE!

We had found the water fall. It is a beauty. We admired and photographed and enjoyed for a few minutes, and then attacked the return trip as it was time to pick up Becky.

I had only a couple of things to say to the boss as we bumped and bumbled back to the hard road. "This had been fun and it is pretty back here. But I am never doing this again. Ever."

He just laughed.

Rain Out

After the requisite turkey for Easter, we thought to visit the cemetery where the boss's folks are resting.

However, just as we prepared to head that way, a ferocious storm sprang up. The wind rocked the car like a demented cradle and rain lashed and slashed.

We discussed getting our gallon of milk and some cherry vanilla ice cream and going home, but in the end we went anyhow.

The setting was quite fitting.....

Have you Seen the Like

The boss was going to attend a machinery auction up west today, but decided it would be more fun to go to the river birding. Can't hate that. If you knew how much he loves auctions......

We went to Schoharie Crossing where he snoozed in the car, while I wandered in places that are usually under feet and feet of raging, swirling water. It is a powerful feeling to walk in such areas, like being let in on an amazing secret. I found a fossil and almost brought it home, but then decided to leave it to be hidden in the depths once more.

The experience defies description. The golden, slanting light of early day painted everything in bigger, brighter colors than is usual and shadows framed each scene in magic. Saw some good birds too! I will let the pictures tell the story.

About our Goose

Click to read details

Our banded goose from Lyker's Pond is a female, hatched some time before 2015 and banded right near where we saw her. How exciting to be able to find out a bit about the history of a bird you spot!

I saw another banded bird some time ago and I am going to see if I can find out about that one too.

Band on the Run

We stopped at a favorite pond on Goldman Rd. yesterday to see what was shaking. No rare birds or anything exciting, but it is a place that never lets you down just the same.

Another pretty spot we found...too windy for many birds, but maybe later in the year

This time there was a pair of Canada Geese, one of which sported a yellow neck collar with numbers on it. 

I took some photos which showed the numbers quite clearly and came home to look up how to report the sighting.

This is the place to report bird bands that you see. I filled out the form and will be interested to see if I get a report of where the bird was banded. Won't that be cool?

You Can't go Home

Or so it's been said. However, yesterday, Beck, the boss, and I visited the old farmstead where his mother grew up. Her father farmed right on top of Fiery Hill in the town of Danube on a place that is mostly grown up to trees these days, although it appears to have been sold to someone who is building.....something.

We go most every year or two, to stop in that quiet place on that high hill and think about all the stories his mother told...of his grandfather's teams that could haul loads that no one else's could....of her being just a little girl, walking carefully barefoot down the corn rows leading the big, gentle buckskin horse on the cultivator. He never, ever stepped on her, and she remembered him so fondly.

There are many more wonderful stories of her childhood. I wish I could remember them all. She adored her father but he died far too young and left her with a hard row to hoe. 

This time we killed two birds with one stone. The boss loves to visit. I don't exactly hate it either, and I wanted to do a bird list there as a sort of a connection down the years.

At first there wasn't a whistle or a twitter to be heard. I caught the calls of a quartet of distant crows, but not one single other bird made so much as a peep.

We walked down the rutted road along the front of the land, wondering what became of the fine stone steps that led from the road up to where the house used to stand. Somewhere I have pictures of them, but darned if I remember where.

Just as I utterly despaired of hearing or seeing even a single interesting bird, a tiny singer fluttered right to us. It was so quick-moving that I couldn't get a photo even though it was less than four feet from us. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet had come to visit and followed us right up the road. Soon Chickadees, Gold Finches, and even a gobbling turkey joined him on the list.....Sure wish he had paused his flittering for a photo op but it was not to be.

A special bird, although not rare, one I have been seeking, although it surely would have been nice to find one in Montgomery County. I thought of my late mother-in-law, who was somebody very, very special, all the way home. And thought as well that it is no wonder she loved this hillside farm having grown up perched so high above a different but wonderful valley.

Almanac

So inviting...we kept saying, just a little bit farther.....

Peepers started their strident song this past weekend. We first heard them at the river one evening. They were a couple of days later here at the farm....they didn't call it Northview for nothing....but you can hear them even in the daytime now.

The boss and I essayed a roughly five-mile round-trip walk on the Erie Canal towpath yesterday and kept thinking we were hearing good birds when they called. A chorus is obvious, but a single frog tuning up is very birdlike. 

How about that big dude on the left! That is some turtle for a painted

The temperature reached 88 degrees, which made our walk a bit of a challenge....as in when we were done I was done....done for that is. Toast. You could certainly have stuck a fork in and all.

However, hitting ten thousand steps nearly every day is a good deal....mornings feel pretty frisky...at least for a couple of hours.

The old canal was full of turtles, soaking up sun after a long cold winter. The Eastern Painted Turtles perched on logs, while snappers, looking pretty much like moss-covered logs themselves, oozed slowly through the mossy water. You could only tell that they were alive by their movement and the occasional appearance of spooky dinosaur heads above the surface as they grabbed a breath.

Saw the first Coltsfoot yesterday too, down near the canal road. As above, we will see ours at least a few days, if not a couple of weeks later than this. Our north facing slope is kinda chilly.

However, along the towpath we saw something delightful. I heard the classic "killy-killy-killy" call of American Kestrels and a pair zoomed in right over our heads and began interacting in and out of a nest hole in a nearby tree. Fluttering, screaming, lots of ingress and egress of the hole. I tried for a photo, but the sun was so bright I couldn't find them in the viewfinder. It seems as if there are far more of them around this year than in recent years....much like it was before their recent decline. Out in the country you can find a pair every few miles on the power wires and yesterday I found one hunting the heifer pasture right behind the house.

That should be interesting as there is a mockingbird setting up housekeeping in a rose bush there.

The first crocus bloomed on Monday and by yesterday there were a dozen in a cheerful purple carpet. Squill is  waving tiny blue flags by the garden pond. There are buds on the daffodils! 

Jade and Liz dug out the limestone steps in front of the house and discovered a wide, slate walkway leading to the house. It is about a foot deep in soil, but Jade has been digging it out.

Things are hatching in the dining room incubator. It is getting so I don't even go look when I hear peeping....getting to be old hat.

It was a treat to hang laundry outdoors for two days and do some serious catching up.

Today we are back to normal for Upstate April, 50 or so degrees, cool, wet, and gloomy. No denying that it is spring though.