(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({ google_ad_client: "ca-pub-1163816206856645", enable_page_level_ads: true }); Northview Diary

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Choreography


We happened upon a mighty clutch of Hooded Merganser babies this morning. They were up under the aqueduct at Schoharie Crossing SHS. With the sparkling morning sunlight and their general overall cuteness it was a fine moment.


Then as they swam away from me up the tranquil pool, they all dove in precise unison. I suppose there was some signal from mama that the old lady up on the ramp was a threat.

It was an event of uncanny perfection. 10 ducks, swirl of water, 0 ducks, just like that.


It's the little things....

Many ducks and songbirds live out their summer under the aqueduct.


Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The Week in Birds

American Crow hanging out at McDonald's...I mean, what crow wouldn't?

Over the past few days we have picked up a couple of new ones for the year, although it is getting really hard to find them. The county total for the year so far has already surpassed ALL of last year's sightings, and I have seen as many as I saw all year too, although I am still behind another birder. We saw a Great Horned Owl flying in a brilliant orange sky as Red-winged Blackbirds dive bombed it the other night at sunset. It was amazing.


This Green Heron and its family are so cooperative
when I go down to the aqueduct where they hang out

Then we heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo down by the river...I was even able to record its calls...


Immature Ring-billed Gull

Otherwise the main excitement is just seeing regular birds do interesting things and trying for better photos of ones I have already seen.



Canada Gosling

There is always something to keep it interesting. The video below is a bit of excitement the other day. I don't know what set the guineas off down in the barn but I hurried down to check as they were really tuning up. Never did see anything, but I am certain that they did!


Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Hammonds Freed



Many Farm Side columns have been written about this story .....this is good news indeed! 

Well, done Mr. President.

Monday, July 09, 2018

Comments are Fun


Especially spam comments and those awaiting moderation. But what's up with Blogger not notifying of posted comments with email any more? I hate that.

Comment 1) Thanks for the good writeup. It actually was a enjoyment account it.
Glance complicated to far brought agreeable from you!
However, how could we communicate?


Comment 2) Great beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your website, how could i subscribe for a blog web site?
The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit 
acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept.


And 3) Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was 
just wondering if you get a lot of spam comments?
If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can recommend?
I get so much lately it's driving me crazy so any help is 
very much appreciated.


Why, yes, yes I do get a lot of spam comments. Thanks so much for adding to that wonderful total.

Sunday, July 08, 2018

What do Rattlesnakes, Bear Paws, and Rainbow Sherbet

Not a rattlesnake

...have in common?

Why they are all research topics for this week's Farm Side, of course.

And I can tell you this much about them: Rainbow sherbet does indeed contain milk. It's Big Nose Mountain on the north of the river in Yosts, where there used to be snakes at the gas station. I always get them mixed up and have to look up which mountain is where.

They were Timber Rattlers. We were much impressed as kids.

And it's Adirondack Bear Paw not bear claw. Ice cream that is. I get it wrong every time, and have to consciously wrap my mind around the name. The struggle is real.

Also not a rattlesnake

New Yard Bird



He showed up in the yard this weekend when the kids stopped by to pick up some stuff and give me a birthday present. He's a welcome visitor and came complete with the ability to feed his fellow birds some tasty sunflower seeds....a pretty cool dude. Thanks, Alan and Amber!

Saturday, July 07, 2018

Happy Birthday, Mappy

If you see this guy today
He's probably smiling

Or helping somebody in some way



Or messing around with these things

Cause that's what he does
Whatever he's doing I hope you will join us in wishing him a very Happy Birthday
Love you, Mappy!

Thursday, July 05, 2018

Getting Even

Bête noire of the back yard

Mama doesn't know it, but she got a little revenge this morning. 

I was born a tomboy and liked to scare her with critters, frogs, toads, snakes, and the like. I loved em. She didn't.

Anyhoo, this morning I finished hanging out towels and stopped to work on the garden pond. Filter was shrouded in string algae and barely running at all.

Leaning over to lift it out of the water I came face-to-face with a huge small-to-medium Green Frog. 

Inches away.

I screamed. Stumbled backwards and nearly fell over. I'm not afraid of frogs, love em in fact, but I was so darned startled.

Of course there was an audience. The boss was standing right behind me. He is a fine man and only laughed a little.

So mom, I hope you enjoyed your small revenge via Karma. She is, as ever, well, you know.

Guess I'll go fill the pond now.

A Day in the Valley






Wednesday, July 04, 2018

What's this Birb?

Saw this on a log down on the mighty Schoharie.
Thought at first that it was a mammal. Then, after a minute, I had an idea what it might be...
Oops, I disturbed her nap

"What are you, a peeping mom or something!?!"
Her kiddo was perched nearby
* Green Heron

God Bless the USA


Happy Birthday America

Tuesday, July 03, 2018

Hey, Grandma, Watch This








Oh, Rats

Not a bad wake for a rodent



Muskrats that is. Although Lykers Pond hasn't given us any new birds in ages...last new bird for the year anywhere was May 28, it does offer interesting mammals sometimes.

Stuff,stuff, stuff

The other day a muskrat swam over to the road/dam where we were standing, came ashore right at our feet, ate grass and cattails about a yard from us, and then swam away with a snack for later.


Om, nom, nom

Pretty tame little fellow for some reason. 

See you later, Upstate New York pond alligator

Monday, July 02, 2018

A Blinger

Shortly after five today, just as it came out of the camera

Or actually a whole string of them.

Brown Thrashers dusting in the driveway and panting from the heat

A blinger is what the boss's mom used to call a day like this when the sun comes up like a big copper gong, bangs out its song of summer heat all day, and then refuses to let things cool down in the evening.



We are maintaining some semblance of normalcy just the same. The boss has to do hay, weather or not and all. Animals need to eat and drink and be paraded in and out all day. The garden makes its feelings known about heat as well.



We open doors and windows at night and close them to hold in the coolishness. Strategically placed fans whir day and night. We drink a lot of water and eat freeze pops and sherbet...we had sherbet for supper last night in fact...

And we just wait for the weather to break, which may happen Wednesday night.

This one is edited, but it is just how it feels outside

Heartbreaking


Farm Side research was enough to make me cry this week, as I worked on a column a few yards from our empty cow barn. Taken in total, bookmarks saved over the week  amount to a bushel and a peck of sadness and hard times for hard-working people who did little to cause this situation.

I'm grateful that the mainstream media has finally taken notice of what is happening in the dairy industry, but it is too late for far too many.

The first farm in this story once belonged to my late best friend's family. So sad to see the parlor we often took the 4-H kids through, back when they were learning about dairy, on television for such an unfortunate reason. We all spent a lot of time in those very barns just a few years ago, teaching kids, talking to our friends, admiring their cattle, and enjoying their dogs.

This article tells the same story in perhaps less emotional terms. "Sell out as fast as you can."

Here's another.

Locally, empty barns have become the norm unless they are Amish  or big enough to ride out such a precipitous downturn. The boss recounts who owned each place when we drive by. What was once a vibrant community of small farms is fading fast, although our county is fortunate to still have a fairly strong farm economy and a good many well-run dairy farms still, including the one on our old friends' place.

This situation spills into every aspect of the rural economy, from the closing of independent grocery stores, soon replaced by national chain convenience stores, to local folks who lose their farm jobs as milk checks contract. 

Prices for beef and hay go down too, as more and more farmers try to use their lifelong learning to stay in some form of agriculture. It's ugly and grim and probably not going to stop soon.




Sunday, July 01, 2018

A Small Kindness






I truly hope that this makes you feel just a little bit better today.....cooled me off just looking at them.

Meanwhile, stay hydrated my friends, stay hydrated.