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| You've heard of golf ball-sized hail? This is a golf ball-sized golf ball that mysteriously appeared in our barnyard recently. I blame the weather |
Nobody likes it and it just won't go away.
I'm grateful that we are neither making hay nor planting corn right now, and those who are have my deepest sympathies.
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| March didn't go out like a lamb Neither did April And now look at May I call foul |
It isn't quite down to zero yet, but it sure is cold. (Apologies to friends in other regions who might be reading this, where it is warming up to zero and they are rejoicing...I am a puppy about cold weather...what can I say?)
When I walked the dog I added some extra leashes to his long rope so I didn't have to step out on the crust and ice. The stars were little frozen dots in the sky, all glittery and pretty and about as warm as the devil's heart.
I haven't seen or heard the Carolina Wrens in three days even though I made this stuff just to feed them and they had been eating it. I hope they are just hiding.
We have refrained from birding the last few days. Our county was under a state of emergency...no unnecessary driving...and conditions on the north-south roads were ugly. The wind was strong enough to twist the house and certainly able to pick up all the lake effect snow and stack it between the snowbanks.
I know I will sound like a typical old fart "back in my day, sonny" but this is a winter reminiscent of the 70s when I was new to driving and the streets in Gloversville were all one lane because of the huge snowbanks. Actually, this is milder than that, but it is bad enough.
Anyhow, in a twist of cabin fever yesterday we ventured out for a short bird expedition. Complete waste of time. I got some pretty pictures of snow, which looked good from inside the warm car, and we saw some turkeys. Pretty bleak and barren and not in any way birdy.
But wait! What birdsong breaks in yonder snowy bush? A Northern Cardinal is singing in the hedgerow by the old horse pasture, the first of the year.
And now the House Finches are singing too. The American Goldfinches are just beginning to subtly molt into their brilliant summer finery. A yellow feather here, a yellow feather there.
Is there hope on the horizon?
Maybe.
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| High-Mountain Roadrunners |
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| Canada Jay |
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| I love the mountains |
As it set behind the nearby heights the sun began to tickle the tops of the peaks to the east. Within what seemed like only minutes it was daylight. Soon we were at Sabattis Circle Road where we failed to find the usually ubiquitous Canada Jays but were surprised instead by a flight of Pine Siskins, one of which nearly flew in my ear, and gritting flocks of both kinds of crossbills.
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| White-winged Crossbill |
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| Pine Siskin |
At Bloomingdale Bog we found the Canada Jays, or maybe I should say they found us. Long known as "camp robbers" they seemed downright fascinated by the peanuts we brought along, although they would not land on my hand to get them. They have to be the fluffiest, cutest, kind of jay on the continent.
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| Rough-legged Hawk |
Then we were off to Peninsula Point on Lake Ontario. We encountered all sorts of birds there, most notably 27 (!!!!) Rough-legged Hawks. They were everywhere, even in groups of four or five squabbling over prey. We watched a Bald Eagle engage in aerial combat until it robbed one of its dinner. It must have been something fairly substantial, as the eagle sat on it for quite a while.
It was fun. The mountains are glorious wrapped in a thick mantle of snow, sometimes feet thick on individual branches, and the air is elixir of joy to breathe. I do love those mountains and the critters that live there.
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| Bloomingdale Bog Trail |
Mad props to George for somewhere around fifteen hours of challenging driving into and across the mountains, then back down into the valley and home.
He and his wife Anita have a new book coming out next month that seems very appealing. It is a children's book about a blind girl who enjoys identifying birds by their songs. I encourage you to check it out.
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| Fluffy little Camp Robber |
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| Otsego Lake |
As is not unusual, I wanted to chase good birds, so we combined the two, with the added attraction of inviting our good friend Kris along.
The boss drove. He is a great birding driver, as he knows just how to put you on the bird you want to see. He did a great job of just that all day. Kris found me a Merlin, which I needed for my 2025 county list, plus we found Savannah Sparrows, also FOY for me.
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| Fish |
We started out in Cooperstown, getting the American Coots, and assorted other wildfowl that congregate there to take advantage of the open water provided by the bubblers that protect the docks. Coots are uber cute! It was great fun to watch them striding, all big-footed and funny, over the ice, and to listen to their squeaky-toy peeps and chirps.
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| And more fish |
We tried a number of other good spots over the course of the day, seeing everything from the Merlin to a number of daytime Short-eared Owls.
The boss suggested we drive up into the Van Hornesville fish hatchery. We had driven by hundreds of times over the years, and never entered. What a place! Pool after pool of Rainbow Trout of assorted sizes, throngs of the creatures, circling and swirling madly. There were hundreds of thousands of them. We were fortunate to encounter some of the staff there, who patiently answered our dozens of questions. I can't wait to visit again in the spring.
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| An old spring house at the hatchery |
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| Which Kris noticed was occupied |
I believe that a good time was had by all...It was a great way to spend someone else's birthday. lol. Thanks Becky, Ralph and Kris.
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| The massive spring that feeds the fish pools |
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I really want a Christmas tree this year so I picked out a beauty a few weeks ago when Alan took me touring the hills and creeks on the place in his bright red Jeep.
He was going to get it for me over the holiday but what with babies and hunting and eating turkey and all (which he and Amber raised and donated to the cause....I cooked it in my roaster, breast down, in a quart of chicken stock Becky and I made last summer...Yum!) the tree didn't get harvested.
I've been trying to explain to the boss just where it is so he can take the skid steer up and get it for me, but it is not easy to describe a single tree in a forest of same. Thus I grabbed a roll of surveyors' tape and my bins and camera and headed out on the hills to tag my prey.
It was a slippery climb, with the snow crusted to ice and the rough and rocky trail, but the Jeep tracks from holiday hunts got me to the top of the 30-acre Lot safely. From there I contemplated the lack of a path up to Seven-County Hill where the wild pines and Ruffed Grouse grow.
And noped my plans right there on the spot. No Jeep tracks, just sharp crusty snow, chest-high brush, and a mini mountain to climb. I really wanted to tag that darned tree, but if you don't respect your age and abilities you will wish you had. It was enough of a fool's errand climbing the front hill in winter without goating up the big hill.
I opted for a hike over to the deer blind and some time sitting on the ladder of same enjoying the company of an assortment of birds. It was peaceful up there despite the traffic noise and trains. I think I heard a Winter Wren check-checking from the bushes but Merlin couldn't hear him and I couldn't pish him out. Even without counting him the trip netted me 21 species, not bad for a winter walk just on our own place.
I came down....walking very gingerly...much refreshed and in a better frame of mind than when I started....despite the pine tree fail. You can't put a price on time outdoors....because it's priceless after all.
Our house is warmer than the milking parlor was back then, but not as much warmer as I might like it to be. However, I don't mind the chilly brew.
It does the job.
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| Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Sanderling with clam on the half shell |
Here in Montgomery County I have never seen a Sanderling, although they have been encountered here historically. On the beaches of Maine I saw hundreds upon hundreds, scuttling through the wrack hunting for tiny morsels of food, assorted invertebrates of which there must have been millions. These little cuties nest in the high arctic tundra, but during migration they disperse to sandy beaches all over the world. They are the birds you often see at the edge of the waves, racing in and out with the water, grabbing tasty treats. They are one of my favorite sandpipers.
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| Semi-palmated Sandpipers |
There were equal numbers of Semi-palmated Sandpipers, interspersed with the Sanderlings. (I found one of those at the Schoharie Crossing boat launch this year.) Shorebirds are challenging to identify to say the least, and I use What's This Bird pretty often. However, semi-palmated means that they have partial webbing between their toes and Sanderlings lack a hind toe altogether, so if they roll over and wave their feet at you, you can easily separate them. Alas not one of them did that, although I did get some pics of Sanderlings with the toe...or lack of one...visible.
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| Semi-palmated Plover, just for confusion's sake |
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| His little semi-palmated feet |
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| Beach covered with wrack, invasive Asian seaweed Birds loved it But ugh! |
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| Cute little Ring-billed Gull |
Then there were the gulls, OMG the gulls. There wasn't a single species that isn't common right here in Fultonville in Winter, but hereabouts they don't let you walk up three feet away to take pictures. The larus group in general has a terrible and well-deserved reputation for being pretty awful, but boy, did I have fun with them. Photos of their squabbles and cosmopolitan dietary inclinations beg to be captioned, ferocious clowns that they are. If birds were once dinosaurs gulls aren't far from their ancestors.
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| Herring Gulls having a kerfuffle |
Best bird of the week, or birds if you prefer, was a pair of American Golden Plovers. After a lifetime of birding "lifers" are scarce and exciting. These were what I consider to be "good" lifers, because they are birds that are very unlikely to show up here...as far as I can tell no one has ever seen one in Montgomery County. I never saw one on my travels before eBird either, thus more special, than even a Cattle Egret would be, which I have seen right here on the farm, but before eBird. I was astonished to see them fly over and even get a recording of their calls.
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| A portion of the Parsons Beach area |
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| More of Parson's Beach |
Best place we found was Parson's Beach in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. It was a pretty busy place, so the birds were much disturbed, but there plenty of them there. That was where we saw the plovers. We didn't find the spot until Sunday and were heading out Monday, but Ralph and Becky were kind enough to indulge me with a second visit first thing Monday morning before we left for home.
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Snowy Egret with Great Egret |
Just as we were leaving I found another birder counting there...the only birder I met all weekend. It was nice to talk to her about the area. Just before that encounter two little white waders popped into some mud flats with a huge Great Egret. They were Snowy Egrets, birds I hadn't seen since Florida several years ago, and Maine lifers for me. I had been looking for them the whole trip, so they were a nice finish for me.
JSYK, of those 374 photos I took the vast majority were of birds, mostly of sandpipers and gulls. And acres of pinkish seaweed, which had washed ashore with the waves. Research says it is invasive Asian algae. There sure was a lot of it.
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| Common Eider Duck...and they were too, we saw hundreds |
I miss Maine already and hope we can hold it together enough to go back next year.
Huge thanks to Ralph and Becky for walking beaches with me until they got sick of it, then waiting in the car noodling on their phones while I walked some more.
*Travel tip for the parsimonious. I fill empty freezer space with gallon jugs of water to save electricity. We put two in our big cooler and the food and beverages we took along on Friday morning were still cold on Monday, although if we had stayed another day we would have had to buy ice. We just put them back in the freezer when we got home. No watery mess in the bottom of the cooler when they melted either.
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| Man feeding gulls at Nubble Light Not me No way No how Not ever. |
Except, that is, for a sky full of stars so bright that they glittered like the creepy eyes of creatures out there in the night when you wish you were inside where it is light and warm. You could find as many constellations as you cared to, shining neon-bright, except for your freezing feet and hands.
And ice frost on all the grass, that glinted in the glow from our flashlights like a dragon's hoard of sparkly diamonds.
Sure was cold though.
Sure was cold.
American Coots
A couple of years ago a nice birder friend let us in on the secret of the American Coots that winter on the end of Otsego Lake where the marina runs bubblers to keep the ice away from the docks. Since then we have made at least one trip each year to add them to my state year list, since the nearest other spot that we have found them to be reliable is Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and that is a long haul for us.
The past couple of weeks I have been watching for an auspicious day to head that way and yesterday sure looked good.....
Lil' bit windy here and colder than is enjoyable for outdoor fun and games but it sure looked doable...
Until we got up on the hills! We are so spoiled by living here near the river where the weather is just a bit moderated by it, especially when it isn't frozen. I forget that the whole state isn't warmed by the rivers. Up on those hills the tiny bit of snow we had experienced overnight was being tossed around in thin, icy streams, by that same cold, miserable wind.
The farther south we went the worse it got. Some counties and towns do a better job than others at plowing, salting and sanding their roads. We quickly figured out which was which.
We discovered that our path took us past the
Ames firehouse pancake breakfast
Also Cooperstown is in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The higher we went the worse it got. I offered that maybe we should turn back and apologized profusely for even thinking of such a journey.
Whiteout!
The boss is intrepid and he soldiered on, even when at one point we hit a total whiteout where the windshield was awash with nothing but driving snow and the car seemed almost stalled in place by the maddened wind.
There was a certain amount of traffic
despite the ugly conditions
It was so cold when we got there that the boss hustled back to the car after about five minutes near the water. I had to keep putting one of my hand warmers on my ear to ward off frostbite.
But there were coots! Lotsa coots! Over 30 of them. Plus Buffleheads, Common Mergansers and a few geese.
The ride home was almost, but not quite, as horrific as the trip over. I was pretty darned happy to hit the gravel driveway.
Before I went to bed, I thanked the boss for the coots, as I try to always remember to thank him for our frequent birding trips. He took the opportunity to tease me a bit about cooties....been a while since I had to worry about those.
Some interesting links
Otsego Lake...117,000,000,000 gallons of gorgeous turquoise water is contained in this beauty.
I don't think I want to chase any coots today, even though the wind has gone down.
Cooties!
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