Hey, Dad, this Bird's for You

Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, and who knows what else

My father is 84 today. Although some of my passions seem to have been inborn..... horses for example.... I was horse crazy from infancy....and some grew on me over the ages, like gardening and dairy farming, birding is all Dad.

Today it is pretty much my favorite thing, after spending time with family, of course.

Hunkered down after the attack.
This is how we first spotted them, a very tight knot of a big mess of birds.

Dad got me interested in birds, which I have been since as early as I can remember. Oddly enough, although when I was six or seven I didn't know a Rusty Blackbird from a California Condor, I remember seeing white-eyed, brownish black birds that weren't grackles, when we still lived in Gloversville.....we moved from there the year I turned eight. How I wish I could see one now!

He also fed the fire so to speak by getting me involved in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, in which I have participated eagerly for more years than I can count.

I thank him for that and for feeding interests in nature, biology and history in particular, and in learning in general.

He is a pretty great dad.

I hope you will join me in wishing him a very happy birthday and many more of the same.

I love you dad!

American Crows, gleaning a corn field after all the excitement.
If you are interested in Bald Eagles, there are almost always spot them near the boat launch
 and surrounding fields. Lots of other goodies there too.

***A little about these photos and video. Alan and I spotted these gulls and crows on Saturday and pulled down into the Schoharie boat launch area to see what was up. Turns out a Bald Eagle was stirring up the gulls and crows were mobbing the eagle. It was pretty cool.


 

I Always Wanted

A tank in which to go riding around the farm, frightening trespassers and having a high time.

While we were on the road a couple of weeks ago Alan bought this baby as a tiny little kit in an envelope and suggested that I put it together. It sat behind my computer for weeks until yesterday when he asked where it was......

And then he put it together. I could never have done it. It came as little sheets of stamped metal, thinner than a credit card and only about twice the surface area. The pieces...some of them....were no bigger than the end of a pencil. Some were even smaller. I do not have the patience....or the coordination......I quivered with impatience just watching him at it.

However.....

It is now a sturdy little critter tucked away in my China closet. For reference...that circle in the photos is my Irish ring.....

Better Hurry

Some of our loot

Our favorite orchard, Bellinger's, just up around the corner from here, is closing for the season tomorrow (Sunday) at 5 PM.

Alan and I ran up today to pick up some last tasty apples and  other stuff for the winter. I put my apples in a tub in the front hall and as long as I pay attention to bring them into the warmer part of the house during below zero weather, they keep for weeks and even months. I really love apples and feel rich if I have a store of them...

We bought some Suncrisp, some Ida Reds, and a couple of pie pumpkins and a squash for Lizzie. We had a nice visit too, as always. 

I love visiting.....it's a pretty spot.....tidy red barns nestled among trees groaning with apples and farms all around, green, and blue and beautiful.

I'll miss them! Don't miss this last chance to stock up on several late season varieties, squash and pumpkins, honey and such, and maybe grab some cider and cider donuts to keep the growling November winds at bay.

Four Letter Word

The road that is not going to be taken...at least not today

While hiding in the kitchen, pretending I don't have any work to do, for a minute I thought I saw some of that.....stuff....blowing across in front of the hill.

Thankfully it was just a little puff of smoke from the stove and wind-driven rain.

Which is bad enough.

Not too early for tinsel

It is snug and warm inside and cold and wet outside. Even the pup would prefer not to venture out there.

Then a hawk like a knife sliced past the window over the sink. Chickadees and Tufted Titmice scattered like chaff before a gale. One even bounced off the window...unharmed at least.

Then the thing swooped over the barn scaring the pigeons and panicking the rooster. Wow, what a large fierce bird. It flew off south, but I'll bet it will be back.

How did this get way back in the Hickory Tree Field hedgerow?

Meanwhile, last year on the 14th.

Not much color left now

The Cardinals Came

There is a drawback to walking for exercise. Once you start you can't.....not.....

Come dusk I was  restless....

I hiked up behind the barn almost to the 30-Acre Lot, to my favorite birdie hot spot in the darned near darkness. 

Chinking calls all around. Sounded like Cardinals, but there have never been that many Cardinals. Ever.

And then they came. I wasn't pishing. I wasn't doing anything...just standing there in the lane. But still they came.

A wave of Cardinals. They were silhouetted black against the tinfoil sky, no color to be seen, but they were what they were just the same.

If you stand there they will come.

I saw at least a dozen, but if all the birds chinking in the bushes were Cardinals there were many more. 

Then came something that sounded like a chicken. Buck-awk-k-k-k-k-k. Took  a while to recognize the sound of a hen turkey flying to roost. .time to go.

It was plumb dark down at the buildings. And spooky. Even the steer rustling in his pen as he ate his evening hay sounded ominous.

Kinda sad that it was only five o'clock.....

Today

I did what I wanted to. Said what I thought. Spent time where I wanted to be with the people I love and wanted to be with.

The only fences held our animals safe. I saw no one who meant us harm, but instead enjoyed a visit from old friends who traveled freely here from there. They were not stopped at checkpoints, nor did they risk offending our leaders and being harmed. Customers stopped by too, ready to buy our product to feed to their animals.

It was all good, and well worth appreciating.There are problems with our nation, some of them new and pressing, others old and discouraging.

However, all in all, we are amazingly free and fortunate.

Thank you, Veterans, thank you.

Mackalackin

Took da puppy up to the 30-Acre Lot this morning. There is nothing like the rear view of a fat, jaunty Jack Russell rump to enhance a little mini-hike.

He is a good companion too...adds an extra sense to the equation; I can see him smell every interesting thing along the way.

Alas the chain of command twixt he and me has some noticeable weak links, so we had to follow the path of leash resistance.He isn't too bad about that, except for every now and then getting into bondage and tying my feet together.

We saw the sun coming up bright against a quilted sky, all lined with clouds and laced with crows headed north by northwest. It is still warm enough for sweatshirts but brisk enough for hiking so it feels good out on the hills. I was guilty of not wearing my blaze orange sweatshirt, which is in the wash, but I imagine bright green will not be mistaken for a deer either.. 

Mack is a fine bird dog, fascinated by the chinking of some White-throated Sparrows, all the more so when he actually saw them....they came quite close to us.

Something down by the driveway frightened him...something I couldn't see, but it was there. His little tail tucked and he quivered behind me, peeking out at something only he could see.

I wonder....

BTW, the vote on yesterday's excremental inquisition weighed heavily toward large coyote, which is downright fine with me. We already know we have those...see them all the time. Don't need any bears keeping me from feeding birds, no way no how. So thanks to all who offered an opinion.

Oh, Look, Cows!

Neon Moon and Moonshine soaking up early morning fogshine

Bama, who knew how much I would enjoy the state after which this cow was named?
And, yes, FC, who named her (Bama Breeze after the song) and Cathy, who saved her, she is still with us.

Went out to feed the birds and got carried away. Set the seed cup down in the lane and went up behind the barn looking for deer. Nope, no deer.

Oh, well, up the other lane there are cows. Found them all right. 

Expert Opinion Sought

Really big coyote or really small bear? We do have large yotes, but there have been rumors of a small bear being spotted. I am hoping coyote. The shoe btw is a size 12. There was both hair and fruit involved.

Scouting

Looking north from the 30-Acre Lot

I was out for year birds. He was checking the scene for the upcoming hunting season. Yes, we hunt, and I have learned over the lean years to be fairly good at cooking venison....to the point we like it almost as well as beef.........almost.

Anyhow, as we passed from the 30-Acre Lot to the Old Spreader Field I saw a flutter up ahead. Just a few birds, but they were something different.  Eastern Bluebirds, common as dirt; we normally see them in January, but for some reason this year they have been elusive. So my goal was reached immediately. Huzzah.

Photo by Alan

Then we proceeded to walk until my pedometer said 4.7 miles. We mostly kept to nice, smooth, old lady friendly hay fields, but we walked through some rough too. I saw places I have never seen before despite over three decades wandering around the place. The boy is a woodsman....

Also by Alan

 I discovered that being able to smell a buck was not a fluke...it happened to me up in Montezuma....as we went into Stolen Car Field I smelled that gamy musky scent again. I pointed it out to Alan, but he had already noticed it. He is much better than I am at this stuff....he can even smell turkeys...but I still felt like Chingachgook or something.

Yeah, I know, useless skill but still....

It was fun...we are so lucky to have all this ground to wander over and so much to see. 

Gutted

This is  was  is...a snowmobile

When everyone is home all at the same time bees have nothing on us. The machine above is Alan's. When he bought it last year it had a cracked gas tank, so every time he rode we had to make him leave his clothes on the porch when he came home. A few hours after being in this nearly unrecognizable state it was running again. Hooray for guys who can do their own wrenching.

Of course all mechanical activities are inspected by this small, serious, person.
Although she has little to say so far, she knows a screw driver from a wrench and will retrieve either from the tool box upon request. And no, this was neither running, nor propped up yet....

They worked on Jade's too and did something mumble, mumble, unintelligible to someone who has  little interest in any activity that involves winter, to it too. At any rate it was propped up in the air with its fanny available for whatever they were doing for several hours yesterday. I thought they were using some sort of lift intended for the job, but nope, it was farmer inventiveness involving the plow for the 4-wheeler and a winch....oh, well, whatever works.

She handed these out to all the youngest generation at the Halloween party last week
A big hit I can tell you...these are not quite finished and will have contrasting bands around the top when done.

Meanwhile, indoors, other projects were proceeding apace in order to provide fodder for the library sale. One must support their library in any way possible and Becky was working hard at crocheting lots of Christmas stocking for an event that is coming up soon. 

Later, the mineral collector in chief took grandma out in the driveway for a little "Bone? Stone?" activity. Then she took me bird watching. At not yet two years old this one already knows all about who comes to the feeders and is a big fan. Start them young, start them right......all in all it was a busy day. 

Rejoice

She has her eye on me, but she won't fly unless I get a lot closer than this

The weekend. The weather has turned cruddy, although it isn't really cold yet.

Yesterday brought spits of rain and raging, gusting, groping winds that found everything that wasn't nailed down and gave it all a fling. We spent some time chasing I can tell you.

Not my favorite time of year, no way, no how, but our boy made it safely home last night, albeit late because he had to work late. 

And everyone else is here and safe and secure under the roof of this hectic but loving home.

What more to ask? Nothing....

The other night at sunset the crows were going home.
As each one passed over the house its wings turned to sliver in the setting sunlight.
Someday I will catch a better photo of that but meanwhile this is better than...nothing.

November..a Concerto in Brown

I went walking last night for just a little while....

You Say Potato

And so does Peggy

The kids finished digging potatoes yesterday...a really nice crop too, and they are so delicious! Peggy went along to help...her mama buried some little ones in soft dirt so she could dig her own.

When they came back to the house she had to show me every single one of them, one at a time. I made a big deal out of sniffing each one..they just smell like dirt...and saying "foo" and making a face.

She thought that was hilarious, so she brought me more and more and more of them. Then she moved them from box to box and then hauled them in the living room. 

By bedtime last night she was still bringing me taters and laughing uproariously at "foo!".

How could you not love her?

This Magic Moment

Fall is hanging on like a stubborn sloth clinging to a dying tree. I am loving it though. Warm, sunny days, clear bright nights, one after the other. If only the government would stop screwing around with our biological timers so we don't know when to sleep or wake.....did you ever think that the timing...just before election day...was no coincidence?

I wonder how many people stay home from the polls because they are too pooped to participate.

Yeah, if only I wasn't feeling the after effects of that Mack truck that bowled through Saturday night, I might be able to stay up late enough to look for the Aurora, which is supposed to be shining us on here south of the border....the Canadian border that is.

Even getting up is an unexpected challenge, when your humble correspondent normally has no trouble winning the race against sunrise. 

And of only local interest, but what the heck, I am local...... Of the population of the city of Amsterdam in 2013, which totaled 18, 206 folks, only 2250 voted for one mayoral candidate yesterday, and 1304 for the other. I would imagine that perhaps an awful lot of people have nothing important to say about who is running their city. Of course many of those included in the population are not eligible to vote, being children, or not yet citizens, etc. but still......

18,206
- 3554
______
14,652

Or maybe it was the time change.......