Happy New Year

Last year at this time we were sleep deprived, destroyed by so many hours in the car, and excited half to death, hanging out in Orange Park Florida. We welcomed the new year in listening to fireworks and noisy parties at a motel not far from the St. Johns River. Over the next two days we raced back and forth across the Sunshine State, picking up life birds and experiencing more cool stuff than I normally see in ten years. On New Year's Day I dabbled my toes in both the Atlantic and the Gulf and have been sustained all year by the memory of that feat....

This year Alan's dear friend is getting married, so he will be staying here at home. Congratulations to the happy couple and to the delightful farm family that raised the fine young groom. They are just plain good folks....

Last year my year bird was a parking lot starling. I was trying to keep my eyes off the skies, as we were on the way to Walmart for some fruit and road food and I knew there were Boat-tailed Grackles over there. However, that bird-every-minute-habit struck, and I looked up as we exited the motel parking lot. Bam! European Starling. How thrilling......

What will this year bring? Perhaps a Carolina Wren or a Canada Goose....or maybe just another starling...there are plenty of those around. Anyhow, it will be a NY bird.

I need to tabulate the farm list and add on the several species seen only by Alan, as he spends more time in the fields than I do, between hunting, riding his quad and snowmobile, and making hay. He saw a Red-headed Woodpecker up there this year....I haven't seen one in at least twenty years and probably more like thirty, although I used to see them all the time back in the days when I rode Magnum everywhere I went....or at least almost everywhere... He also got the Ruffed Grouse, Green and Blue Herons and a couple or so others.

Anyhow, 2015 was wonderful.....we had a lot of fun with Peggy, and birding, and visiting Florida, Talladega and Gettysburg. The boss made a bunch of hay, we had a good garden, chickens were raised from baby chicks, with the result that every flat surface in the kitchen and some in other rooms is covered with cartons full of eggs.

If 2016 is half as much fun I won't have any complaints.

Happy New Year.

The Peggy Channel

Birdy Extravaganza Weekend

 Montezuma ...there are birds in this shot, but you will have to look close

Friday the Schoharie. A nice walk on a lovely day.

Saturday, we drove up to Montezuma only to find it closed. We could hear thousands of birds right on the other side of the gate....other people drove around it, but they looked like they might have business there...... so we just sat in the parking lot for an hour or so trying to pick ducks, geese and swans out of the fog.

We did see a lot of birds there, but IDs were tough. It was pretty foggy and dark.

We hit some other favorite hot spots on the way home, but they were all pretty darned dead. Saw a few gulls and an absurd number of grey squirrels.

Then today was the Christmas Bird Count. We split into two sets, Matt, Lisa and Alan did one side of Turkey Farm Road and Mike and I and later Kegan, did the roads on the other.

A portion of the huge flocks of Snow Geese we saw on the Skiff Farm up the road from my folks

Tonight we watched the Big Year just to top it all off. I know it is grossly inaccurate in its depictions of the personalities involved, but the story is fun, and the birds are amazing.

We were laughing out loud at the guys hooting for owls, as we were driving around before the sun came up this morning hooting out the Camaro windows trying to pick up an owl....no such luck though.

We did see a massive flock of Snow Geese, and, between the two sets of us, a LOT of Canadas, some Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, and lots of other goodies, plus we had fun chasing a lovely flock of somethingorother out in a corn field, which turned out to be about fifty guinea fowl of every color known to the breed. They sure do look wild!

We finally found out what was behind that elaborate fence we have been driving past for years on count day

Just up the road from the guinea hens

It was a great weekend all in all.

The Peggy Channel

Schoharie Morning

We bird walked Christmas morning  down at Schoharie Crossing boat launch after the fun with Peggy was over. I wanted to play with my new toy...... Leupold binoculars.

 Alan gamed me good, calling me up and telling me how he had finished his shopping, but, oops, he had forgotten me. We'd get something after the holidays.

I was entirely fine with that and told him so. There comes an age when it actually is better to give than receive, and I have gotten there.

Then he walked in the door and handed them to me.

I was thrilled. I still am. I have never owned good optics....they make a world of difference and bring the birds close and clear. We walked along the bed of the river where the water has receded since they opened the dams for winter. It was only a little bit muddy and very interesting.

We saw an unusual perspective of the old Erie Canal aqueduct from the riverbed and then climbed up to the towpath and looked across the top. Amazing structure. it is a shame that so much of it has been destroyed by floods or taken down for safety.

We saw only ordinary birds, Tree and White-throated Sparrows, several kinds of gulls, Chickadees and such, but we sure got a good look at them.

Schoharie Henge

Tomorrow if all goes well, Montezuma, and Sunday the Christmas Bird Count. Alas it is supposed to rain......

Size 11 1/2 earthworm in the parking lot....someone needs to explain to him about winter

Merry Christmas from Northview

To friends and family and all of you who brighten our days in so many ways.......
hope you all have a wonderful day.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

A certain small someone has been introduced to Santa. She has no idea why he might be exciting, but she is excited anyhow. She showed me her Santa dance last night....it was too late and too dark for video but maybe today. 

In the meanwhile, Merry Christmas.

Start your Day

The Jack Russell way. First thing in the morning, dismal, dark, and foggy. Massive dog fight in the center of the kitchen floor.

Teeth! 

Snarling ball of fur!

Swirling, snapping, biting, yapping.

Over a single leaf of Romaine lettuce.

 Mack loves lettuce. He kills it first, then shreds, teds, chops, minces and dices. He could make his own infomercial for late night TV.

Then, when there is lettuce confetti from one end of the floor to the other, he eats every tidbit as if it was steak and gravy.

Daisy has no interest in lettuce whatsoever, being more inclined towards Milk Bones and cheese cubes....

Unless, of course, Mack has the lettuce. Then its allure increases exponentially.

Faster then a speeding camera

Fortunately an old 12-pound dog quarreling with a new, but still possessing only milk teeth, 10-pound dog, does not make for much of a dog fight.

I nudged them apart with my toe and went back to making coffee. 

Four and Twenty

A huge flock of starlings is visiting our woods and the neighbor's woods every couple of days.
I would hesitate to estimate how many, although I keep trying to come up with a rough number. What you see here might be a quarter of them. They are very loud and busy

Farm Toys for Tots

Toys? Did someone say toys? Can I have a toy, can I, can I, can I?

Remember this? 

Here is how it all turned out.

I am awed by the hard work of the young folks who made this all possible and the many donors and elves who contributed and got the goodies where they needed to go.

What a wonderful and positive effort to promote agriculture and to make Christmas special for children in need.

Please try to find time to read the blog at the second link....in fact, here's another link to the story. It will bring tears to your eyes and a smile to your face all at the same time. That's a great feeling, and what the season is all about.

Sunday Stills.....Home

Home is so many things...... The structure itself...we live in a monstrous Victorian that is still full of surprises after all these years.... Like the Easter Eggs in movies and games...you never know what little carving or molded strike plate or such that you might find.

Home is also family of course and ours is busy and close and full of interactions all day, every day.

These guys are important to our home...but sometimes we tend to think of them more as home wreckers

It is also favorite objects, plants, animals, the tangible things that make up our world.

And the land....can't forget about the land.

Then there are the intangibles that make up our spirit lives....home is a huge thing there. I love to be home so much I am nearly a hermit.....I am looking forward to other people's takes on home as well.