Game Day

A dozen last night

The Mechanic

Oh, noes, the noisy lion toy is broken

I fix it, me

This smells like the right sized wrench

Yep, it is!

Peggy helps her daddy work on machines all the time, handing him tools....making off with tools....and obviously it has rubbed off. BTW, the noisy lion toy from Hell was not broken, but it could have been....many times over the past few days. 

Yellow

We haz it. Spring is springing, although setbacks are possible. it has been pretty cold, but that hasn't stopped the Goldfinches from putting on their crayon colors and shining up the place. 

 

The wind has been tuning it up too. Laundry will dry on the line if you don't mind untangling it every little while....but the clothespins are taking a beating. Seems you can't buy good ones any more so you just have to make do with a lot of junky ones and replace them really often.

I took a little bird walk yesterday evening just to get out of the house. The barn gate was unlocked and open so our log guy could bring in firewood so I went down that way instead of up over the hills as is the norm.

Wow! I pished up a Carolina Wren that nearly hit me in the head. They seem to be using the old cow barn as a base. Two Bald Eagles soared over and then I was treated to a game of Turkey Vulture tag. They are ugly old things, what with their bald, red, heads, and dumpy mess of off-black feathers. On the ground you wouldn't give them a second look, except perhaps to mutter "Ick...."

However, when they fly.... When they swoop back and forth, low among the power wires, banking over the little cliff along the drive. When they maneuver swiftly, up and down, back and forth, passing one another and gliding like swallows....well, it is worth a few minutes down there, just south of river and road, just to enjoy the rural air show.

I was glad I went that way.....a quick trip up the usual back barn road yielded only a handful of birds, but the driveway was teeming.

For those interested in solar arrays on farmland, here is another article.
And still another offering many resources for gathering information before you jump off that particular cliff.

Tuesday

Observation tower at Montezuma.
And here I was hoping for a good thunderstorm so I could climb up and bird.

The Farm Side is done....this week it's about the farm bashing billboard/EPA funding controversy and 3-D food printing. Had fun researching the food part.....

It is raining, pretty hard....I guess we need it, as even the lettuce hasn't germinated yet.... I was about ready to start watering it. On the other hand, Liz sold some plants I started, over at the livestock swap, for good money. I wanted to get out and pot some more up today, but I guess that will have to wait. She got fifteen bucks apiece for jade plants and people didn't even quibble! I have jade starts all over the place. Heck they fall off and try to root themselves in the living room carpet.

I also have volunteer Egyptian Walking Onions and Garlic Chives all over the yard. Actually need to redo a whole flower bed that has been taken over by the chives......I am thinking I may just work on the sitting porch.....

But then again, it's only 38 degrees out there, and we have the heat going full blast. Maybe it would be a good day to catch up on book work. 

Yesterday we lost the boss. 

For a while anyhow. He took Becky to work and never came back, which would have been fine, except that he had Alan's coat in the car with him...they went racing the other night....and Alan's wallet was in his coat.

He had to be in DC at 6 PM to start working the night shift. He looked everywhere for his dad. We called everyone we could think of. We posted on Facebook for folks to be on the lookout. No Ralph. And then I took the Mackster out and looked across to the cow barnyard to see the car and a truck right over there....he was over there  looking at some work we need done. We are going to get him a cell phone this weekend!

Going through the photos from Saturday I added American Wigeon to the list. Got to get that gull ID'd now. Anyhow, stay dry and enjoy all that bright green grass. A farmer friend from northern NY shared a photo from his tractor of his family doing field work....in snow.....

Montezuma

Purple Martins

I was expecting a less than stellar weekend. Alan was supposed to have to work straight through and be in DC for the next couple of weeks with no breaks. Then last night he called, late, but on his way home. I figured he would be too tired to do much, but he was up bright and early and said, "Let's go to Montezuma."

And so we did. 

Blue-winged Teal

Best day birding ever. We saw so many thousand birds it was insane. 

At least seven. Or maybe eight. Or maybe more, Bald Eagles, hunting right under the observation tower where we were standing. They were so impressive and amazing and all, that I cut my hand on the tower railing, said ouch, and never stopped watching. Climbed down and discovered that I was bleeding all over the place....just made sure I didn't drip all over my stuff and went right on birding. Alan had to chase me down with a Band-aid.

Rusty Blackbird yea or nay?
 *Update:verified! First I've seen in decades. Identified them by learning their song and listening for them in groups of more common blackbirds

I am pretty sure I spotted Rusty Blackbirds. I have photos, and just need to get them checked out by wiser birders.

Osprey

Talked to a fellow on one of the observation platforms that informed us about a lot of what he could see or had seen with his better than ours equipment. That is one thing I have missed...other birders to talk to like that. I am mostly self-taught (and thus personally to blame for all my bad IDs), and meeting someone like that was pretty cool.

What a day! What a place!

Saw Ruddy Ducks, the most improbable chestnut color, bobbing up from dives like so many bathtub toys. Cutest things ever. As always we are going to need help with one gull and some sandpipers. They are so HARD!

A tentative list of what we spotted and ID'd

Canada Goose
Caspian Tern
Arctic Tern (according to the bird man...all I could tell is that they were medium-sized terns)
Greater Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Killdeer

Great Blue Heron
Lesser Scaup
American Wigeon

Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Ruddy Duck
American Coot
Mallard
Wood Duck
Hooded Merrganser
Common Merganser
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Osprey (Flying, as well as feeding chicks on a nest)
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Kestrel
American Robin
European Starling
Common Grackle
Rock Pigeon
Northern Mockingbird
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird (?)
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Tree Swallow (thousands)
Barn Swallow
Purple Martin
American Crow
Some small sandpipers yet to be identified. Update: Dunlin, and I figured it out all by myself and then had it verified. Go me. lol
And probably more that I missed getting on the list because there was so much to see. 
What a day!

A Bald Eagle had just passed putting up hundreds and hundreds of ducks
You can see a few of them here

Earth Day 2

Here are some links of outdoorsy, birdy, things you can do and places to go.

New access to Looking Glass Pond (been here with Alan and some of his classmates in the college days)

Washington County Grasslands

Broome County Birding

NYS ruffed Grouse drumming survey

Wildlife link for my special friends

Earth Day 2016

It's raining gently here at Northview, a real soaking, growing, rain, the first of the year. The kids have peas in the ground, and root vegetables and some onions down in Garden Number 1. I'll bet the seeds and sets are enjoying their drink.

Good garden dirt, Garden number 1

I planted lettuce mix, parsley, and beets out in my plastic barrel planters the other day. They were just waiting for a good soaking to get growing. It is hard to resist the temptation to plug in a few beans and maybe some squash, but despite the warm weather we are, alas, not done with frost.

Soon though.... soon. I took down some of the plastic off windows on my way downstairs this morning. ......one of the best things in spring, opening up the view and letting in the birdsong.

Our pasture provides a good hunting ground for this Kestrel

A few daffodils that survived that terrible cold snap are brightening the little places where we set them out to naturalize. Birds are making whoopee everywhere you look, leading me to mutter, "Get a room."

And a pair 'o' Mallards is setting up housekeeping in the cow's drinking pool

In the dining room an incubator whirs and rumbles, warming and turning, and moisturizing turkey, chicken and guinea eggs. The brooder the boys built is home to dozens of peeping chicks and poults. The barns and coops are full of birds and lambs and our remaining four cows. The boss is plugging away at the fence so that soon I will be able to look out the kitchen window and see old Neon Moon and Bama Breeze and the big beef heifer grazing among the deer that are already out there every day. 

Enjoying the rich grass under the old Box Elder where the cows used to rest
while waiting to come to the barn for milking

BTW, when we went up on the fence I saw why the latter are hanging around under that spread out old Box Elder Tree. After decades, lifetimes even, of cows lying there to chew the cud and catch the breeze, the soil has nurtured soft, dense, rich green grass, that is as nice as the rye I am about to tell you about. It must taste wonderful to hungry ruminants after a winter on sticks and twigs. It sure felt good to walk over on our way down from the hill.

So it is kinda nice to celebrate Earth Day in a quiet way, maybe water a few indoor plants and open the mini greenhouse in the living room for a few hours so the tomato plants  can breathe.

On farms across America every day is Earth Day. Whether they be mega farms or mom and pop operations, every day is spent in tending the land and the livestock and growing food for the world. 

We saw some neighbors out on the land the other day when we went down to Schoharie Crossing looking for ducks. (One Lesser Scaup was about it.)

They were spreading the stored liquid valuable organic material that comes from cows on some green, rich, rye that had overwintered on their river flats land (some of the best land in the county if not anywhere.)

A big set of land plows sat waiting for the spreaders to finish, and we pulled off the road to let a gigantic set of drags and Perfectas (much bigger than the ones shown) pass us under the Thruway overpass.

I'll bet by now that land is worked up, fitted, and planted to corn to feed somebody's dairy cows so they can make milk so we can have it in our coffee and have cheese on our pizza.

I'll bet there would be many folks who would say bad things about that large scale farming though. 

However, eyes that have known farming know different. That green rye? It held the soil in place all winter, preventing erosion from wind and water. Now it is tilled under and into the ground where it will quickly break down into organic matter, enriching the soil, and providing food for the corn plants to come. A fine sustainable growing practice!

The manure delivery method? Nothing is wasted, and with the tillage tools coming right behind, all will be incorporated into the soil to feed the crop, rather than running into the river during a little rain like this one. Cow manure equals lots less commercial fertilizer too.

The scale of the tools? They get big jobs done quickly, when the timing is right for ideal plant growth. We have plows and drags and Perfectas on our little farm. They get the job done, but much slower. Less efficiently. When farms must compete on a global scale under trade agreements like the proposed TPP,  they must be supremely efficient and well-manged, and tend their land and livestock to the utmost degree of excellence.....

Or they end up selling the cows and dividing the land up for houses.....which may have nice lawns, but don't go far in feeding a hungry world, and provide lousy habitat for the birds and wild things. 

Thus, I will spend Earth Day admiring farmers big and small and being grateful that our cupboards and freezers are full of good things to eat.... and doing the little bit we do to tend the land and grow the food for hungry folks.

Solitary

Looks like I will be birding alone for the next few weeks, as my partner and teammate in the game will be stationed in a city far to the south of us. You know the one....full of folks who are full of hot air and bombast and keep the rest of us down on the farm as best they can.

I will not let it slow me down.....much...no matter how much I miss him. It is nearly May. Things are happening. Our acres don't feature the exotic wonders of some of the places we go on weekends...no Sandhill Cranes here.....but if you get up early enough you can watch the moon setting in the west while the sun rises behind the neighbor's woods to the east.I had been planning to get to the top of the Heifer Pasture hill before sunrise some day soon.

Today was the day. You see at o'dark thirty, sometime well before five, I was dreaming weirdly of being in an Amish home with my little helldog. Deeply, soundly, asleep. Suddenly, abruptly,  I was awakened by the sound of trotting horse's hooves and whinnying. I hustled downstairs thinking Sunny was out....and found Liz getting Jade off to work and Peggy thunder-rolling-in-the-mountains through the house, giggling and sounding a lot like a pony. It seemed like an omen.....

So I got dressed and got out there, just in time to hear a solitary Brown Thrasher FOY singing his paired almost-but-not-quite mockingbird song from the top of a nearby tree...He wasn't there yesterday.....if you play the video you can hear him and a turkey clucking in the background.

..

Hide 'n' Seek

With Uncle Alan

And peekaboo