Birds, Strange and Otherwise

Veery

Common Grackle

Male Baltimore Oriole

Female Baltimore Oriole

Male Indigo Bunting

Savannah Sparrow and female Red-winged Blackbird

Savannah Sparrow

Male human being running in the middle of a busy local road,
much used by racing farm trucks, tractor trailers, Amish buggies,
and general rushing traffic.

A Passel of Rascals

While running errands earlier today, we passed an Amish barnyard, where normally one would find several heifers and a young bull grazing and enjoying the outdoors.

They're everywhere

They're everywhere!!!!

Today, although one heifer, who seems to like to hang by herself, was still outside, the yard had been mostly taken over by this litter of red fox pups and their mama and maybe dad. 

There were EIGHT (!!!!) foxes in the yard eating stuff, playing with stuff, and just soaking up the morning sun....it was a sight we have never seen before and don't expect to see again.

They were cute and all, but I'm sure glad that's not our barnyard...and that I am not that poor mama fox!

Tissue Tornado on aisle 10

What is it with colds these days? Used to be you had a stuffy nose, maybe a cough, and although you were sick you could function, as long as there was plenty of Kleenex...albeit at a low level of effectiveness and all.

This cold. No. Oh, my, God. Just no. A volcanic vortex of fever, complete with fever dreams....at least I found myself at the edge of the ocean, looking out at the waves......No balance, no strength, got nuttin', no can do.

Other people cared for my dogs and I missed two whole days of spring, including storms, which appear to have dumped my geraniums all over the porch...not up to fixing that yet.

While ill, I managed to fall, far, far, behind in the race to see the most birds in the county....alas.....I did however, manage a short bird list early in the morning before I succumbed to my chair and the ginger ale.....500 consecutive days of listing, as of yesterday. Go me.

Upland Sandpipers, my Mother's Day gift from the Grasslands

Today, well, I'm up, and that is worth something I guess. Most of my morning chores were accomplished without incident, and I sure did get a couple of good birds on Mother's Day.

Rain

Modern day pony express, hurrying home with his lunch one day 

Yesterday...too busy to post.....After an unforgettable sunrise, it is dismally dripping today, dimming delights and dulling dreams. 

Dang it.

However, that has not stopped farmers around the area from doing what they do. We saw an English farmer we know plowing a corn field much to our surprise. Not really the weather for it, but I guess when you get to a certainly level of really big, you gotta go no matter what.

Oh, the irony. The boy driving this hitch couldn't have been more than 12....

And then there were the Amish. One young boy was driving a spirited pair, a pinto and a chestnut, on a wooded seeder that had seen better days. I wondered whether it was going to plug on him with all the water falling on it.

Another young couple was building fence along the road. While the young man stretched page wire, a young lady held a post in the crook of her elbow, leaning back with all her might to keep it in place.

She looked miserable, but resigned, and raised a hand dispiritedly to wave at us as we rumbled by. Didn't look like much fun.

This all served to make me happy to be mostly retired, and to make watering indoor plants and garden starts seem downright glamorous.

A little sunshine to brighten any day

Happy Mothers Day

To my mom, who has always been beautiful and who surely always will be....Hope you have a wonderful day. Love you!

Now you See It

See the bird?

Can I get a Whistle?

I was up behind the  cow barn last night watching a Palm Warbler delving among the branches of a box elder tree. I like Palm Warblers. They are such a warm, rich, yellow and cinnamon color.

Suddenly very close to me a screech rang out. It sounded as if someone had moved a sheet of roofing tin, and it protested loudly at being moved.

I jumped and looked over at the tangle of hedgerow there.

Nothing.

I went back to the warbler.

It happened again. And again. And again.

Yet there was nothing there. I made a short video of the sound.




I must have stood there, listening to that strange and very loud sound for ten minutes, peering into the hedgerow trying to find the whistler.

Then I saw him, almost at my feet.

Egad, what an ugly face!

I did not know that Woodchucks whistled.

Another visitor, quite unwelcome. Liz says it tumbled down the hill
and was staggering around

Although it still looks superficially fairly healthy, I am glad most of the domestic
animals are vaccinated against rabies

What a Difference

Just starting to fill

A day makes.

Yesterday when we stopped for a few minutes at Schoharie Crossing SHS to look for birds, I noticed that the mud flats we check were beginning to flood.

I called the boss to come over from the car to see, as it was pretty cool.




Today, although the creek and river aren't quite bank full, there is surely quite a difference.

Guess they closed the dams on the locks.

A little different angle but a lot more water

Hello, it's Me

Everyone else's hummingbirds come back earlier than ours. Many birds show here up a week or two later than other places. I think it may because of our north-facing, slightly colder, location, but who knows?

Anyhow, I was working on the sitting porch, annoying the nesting robin pair no end, when this guy flew right up to my face, his gleaming gem of a gorget flashing like a neon sign, his back as green as Ireland.

Delight.

Wonder.

Joy aplenty.

I stole some time from work I should have been doing to try for a photo or two. While I waited another first-of-year bird, a little House Wren, hopped right up beside me and began to inspect all the cracks and crevices on the porch.....

Hmm...the robins already have one corner occupied. Will the wrens take up wrensidence in the little bird house Matt and Lisa gave me? Only time will tell.

FOY bird #3 for the day, a Lesser Yellowlegs

Big Day 2018

Blackburnian Warbler

We did Big Day yesterday, and were we ever tired when we got home. The boss went to the races after....I don't know how he did it....

Somewhat less lovely

Had fun though, and good birds. A handful of new county birds, including a Hermit Thrush right in our creek ravine by the barn, and one lifer... 57 species altogether.

Common Yellowthroat

Song Sparrow

The life bird was a Blackburnian Warbler, seen and ever so luckily photographed too, down along the driveway. I tried to go out to refind him this morning...or any other new arrivals that might be around, but alas, it is raining too hard to be sensible.

These Tree Swallows, and a number of others, were determined that
they could get inside that tiny hole in the old phone box to nest
Fail

Hope it stops soon, as the boss and Becky are off to a ball game with Scott and family, so I am on my own for finding birds today.

And speaking of fail...something found a turkey nest I guess

Herding Instinct

Took Finn over to the cow barn last night in the course of keeping the boss company while he fed the old cows. Although he plays a Border Collie on TV, the pup is a flaming coward. He is afraid of flappy newspapers, hats, sheep, strangers, anything new in the yard, and crowing roosters. He has a gay tail, a short back, and generally doesn't really look too much like a herding dog. I didn't buy him to be a herding dog, so really this is okay but sometimes...

When he saw the cows, his tail dropped between his hocks, his head went down as he peered nearsightedly at them, and he looked like a fine working dog.....It was pretty cool.

Until he bolted in terror, barking, and nearly wetting himself in fear. Since I was at the other end of the leash I was darned near dumped on the dirt.

Good grief! 

I think I will call it "horror instinct." It starts with an 'h' after all. It's been a long time since Mike, Nick and Gael......too long sometimes.

This guy on the other hand has nearly put a bull through a fence,
and chased the heck out of the biggest horse we have

City Boys

This is a turkey

The boss went over to the livestock sale this afternoon to check out the price of feeder calves.

Incidentally today, the first of May, is opening day of spring turkey season.

This is a turkey too

On his way over he saw two fellows coming out of the woods with their kill. This was wrong on so many counts.

First of all, season ends at noon each day. This was well after two PM, as he generously took me birding before going over.

Also these were not males, the only birds allowed to be taken, but were both hens.

However, worse, far worse than that, was that the "turkeys" were Barred Rock chickens.

How bout that!

This is not a turkey.
It isn't a Barred Rock either,
but I am too lazy to go down to the barn to get a picture of one.

Jack Russell Egrets

Savannah Sparrow

Although we also walk, and park, starring out the windows in pursuit of little birdies, we do a lot of road birding. This leads to some interesting interchanges.

A quartet of Long-tailed Ducks on the Mohawk yesterday

"Stop, quick, there's a big white bird on the bank of so-and-so's pond! Might be a Great Egret"

Osprey hunting over an Amish pond

A hurried look for traffic in either direction and we cruise to the side of the road. What IS that bird!?!?

Bonaparte's Gulls
So cute and they sound like squeaky toys too

Drag up the bins and peer.

And peer.

And peer some more.

Well, dang,

It's not a bird. It's so-and-so's Jack Russell Terrier, sitting on the edge of the pond peering back at us. 

And so it goes. Birding for the lame, halt, and half-blind at its finest.