Happy New Year

Hey, 2018, don't let the door......

Like many, we all had plans last night.....a movie night with frozen Chinese for the Friers clan. Same but with home cooked stuff for the Schultz crew. We even had the movies picked out.....after much debate. Popcorn for all at some point. Liz has a knack for really good popcorn.

However, 2018 was not done with us. It was not a great year, although it surely had its high points, what with our baby marrying his princess, great birding, and assorted other good times. Still it seemed like we lost someone was cared about almost every week. Too many losses....We were ready for a new year.

But as I said, 2018 wasn't going down without a fight. Jade didn't feel well in the morning and by evening was having serious emergency surgery. I will let them share the details if and when they wish to, but recovery will be long and arduous. As in year long. Nobody is going to forget this New Year's for a very long time.

I want wish you all a very Happy New Year just the same. Everyone has times like this and Liz is a strong woman. She will pull her family through if anyone can. We are all here to help where possible.

First bird for 2019....you knew I was still going to be counting didn't you?....a Canada Goose calling from the river hours before dawn. 

Better days are coming it says here in fine print.

See Ya

Next year. 

Of Kittyhawks, Catbirds, and Near Misses

We see this particularl Rough-legged Hawk nearly every day
I feel sorry for it, as it is constantly mobbed by as many as 150 crows at a time.

Everyone has been seeing the Short-eared Owl up near Fort Plain the past couple of weeks. Or if not everyone, several folks. But not us. We have been wandering around up there since last year, with only one sighting and although I was sure, I was not that sure, so we didn't count it. Today we were parked where it was seen yesterday when a perfect bird flew by, right shape, right size....wrong color darn it...it was a female Northern Harrier. I looked at it really, really hard trying to make it into the bird we were looking for, but it was a NOHA just the same.

A couple of the 40 or so Common Redpolls we found today.
Their calls are very musical

So we missed again today, although we did get first of the year Common Redpolls, as well as seeing a lot of nice raptors so it wasn't a complete loss.

Eastern Bluebird

What we do see all over, especially around farms, both Amish and English, are kittyhawks. These are also sometimes known as catbirds. They look exactly like exciting raptors huddled over prey, in the winter gloomy harvested fields. They are about the size of a Red-tailed Hawk, or maybe even a Rough-legged Hawk. 

Amish church day today

We spin around, stop, roll down the windows, point the Canon, and dang! another cat. And another cat. And another. We are getting used to getting fooled. We even saw an orange kittyhawk today, although that one was obviously notabird (the woods are full of notabirds, ranging from snow-covered squirrel nests to hunks of old tent caterpillar junkage). We stop for a lot of them too. Thank goodness for good binoculars or we would probably be counting things that aren't exactly the right things.

Holy Beaver! There were four of them in a tiny bit of open water near our owl quest area

Anyhow, as they say, a bad day birding is better than a good day looking out the window, wishing you were birding. Finding the redpolls make this far from a bad day. I truly did not expect any year birds this late...unless of course we found the owl. 

Hope you all are having fun too.

My Ducks

Are at this point not in a row....so please enjoy these Mallards and Buffleheads from yesterday's visit to Lake George.

Plus an eagle with stars in his eyes...or stars for his eyes as the case may be

It's a Lot of Fun

To have someone who is four in the family.

Generations have loved Billy and Blaze books

And So it is Christmas

Winter days......marked out by crow-go-out and crow-go-home, passing ranks of thousands, twenty or forty at a time, west in morning, east in evening, sometimes loud and sometimes silent.

Low today, dipping down in the yard, the sound of wings rustling clear against the cold dark dawn. A few throaty chirps you wouldn't associate with crows if you weren't looking right at them.

Venus flirting coyly with scudding clouds on the morning wind. Brighter than the waning moon, if smaller, and sparkling like that long ago star that spoke to so many.

It's quiet now, but soon we will be enjoying Christmas morning through the eyes of someone who is four and hasn't seen so very many mornings like this blessed one.

Merry Christmas to all!

Wish us Luck

This is an unedited shot from the river the other day
There IS a river under there.
And geese....and a train over on the other bank. However, the fog was awful

If you would be so kind. We are off to do the Christmas Bird Count this morning. Last year was pretty dismal and the past three weeks have been poor all around, so we can only hope to see good numbers, interesting species or both. Even our best spots have been pretty sparse with birds....several trips with only crows, starlings, and pigeons on "The Loop", where we more normally see raptors and waterfowl up to and including a Snowy Owl, a daily Rough-legged Hawk, and all sorts of other goodies.

The kids are on their way down right now for what has now been a family tradition for well over thirty years. Mom and Dad used to do it, then us kids, and now grandkids and whomever in the family is willing to spend hours getting in and out of a car peering into the bushes and hollering, "look a crow"!

I have the clipboard ready, although I am going to at least try eBirding our trip. I am so used to listing on the phone nowadays. We may run both a paper tally and the eBird one, and submit whichever seems more accurate. Sure is cold out......

Baby it's Weird Outside

Out there in the dark it's raining slowly but steadily. The drops are as cold as a vampire's blood. At the same time an oddly warm wind is blowing....warm enough to feel downright good as the shiverish rain stings arms and toes around the edges of the umbrella .

Walking the dogs was an odd experience.....in more ways than one too. Sorry about the gruesome details....but Mack...in typical small dog fashion (particularly JRT).... has whizzed in his crate since puppyhood. Downright maddening....he is lucky that I like him as well as I do.

I've always kept his crate deeply papered for that reason.

The other day I cleaned the crate and didn't want to wake up the boss by going into the living room, as he was napping and that's where all the newspapers are.....so I just put in one thin sheet.

The little cur has not had a "deliberate" since......

Cuz they certainly weren't accidents....

He sure is happy to go outside in the morning though and spends a l-o-n-g time with at least one, if not both, hind legs suspended over the subject of his morning attentions.

Who knew?

The Things You See

"I'm in a hurry to get things done
I rush and rush until life's no fun..."

'Yote tracks. Big ones!

Taking harvest weather any way they can get it

Tom

Twas the Week Before Christmas

The Things you Learn

Bonus points if you know what this is

While researching the Farm Side....

Stealing bees

More stealing bees.

Even more.

ELD mandate exemption for livestock and insect haulers...

Who would have thunk that beehive theft would amount to millions of dollars in organized crime?

Where in the World?