Sun Bird

Acrobatic
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The Other New York

Tis the season of hot, nasty humid days, followed by nights of heavy fog and mornings of misty scarves shrouding the river. It is a love hate thing with me. It isn't winter and that is a blessing, but I just don't do well in hot, soggy weather.

Every year when winter lingers into what should be spring I wonder how the heck could I ever be ready for fall to roll around. And then the dew point rises and the air gets soupy, and I remember.....I miss oxygen....

Orange

Happy Birthday, Jade

Asking the Experts

What are these plants?

Thanks in advance. I have a pretty good idea on a couple, but none on others. Thanks again.

Making up for Lost Time

Angry bird
Really ticked off immature male Common
Yellowthroat

What with everyone... three separate jobs for folks to get to, plus us and our peregrinations...using one car, not much birding was done this week.

Thus this morning with Jade's truck back on line and Liz home for the morning the boss and I went out and made up lost time.

No new birds, but a lot of fun.

Hit the Schoharie Crossing boat launch first at about 7 AM. That is the only time of day that it is quiet this time of year, being a very popular park and all. 26 species there today, nothing exciting, but always fun. Lots and lots of babies around...Northern Cardinals, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow Warblers, and Grey Catbirds all being chased around by hungry kids.

Within less than an hour the boat trailers and picnickers were pouring into the parking lot  though, so we headed off to Yankee Hill Lock.

Not much doing there...21 common summer species. Watched a diving duck across the river from the little dock there for a long time and tried really hard for a usable photo. No luck. It was under water more than on top and way too far away. Alan has been insisting that his scope is now my scope. Guess I will have to find a tripod for it and start using it.

High point was a Merlin that dove right past us and landed in a tree over the parking lot. I was just aiming the camera when a car pulled in right under it and it was gone.

Next up was Lost Valley State Forest. I had never been there until this year when I saw reports from other eBirders and we gave it a go. What a great place!

There is a long, crushed stone one-lane road between mixed forest and a few nice openings to get to a good place to park and walk. It is remote! No constant watching for traffic and being ready to dive out of the road ahead of death. No people at all actually.

Saw 26 species with no real thrillers, but it was so much fun to look for them in utter peace except for hungry insects, that it was the best part of the day. The bird club found over 40 species there in June, but they are better by far than I at seeing and IDing.

There seems to still be a lot of nesting going on among the House Wrens and Common Yellowthroats and they sure let me know what they thought about my intrusion into their space.

I hope we can go back there when warbler migration really gets going and I can find an inexpensive tripod for that scope. I think we will really have fun.

Or should I say I will really have fun while the boss takes a nap and listens to talk radio?

You be the judge.

But Wait, there's More

After we dropped Jade back at home, we headed out for a little birding trip that we had just been starting when he asked for a ride.

We hit the Crossing where we saw a lovely pageant of kayaks near the aqueduct. Too busy for birding though so we ventured out into the country.

That is when things got weird again.

First we passed a shaggy little homestead, all grown up to brush and weeds, with a driveway straggling through it.

In said drive was a tiny little boy, blond and cute as a button, wearing a plaid flannel shirt, which was in itself kind of strange, as I am pretty sure he was Amish. He wouldn't have come up to my elbow and was around four at the very most.

Between him and the road was a beautifully groomed, long haired, black-and-white goat, a buck I think, wearing a bright red collar. The thing was literally the size of a small pony.

The boy was chasing it down the drive with a big, long buggy whip, hollering his head off.

The goat was standing all slab sided like they do, and up on tiptoe, with his head tilting to the side, debating whether to mind the whip or plant the boy. 

We missed the final scene but I'll be the kid won.

But wait, still more. 

As the sun dipped entirely behind the mountains and darkness fell, we saw something rolling down a steep hill towards us.

What the heck was that thing? Kinda bulky, really flying, like a low-slung motorcycle only wider.....no lights or any of those other silly fripperies.

Weird.

The photo does not do justice to how dark it was; the camera is pretty good at finding ambient light.

They sure were having a lot of fun though, as were the kids in the wagon behind them. 

It was a night for crazy, no two ways about it...but a nice drive just the same....

Dueling Banjos

It was one of those nights when everything was wonderfully weird.

Jade needed us to pick him up in the next county as he was dropping off his truck for some repairs. We did so, but decided to return on a back road we sometimes bird, as there was a messy tangle of construction out on the main highway.

We were tooling along, watching the fields in hopes of a return of last year's Cattle Egret, when we spotted a gigantic Rottweiler at the bottom of a big hill...right in the road.

The roadside was lined with tall trees and thick brush, and there was no sign of a civilized dwelling, although there was something of a shanty nearby, half hidden in the overgrowth. As we drove down the hill I heard evenly spaced eager, but soft, woofs from the woods beside the road...maybe one every fifty feet or so. How strange....

I figured somebody maybe had dogs tethered in there or something.

As we hit the bottom the giant Rottie lunged at the door of the car. Airborne! Leaping like a stag! I snatched my arm, which had been resting on the windowsill, back inside and shuddered at the sight.

Because talk about fierce! He was matted and filthy and looked just like you might imagine a great big, black Cujo would. Drooling and flinging spit all over. Great big yellow teeth. Truly a wild and terrible beast.

But wait, there's more.

Out of the woods all along the road, where I had heard those little woofs, came FOUR MORE great big Rottweilers to chase the car. I swear if they had wanted to they could have grabbed the bumper and dragged us into the woods for supper.

As we drove away they gathered at the bottom of the hill behind us for a good sniff and wag, delighted at having routed yet another car full of innocents. 

Can you imagine dogs that figured out how to hide, nicely spaced out in the woods, to await the meager traffic on this rural farm road like that? Mind boggling. I swear I heard Dueling Banjos as we drove off into the sunset.

Asleep at the Keyboard

Broad-winged Hawk

That is the edge of a deep, deep waterfall

Upstream

Sorry about the infrequency of posts these days. Busy time of year.

Protesters

The state road was blocked by a line of protesters the other day when we were heading up to Fort Plain. I couldn't believe my eyes, thinking closing roads and stopping traffic was pretty much an urban issue. None of them were carrying placards, although they all wore masks so we couldn't tell who they were.

 Thankfully even protests out here in the country are pretty peaceful. They moved out of the road for us after a bit. 

Not our hay crew, but everyone else is hurrying to make the most of the weather as well

The hay crew has been hopping...and getting stung by assorted nefarious flying insects over the weekend. A yellow jacket nailed Liz on her back and caused much havoc and the boss disturbed some ground bees that he couldn't see with the hay equipment. When he stopped to feel the windrow for dryness he got stung about twenty times. Ouch! They work hard and I salute them from the kitchen where I watch Peg and handle phone calls...

Green Herons

"Could you send Liz up with some Gatorade? Cold?"

"What's the weather for tomorrow?"

 Liz has a new job, working on a farm where they have sheep and border collies. She is loving it.

Oh, and Dad gave me his treadmill for my birthday. We finally got it home the other day and we are having fun with it. Even Peg has fun on it. Who knew?

Meanwhile, migration has begun. Can you believe it? We saw an Upland Sandpiper today, which I suspect is passing through. Pretty cool. Families of assorted swallows are starting to line up on the power wires and we are beginning to see a few ducks again. On one hand I love having new birds to count. On the other hand......you know what migrations means, right?

My favorite Belted Kingfisher shot so far

Interesting Consequences

Female Bobolink

Each year many Bobolinks nest in our fields, mostly in the 30-acre Lot. Alas, this is often one of our earliest fields for harvest, which makes for a perilous situation for these grassland members of the blackbird family.

This year the weather set us back by weeks (and is still doing so) and the boss decided to do the Old Spreader Field first. Thus the 30-acre Lot is still standing tall and waving in the breeze, although we would love it if it was in the barn instead. However, 18 hours of rain on top of that awful storm last week has made that pretty unlikely.

However, thanks to the late, late season for hay, the Bobolinks, which have colonized Hickory Tree and Old Pasture Lots as well, have hatched, reared, and fledged lots of little Bobolinks. 

Recently fledged youngster

Silver lining anyone?

Angry House Wren, who would prefer that I stop watering the plants on the porch
so she can have it all to herself.