In the Jungle

 

What home feels like

*Update...99% chance of rain tonight

I expect that any day now a troupe of monkeys will swing by on the local grapevines oohing and scratching, as they admire Tarzan's mighty jungle call.

It is so wet now that even though I am indoors and have not been exposed to any actual precipitation...so far today that is.... my skin feels clammy and damp.

You probably know that it has been wet here. Only went two or three days this whole month without measurable precipitation. It rained most of June as well.

Last week one storm was so bad that Fonda, right across the river, flooded horribly, closing both state roads for hours and destroying a lot of people's properties and possessions. It took out our driveway, which is even at the best of times long and arduous, as well. The boss spent hours repairing it with the skid steer.

It didn't even have time for the gravel to settle when....

It did it again.

Worse.

Last time Liz couldn't get her car down the drive until Ralph fixed it. This time she couldn't get up at all, had to park at the bottom of the barn driveway and walk up and over. Our vehicle, which is a large, heavy, 4-wheel-drive SUV barely made it.

More hours fixing, last night, almost impossible because the gravel is so saturated as to be nearly liquid.

I don't know how much it rained overnight, but the new little garden I built this spring is under water. The entire covered porch is drenched all the way to the back wall, which has NEVER happened before, and the greenery along the driveway has drooped into a sad and soggy tunnel. The area is swathed in muggy, oily, fog, that looks, smells, and feels awful.

The worst of it is, now that the ground is this saturated, every day that it gets warm and then cools off in the afternoon is going to bring still more rain. That's how it works.

At least the corn likes it

Ralph hasn't made a bale of hay in weeks and won't be able to until this pattern changes, which doesn't look to be coming any time soon. Several inches of water on all the fields and I am sure the tractor would sink to the frame if he ventured out there.

We watched a neighbor farmer trying to chop third cutting yesterday. They almost got the field done, but ended up having to quit and leave it.

I believe that we need to build a gigantic fan and blow all the water west and north and south where it could be useful and dry out our region before we start to see those monkeys and wild men swinging on our vines.

Or maybe dolphins swimming in our gardens. 

Doesn't it look innocent?

Fungally Yours

Stumbled on a wonderful state-marked trail the other day, right next to one of my very favorite in-county birding spots. There is a pair of closed gates at the entrance and I always thought that, like most of the side paths on Sara Lib Road, it was a private lane.

However, the other day I walked up to the gate, where I found state forest markers and red trail markers. Color me excited! 

The trail starts right above the big swamp across from the quarry where we park while I peruse the cattails for the resident Virginia Rails, occasional Common Gallinules, and whoever else might be home on any given day.

I didn't walk far on the trail, as Ralph couldn't see me, and I didn't want him to worry and look for me. Also, although it was deliciously cool in the woods, I was afraid that he might get hot in the car...and he did, so I was glad I cut my walk shorter than I might have liked.

However, even in the little time that I had, I had a wonderful encounter with some Blue-headed Vireos. The male sang and sang until he decided that he didn't like me much.

What a scolding I got then!

With all the rain the woods was dotted with all sorts of fungi, many of which I hadn't seen since my Adirondack hiking days, which were a long, long time ago. Some shown like little lanterns in the softly decaying leaves and litter.

Not a fungus, but I love this log

I cannot wait to go back when I can take more time to hike farther down the trail. Meanwhile it was a thrill to stand many feet above the swamp, where I could look down into it. Although it was high noon that day, so things were quiet, I am hoping for an early morning visit sometime soon.

Anybody want to walk it with me? Slowly...so as not to miss any birds? And softly, softly, catchee monkey? Or maybe a Sora someday...

Sharing

Blue Jay kids are brats

 The Sitting Porch. Each year birds of one species or another, and even sometimes more than one at a time, nest on the porch where I grow my houseplants in summer...and where I like to sit and watch the valley and observe the occupants of the yard.

With some birds there is no problem at all. Last year a Mourning Dove used an old robin nest and never once flew, even when I sat a few feet away.

American Robins are utterly flighty and ridiculous though, and I hate it when they nest on the pillars. Silly things will not be on the porch at the same time as I am and make a big noise about it too. I usually water the plants quickly and leave them to it. Kind of annoying though, as I like to actually, you know, use, the porch.

No robins this year, but instead a pair of House Wrens. I let them enjoy their fiefdom with their first nest, in the little white house, which Matt and Lisa gave me for my birthday many years ago. For being just a decoration that one has an amazing history of having been nursery to Black-capped Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, and many, many broods of House Wrens.

However, when they came back just a very, very, very short time after fledging their first brood and built a nest in the other box...the red one, a Christmas gift from Alan and Amber...also not intended for birds...I got irritated.

Okay, you guys. You can nest on my porch twice, but this time I am not giving in. I will sit out here when I want to and you can just deal.

Look closely...you can see Mama's beak
at the bottom of the hole

It was as if they read my mind. Instead of panicking every time I wanted to water the banana tree or the petunias, the little hen soon stayed right in the box peering out at me. If she is out to lunch, as long as I sit very still, she comes right up on the porch and settles on her eggs.

Détente is a wonderful thing!

Feed me, Ma!
Feed me!

Along with that happy development, the Blue Jays brought their fledglings in to the feeders for the first time this summer. And after a couple weeks of the very best goodies being served in the little feeder in front of that porch, they even come in and let me photograph them.

Wot!
No peanuts?

Yay!

And yes, I am still feeding. A top notch bird expert I follow feels that the bird illnesses (mostly to the south of us) are insect treatment related rather than infectious, and as everybody local seems healthy and happy, I will continue until I see a reason to do otherwise...stop spraying cicadas, will ya?

American Goldfinches
have never been too worried
about my presence on the porch

Between the Raindrops

 

Sunday Stills...in my Bag

 

This challenge could be interpreted a lot of ways I guess. There are a lot of bags in our lives, some of them useful and others preceded with the word "old". 

I haven't carried a traditional woman's purse in decades. However, a camera bag and a utility bag are a whole 'nother story.

From a pocket "chainsaw" and compass, to a portable phone charger, ponchos, sunblock, tasty little mints, and a good, solid, field guide to the birds...oh, and matches. Can't stand not to have matches in case Jack London's To Build a Fire comes true with me in the cast....I have everything I can think of that will fit in these bags.

Plus camera and spare camera and binoculars, without which I would be blind and unable to communicate in my favorite fashion.

Also: fishing license, tick remover, nail clippers, lens cleaners, spare camera batteries, tiny card shaped knife kinda thing, athletic tape and other first aid stuff....and more, much, much more.

For more Sunday Stills....

 

So then, this happened

Yesterday it rained most of the day, so we puttered around the house. Late in the afternoon the rain let up to an intermittent drizzle, so we took a peek at the parks.

I stay well back from this

The river is on the boil, crammed with logs and debris and up to and/or over its banks in a lot of places. At Yankee Hill Lock there is a spot where a huge bite of bank and lawn(!!!) has been scooped out by the rushing water. I walk way inland on the grass when I pass that spot because the ground in a big half-circle around it is noticeably depressed and utterly saturated. I expect that one day soon it will liquify and sluice away down the river like the rest of the spot.

I would prefer not to be standing there when it happens.

Anyhow, the boss sat at a picnic table for a while watching the muddy water swirl by, while I walked my usual route counting birds.

I was just coming down the hill off the bike path when things started to happen.

A police car raced into the parking lot, our sheriff jumped out and ran down to the river bank. Two trucks with volunteer fireman were hot on his heels.

You normally walk down
onto this dock above the lock

We stayed in the car, thinking that they might need to ask us whom or what we saw while we were at the park.

However, after a little time the men returned to their vehicles at a much more relaxed pace, conferred for a short while, and were on their way. The sheriff stopped to exchange a few words before he left...a very pleasant and professional man... we will never forget how very helpful he was the first time the boss's dad wandered off and we had to call for help to find him. 

We soon discovered what had happened.... here is the story. Another video.

Imagine going over that dam or even through the lock and being washed that far downriver. And check out that stack of logs at about 1.30 in the video. I believe that those were fished out of the river. You can see many more bumping along in the waves. I can't imagine trying to boat with all that junk in the water.

Lock 12 is a place where we bird a lot in the winter both east and west of the bridge and dams. There is usually a decent stretch of open water even in the coldest weather and some really nice ducks are found here. (A couple checklists from last winter)

Anyhow, all's well that ends well and a big thank you to our friends and neighbors who risk their own lives to keep people here in the valley safe. Both people involved were rescued safely from circumstances that could have had a much different outcome. 

Sunday Stills...Flowers

 

Sorry I keep doing these on Monday. Sundays are very busy days for us, and this week was no exception.

For more Sunday Stills....

Parking Lot Wars

 

Yesterday the boss had occasion to visit a shopping center near here. As is normal I stayed in the car and counted parking lot birds and watched the tourist season sideshow unfold.

There was high drama.

A murder of crows raced by, the leader making a getaway with a slice of some breadly material en beak. I think it may have been pizza.

Hot on its tailfeathers was a hungry Ring-billed Gull with the menu on his mind.

He nailed the fleeing bandit right in his feathery fanny, right in the center of the lot, square in front of our car.

The snack landed in a well-traveled spot, confounding both gull and bandits. They perched on nearby roofs or sailed in slow circles, peering down at it, but afraid to land 'n' grab.

Meanwhile a little brown female House Sparrow hop, hop, hopped out from under a nearby car and proceeded to taunt them merrily as she nabbed bite after bite.

Not of fan of those nasty little bluebird killers, but it was still pretty funny.

Most of the bread-thing was still there when we left.

Filed under happy dance, we found the Sandhill Cranes that were seen earlier in Broadalbin. Thanks to the boss's eagle eyes we discovered that they were on the opposite side of the road from where I had been looking. I know they are common enough to be annoying in a lot of areas, but here they are rare and exciting.

Made my week.

Happy Birthday

 

Matthew, hope you had a good day and thanks for a nice morning of birding!

Remember the Cardiff Giant

???

 (If not here's a link to his story)

Kids who grew up here in the Mohawk Valley or the nearby Catskill Mountains certainly remember him from field trips to the Farmer's Museum back in the day (my favorite part of those jaunts, back when I had kid teeth, was the rock candy from the little general store).

Anyhow, the air today feels just like you might imagine his heart would. It's heavy and unyielding, clumsy, and hard to breath. Makes you feel about as lively as a giant carved from stone.

Thunder is grumbling and rumbling like you might imagine his footsteps if he was lumbering up and down the towpath, stepping over bridges so as not to break them, scaring dogs and little children willy nilly.

Jill the Border Collie is afraid of either thunder or stone giants and is quaking in her crate, causing metal food bowls stored on top to tumble to the kitchen floor, clang, bang, crash.

The little solar lanterns (Hummingbird and Peacock) Becky gave me are flashing on and off in jittery counterpoint to the stuttering of the lightning.

It is grey and gloomy and stiflingly muggy. I don't imagine much is going to get done outdoors today.

Ah, summer in NY. I think Peggy might benefit from a trip to the Farmer's Museum someday when the lightning bolts aren't pitchforking all over the place. What say you?

Sunday Stills...Red, White, and Blue

 

Friends and family know I have always wanted a cannon...

For more Sunday Stills....