The Best Blueberries

 

The boss took me up to Bellinger's Orchard today so I could pick some blueberries. Becky has been keeping me in the grocery store variety. As you might expect there is no comparison, although I am grateful to have any kind for my salads.

However, as soon as we got home I rinsed a couple of handfuls of the fresh-from-the-orchard kind and put them in a bowl on the table.

Before I was even done putting away the other stuff we had brought home from a morning's excursions the first ones were gone. It only took a little longer to eat the second bunch.

10 out of 10 would recommend you go pick a quart or two, but do your best not to eat them all at once. I did manage to curb my enthusiasm, but they aren't going to last long.

Yum....

Birding with the Pros

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers

 I had the best fun this morning anybody could ask for. I joined a Hudson Mohawk Bird Club field trip to the Caroga Lake CE breeding bird atlas block in Bleecker and got to spend several hours birding with two highly skilled experts. What a way to learn!

 I drove myself up to the turn around on Pinnacle Road (go me!!) much earlier than I needed to, just to catch the earliest birds that I could. On the way, driving through another priority NY Breeding Bird Atlas block, I spotted a hen turkey on the edge of the road with a mess of really new poults milling around her feet. I stopped and listed them and continued north.

Once at my destination I birded by myself for a while. In 37 minutes I counted 20 species, most of them fun mountain birds, making a change from my usual farm country denizens.

Then as I sat in the car waiting, (and hiding from the deer flies) a Sharp-shinned Hawk nailed something right next to the car, carried it to a nearby branch, adjusted it in its talons, and carried it away. About as easy a confirmed species as you could ask for.

After David and Mark arrived, we walked the road, finding birds ranging in size from Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to a family of noisy Common Ravens. My personal total at the end of the trip was 45 species, but I know they got at least a couple more than that.

I am always hesitant about joining group birding expeditions for fear I will slow more athletic birders down too much, but I was certainly glad I went on this one. As a lovely side benefit I got over 14,000 steps so I don't have to walk this afternoon. If you are local and want to have some birdie fun, I highly recommend joining the Mohawk Hudson Club and undertaking a field trip or two.

Squirrel Baffle

This is the third one of these I have made. I was desperate to keep the vermin out of my bird feeders, and thus designed this thing. So far the other two work pretty well. As long as the tape stays on they foil chipmunks and even big Grey Squirrels. It is pretty funny to see a great big skerverrel start up the post, get his head stuffed in the bottle, and fail to progress.

Hopefully they will continue to function as planned and this one will work too. 

I use a 2-liter soda bottle and duct tape in the construction. Tin snips are employed to cut through the neck of the bottle to split it so it fits on the pole. Then scissors are used to cut the rest of the way down the bottle and to slice the bendy strips.

Kinda ugly, but the bottle is only worth a nickel deposit and I always have the tape on hand anyhow. Can't get much cheaper than that.

Good luck if you try one. LMK how it works out for you.

Sunnycrest Orchard

 

I don't remember the exact first time Ralph took me there. He and his mom had been buying fruit and plants there, probably since the place first opened, but Schoharie County was new territory for me. My adventuring had been mostly to the north, Fulton and Hamilton Counties, and I was in for a delightful surprise.

The front part of the building in those days was filled with tables heaped with fat, glistening apples, all red, green, and gold, bursting with sweet juice, and even sweeter temptation, for an old apple hound like me.

And then there was Mr. Schilde. He knew Ralph and Peg and delighted in telling them of his extensive travels all over the world. He had served in the Peace Corps, and, did he ever have stories to tell. Just talking to him for a few minutes as we shopped was like a college course but a lot more interesting and no homework either. We often discussed what he taught us all the way home and sometimes for days afterward. There is nothing that rivals someone who makes you think and he surely did. We  miss him still.

Later the apples were joined by greenhouses full of treasures to tempt the most blasé gardener alive. There was something for every taste and always blooming with health and vigor.

Every year we lamented the late winter closing period and eagerly awaited spring opening day. I thought it was better than baseball's Spring Training, even though I love the game.

As Ralph grew busier managing the farm It was I who took Peg for her spring plants. She loved the place as much as I did. Such delight in  walking into the dense, humid air of the greenhouses with the glowing array of flowers stretching wall-to-wall. Often the air buzzed with hummingbirds sampling the flowery feast and the only challenge was picking which plants to bring home.

Along with the popular standards like petunias and marigolds, there were always fascinating exotics. Last year I bought a Lion's Ear plant and enjoyed it mightily as it grew higher than my kitchen window. (Thanks again to the nice lady who sent me seeds, which I started and set out this spring). There was always something cool tucked away in the odd corner that I just had to bring home and try. I also got some Pineapple Sage last year and loved that too. (Thanks Matt and Lisa.)

In recent years Sunnycrest became my go to for tomato plants. I used to start from seed, but trays of tiny tomatoes were crowded out by my ridiculous array of houseplants hogging the big windows. Theirs were of varieties I liked and hardy, sturdy, and ready to grow. This spring was no exception.

Last week we learned that the business had been sold. At first it was like contemplating the end of an old friend. We truly love the place. Since the announcement we have been over twice, first to find something to put in that ugly purple planter pot. Pink Gomphrena and dark purple Salvia....perfect...it is pretty now!

Then yesterday we went back just to kind of look around and enjoy the nostalgia of a place we visited with great delight every year since we met, forty-some odd years ago.

Becky came along, and somehow the two of them each bought me a new plant. Becky chose a gigantic fuchsia. Hoo boy! I tried one bitd and failed dismally. Ralph picked out a cute little green job with leaves like strawberries and fuzzy pink kitty-tail flowers. Hope I can keep them growing for the summer. Can't wait to see what the hummers think of them.

Anyhow, we nodded goodbye to Tim and Laurie, and carried off our treats. I managed to step on a cherry tomato that fell off a plant someone was carting out. Splat. It was kind of a comical ending I guess. 

However, now I am allowing myself to be excited that the business will be rising like a  phoenix, hopefully this fall. I guess the new folks are returning to three seasons of operation, which should be fun. Who knows what cool new plants and ideas will be forthcoming!

If you get a chance, run over to Sharon Springs and grab some of the great bargains available until they close on the 30th. It's never too late to add something fun to your garden and you can always find a bare spot or an empty pot. (I thought I was done planting and out of room, but lo and behold, both the new treasures found attractive homes on the sitting porch. I would not be surprised if we somehow happened to wander over that way for just one more visit...

Best wishes to everyone at Sunnycrest and to the new folks carrying on the tradition. Maybe we will see you there.

Also, if anyone has any advice on keeping a fuchsia going, let me know. Thanks!

Nope

 

The boss is off to the races in NH this morning, so I got up early to make sure he got away all right and to drive Becky to work. There was a tumultuous racket emanating from the sitting porch so I took a look.

A House Wren nestling was peeking out of the nest box, wide-eyed. As I watched it fledged, flying off into the brush near the driveway.

Another soon popped its head out.

To my surprise the parents were trying to tempt the babies to join them in the big world. They would fly up near the box, chattering madly, bug in beak, but refuse to feed the gaping mouth poking out of the entrance hole. Instead they would fly away encouragingly "Hey, follow me! I've got food!", and then return to repeat the game.

The second baby was stubborn and somewhat stuck in the door way. It wiggled and jiggled, (although I saw no tickling), but it couldn't seem to get a wing past a stick in the door. (Said stick has stuck out the doorway for at least three years now.)

Suddenly it came loose, popped out with a flutter, took one look at the big world and scooted back inside like its tail was on fire.

I was there with the camera. There is a video of the whole deal right here. (Watch to the end. It took the reluctant guy a while to come out).

As I write this, hours later, the show is still going on. I don't know how many babies were crammed into that box, but it was a bunch.

On one hand I will miss the ongoing wren show. They are always busy and pretty funny. On the other hand for the past week the parents have been agitated and noisy all day from maybe 430 AM until 9 at night, and the kids were worse, squabbling and squalling all day.

 Be nice to have the porch to myself for a while.

Out on the Hill

 

Back in the day, when we filled all the mows in all the barns with sweet-scented bales, and loaded two silos with fermented corn and grass, and spent most of the summer out on the hills, there were owls there.

There was a cherry tree back in the Sixty-acre Lot with a cavernous hollow half way up. We thought the big ones...the Great Horned Owls... nested there. We saw them there at half-dark sometimes.

When a mother skunk was hit down on the road and her litter of little stinkers paraded up and down the driveway preventing us from going out or getting home, Great-Horned Owls took care of that situation and quite quickly too, hooty, hoo, hoo.

We would hear them calling in the dusk, song of the wild, don't you know. 

And we took them for granted. 

Until they vanished.

In later years the only messages they shared with us were occasional feathers tangled in the wild roses out on the heifer pasture hill, marking where they had hunted for something that tried to hide there.

We didn't see them any more. Oh, we always had Barred Owls. Alan would see them out in daylight when he hunted, and if I walked back on the hill before the sun came up I would hear them haunting the old pastures.

But no Tiger Owls were heard or seen.

They may have been there all along. We don't make hay or grow corn any more, and if I walk out on the hills it is usually in daylight. 

Then the other night I went forth at dusk to bring the dog on down to dinner. The mosquitoes were out, as was a waxing gibbous moon. I was glad only one of them wanted to bite me.

As the dog dragged me up the step I heard a thrush calling. I went back out to see if it was a Hermit Thrush (it was),

There in the dead tree up by the old spring was a thick spot in its shrouded silhouette...just a tiny anomaly in the outline of the branches.

I know that tree as well as I know the painting across from my chair in the living room.

That spot was something.

The camera with its extra zoom showed me what.

A Great Horned Owl, just beginning his night hunt. As I watched through the screen he lifted off on heavy wings and floated off to the east, seeking skunks maybe or perhaps just gleaning field mice from the tangled woodland there..

It made my night and maybe even my year.

One of those best birds you sometimes find but never often enough.

Let me tell You

 

A picture of patience, as he waits while I count the birds

A story from long years ago.

It happened on this day.

 I arranged for brother Matt to take my place for evening milking at the farm where I helped milk 160 Holsteins twice a day. There was no need for my bosses to know why, so I didn't tell them.

A couple of friends went with us to the justice of the peace outside Johnstown and stood beside us as we swore our futures to one another. No one knew except us, those friends, and Matt,

They took us out for Chinese after. Sure was tasty.

Thus began 39 years together.

We never had a lot of money, but in between the headaches of working on a farm with three generations scrambling around each other to get things done, we sure had a lot of fun.

 Sundays between chores we hit all the free museums in the area....and in this place of Revolutionary War history, innovative commerce, and indoor and outdoor science there are plenty...or went to the creek in Schoharie to rummage around the rocks for brachiopod fossils.

We went to all the fairs on a state fair pass, and showed cows and ponies and sometimes chickens at Fonda, Altamont, and the Cooperstown Junior Show. So much fun bitd.

It's been such a rewarding life and I am grateful for it. I hope we have a few more years together before they bring the curtain down.

Happy Anniversary Ralphie. Sure do love you.

Happy Father's Day

To the father of my children

And fine fathers in my life

And to good men who went before, leaving hollows in our lives.

Hope you all have a wonderful day without too many embarrassing neckties and unexpected power tools.

Love you all. 

***there are uncles who are not pictured, because I don't have photos of them, but they are and were not loved less because of that. 

Flag Day

 

Due to the date of my birth I have always felt a special connection with, and a great affection for, our nation's valiant flag.

Uppies

 

Clay-colored Sparrow from last year
Didn't get any pics this year, alas

Did something new yesterday. There is a group called Thursday Birders from the bird club to which I belong, Hudson Mohawk Birders. They hit destinations all over the area nearly every week looking for birds of interest. I have always wanted to participate, but between terminal shyness, acute introversion, and geographical ignorance, have watched from afar.

This week they visited our home county and went to two places where we have been stopping for years. They were in search of Upland Sandpipers and Clay-colored Sparrows, a pair of rarities that continue to be found in two areas in the county.

It was great! I have the hardest time screwing myself to the people-meeting sticking point, but I am so glad I tagged along. Both species were found and quickly and gave good views and experiences for all.

For me one of the high points was hearing the continuing song of the sandpipers. Being about half blind I rely heavily on songs and calls to find birds. It helps a great deal in retaining calls to actually hear the real bird, as opposed to a recording of same, in the field, and often. Plus the call is a jungley sort of delight and so enjoyable to me. (If we are FB friends, check out the Cornell video on the arctic songs of the various sandpipers that breed there. You will be glad you did. UPDATE: Here is a link to it.Here is a link to it. )

Also, the question was raised as to whether the fluttering, looping flights with song ongoing were courtship rituals. Although it is late in the season, they did fit the description of courtship in Birds of the World, so....could be....but then again, only one bird was involved so maybe not.

We originally found the Clay-colored Sparrows on Dingman Road back in 2020 but when the field where they were nesting was cultivated for corn they moved up to Salt Springville Rd. I personally could not find them again, but another birder, who is really good at that stuff, refound them last year and they are back in the exact same spot this year. They are pretty little birds with nicely distinctive songs...for sparrows anyhow...and obliged by singing and flying right out to the group.

I was hoping that someone with more experience than myself would find a Grasshopper Sparrow, as both places have had them in the past, but no luck with that. I am kicking myself...the second I got out of the car at the Uppie stop, I heard an insect-like buzzing right next to the car. Why did i not record it right then and there? Dunno, but it was gone when I got back from chasing sandpipers. Oh, well, maybe another day.

Anyhow, it was fun and for icing on the cake the boss and I went up to Hillside greenhouse afterward and bought ALL the flowers. Good Lord, what was I thinking!?! Now I have to plant them all, and the gardens and pots are already full of stuff...but, oh, my, they are so pretty. Ralph even picked out a couple of boxes of marigolds for the front yard round bed (left behind from a kiddie pool the girls bought for Peg. It killed the grass and I jumped right on that handy dandy bit of bare ground.)

Have a good one! It just stopped raining so the garden calls.

Places everyone
Oh, wait, there are no places. lol

Wild America

The boss took me birding this morning, the first normal morning trip since his surgery. We checked out the boat launch, where not much was happening, so we went down to Yankee Hill Lock.

There is a little outcrop where I stand to scan the river to the east...you can see quite a way. I spotted some sort of large water bird through the bins, but couldn't tell what it was, so I set out hiking fast down toward the Eagle Trail.

I soon found the bird, which was an immature Common Loon, not a bad find for the river this time of year. Once out on Eagle Trail I decided to try for the Louisiana Waterthrush, which other birders found there last year.

Amazingly I found it right away. It was easily recorded singing and then showed itself right next to the trail. I was peering through the camera, intent on at least a reference photo as it hopped up and down a trailside log. 

Muskrat

A loud, emphatic snort just down the trail was followed by a speedy rustle of leaves. I glanced up.

Good thing, as a large White-tail fawn was racing full-tilt right at my legs. I barely stepped out of its path before it was past, literally inches from my knees, exactly where I had been standing a fraction of a second before.

Right behind it ran its mother.

I jumped into the bushes off the trail. Deer can be pretty fierce and I was between her and the fawn. My life kinda flashed before my eyes. At least Ralph knew where I was as I had just called him to tell him I would be out of sight while I chased the loon.

Fortunately she decided to turn around before she got to me, but she pogoed back and forth through the bushes a few yards away, snorting and coughing and flagging her tail.

My heart was pounding pretty good as I headed back down the trail toward the car park, hoping the fawn had turned off and doubled back.

Eastern Kingbird on Nest

Got some decent pics of the loon, but not so hot of the waterthrush. I wasn't a bit bored though.

There IS a Louisiana Waterthrush in this pic...
that brown blob there

51

I was pretty excited yesterday. I've been participating in the NY Breeding Bird Atlas since it started five years ago. It's been an amazing experience, learning new behaviors, new ways of doing things, and a wonderful number of new things about the birds we see every day. (Many thanks to the regional coordinators who have guided me though a lot of getting it wrong, until I mostly get it right now.)

Anyhow, I thought when I went out to count birds on the farm that I was looking for confirmed species number fifty for my personal count. Last thing I knew I had found 49 species that were breeding in the Randall CE block, where we live, which is a priority block for the atlas.

I hoped if I really put some effort in I could find just one more and make it an even fifty.

Much to my delight I encountered a family of Eastern Bluebirds, lots of fluttering blueberry babies and a hard-working set of really pretty parents. I was nearly sure they hadn't been confirmed yet, and turns out they had in fact only been coded "probable".

When I came to the house I checked the Randall page and sure enough, bluebirds were newly confirmed. However, I also discovered that earlier this year we confirmed Common Ravens when Ralph and Liz found a nest on our cross-mow hay elevator...species number fifty. (52 species overall in the block, as House Sparrows were confirmed by another birder we know).

So now it's 51 found by Friers, mostly right here on the farm. Happy dance!

Going Buggy

Red Admiral Caterpillar

 Technically these are not all bugs, but they are certainly creepy crawly things. Walking around the farm and birdie hot spots you see all sorts of critters. Last time I went up the hill I saw the results of the incredible influx of Red Admiral butterflies this spring...there were black caterpillars in every stage of development everywhere I walked.

Black Swallowtail fancy dance

Birding has been heavily curtailed lately by all the appointments, pills, and people involved in getting Ralph through his heart surgery last Wednesday.

Box Elder Bug larvae They gather in clusters of a thousand 
or so, working hard to grow up and infiltrate our house this winter.
Wish they would stick to eating Box Elder trees

And that is all right. He made it through the operation and seems to be doing well so far. I am driving...in a state of terror...but driving, everybody everywhere they need to go. It isn't pretty, but at least I have a really cool car, as Alan and Amber sold us their Blazer. They needed a bigger car for all the kiddo gear they need to haul. It is truly a sweet little car and someday I may learn to work all the bells and whistles. Meanwhile, I am astonished by how terribly the state of getting from place-to-place has deteriorated since I was a regular car pilot. People are NUTZ! And getting nutzer.

Carpenter Bee (I think) eating our house
One larva at a time.

I took myself out birding one morning this week, just down to the river. It is a lot less fun alone...

After a sweet stretch of perfect hay weather we are back to monsoons. It was great to see the bales piling up and the wagons of sweet-smelling winter feed rolling up to the barns around town. 

But now, ugh! Anyone need some rain, come and get it...one size fits all, first come, first serve. We have plenty to spare. My sis-in-law reported 4 inches in a one-day dump of the rain gauge. 

Teeny tiny yellow spider, perhaps a Yellow Crab Spider?

I would like to get a couple of quarts of strawberries to make jam. Ralph can have just a little bit with his breakfast and he really loves it. However, I hate to try to can jam when it's been raining like this. It is hard to find berries that aren't covered with sand and hard to get the sand off if you buy them like that. Hope we don't miss the season.

Anyhow, hope you are all doing well and having a nice summer. I have all the nice I could ask for just having Ralph home safe from the scary thing. 

Hugs.

Hummingbird Moth, maybe a Strawberry Clearwing
Anyone who knows these bugs...feel free to chime in
and enlighten me. Thanks

Swamp Boi visits the Pond

 I say boi because the tympanum is larger than the eye in this handsome denizen of the watering trough that is my garden pond. Such a calm creature, utterly ignoring the lady hanging up laundry.