Lost Valley Birds and Perils

We were birding  exploring this morning when we found this guy on the side of the road, just mindin' his own.

He gave us a good looking over.

And then warned us to get the heck off his road, as best he could within the limitations of his species and size.

 Suitably chastened we hurried away.

Off to brave the terrors of Lost Valley Road. This road circles a small community, which was pretty much devastated during the floods of recent times. You can still see many signs of the damage. I had only been down there once or twice many years ago. The road loops around some buildings right next to the mighty Schoharie. I didn't take photos of the unprotected drop right off the edge. The photos I did take are of the good part.

I was afraid to look away from the road down at the bottom for more than a second even though I wasn't the one driving. However, it is listed as a county hotspot on eBird and from the birds we saw it deserves the designation. However, I think I will stick to Schoharie Crossing.....

Close Encounters of the Corvid Kind

"Do you have anything on the 'I don't have a dollar' menu?"

Or with corvid kind as the case may be.

Everybody loves take-out

However, some things are harder to take out than others

During our bird excursion yesterday we stopped at a new spot, Riverfront Park in Canajoharie. There we saw hoodies, geese, Common Mergansers, Turkey Vultures, Mallards, and some crows.

At one section of the park we came upon this bandit vandal entrepreneurial crow.

Upstate's answer to the bag lady

He was working over a trash receptacle for the McDonald's "goodies" inside, and was waving around a food bag when we arrived.

Although we parked quite close to him, he completely ignored us in his quest to find something tasty among all that paper and cardboard. He had already emptied most of the bin and there were wrappers everywhere.

"I think I dropped my cell phone in here"

When he finally managed to wrestled the last bag, which was nearly as large as he was, plus a few sandwich boxes, onto the ground, he proceeded to tug and shake the bag until the treasure inside was revealed.

We were expecting french fries, or at least an old burger bun, but what he relished the most was a mustard sauce container....as you can see. A lot of work for a condiment if you ask me.....

"What??? I LIKE my mustard with a little texture. And maybe a little plastic lid. Adds fiber dontcha ya know?"

TWTweekendTW

We soon  discovered the reason for the mysterious sound and light show last Saturday. The boss went to the barn to feed the bull.....

And there was no power over there. Evidently a tree limb had been blown against the wire to a nearby transformer, loosened same, and shorted everything out. Sparks flew and the thunder rolled...hence my weird wake-up call.

We reported the outage via our online power bill. Seemed far too easy..... just a few clicks and it was done. (We still had power at the house.)

A little while later a NatGrid truck pulled up the driveway. The driver was soon directed to the problem, but we didn't hang around to watch.

See, our boy and his girlfriend were taking us all out to dinner and we had to get ready. We almost never eat out other than to go to my cousin's lovely little restaurant for breakfast sometimes.

We soon headed off to Romana's Italian Kitchen in Johnstown. We have been going there since it opened when I was in my early twenties. 

What a good time we had. It is hard for me to drag myself out of my hermit shell and do such things, but the food was great...they have really stepped up their game, and it was fine to begin with...and the company was stellar.

Peggy was a good little girl, drinking glass after glass of milk until she wasn't very hungry, but pretty darned quiet and polite for someone who is only three. Our server even thanked us for being such a nice polite table. 

I jokingly offered the kids all something from the vending machine. When we used to go to the laundromat, I always gave them quarters to spend on treats if someone complimented them on their good behavior. It happened pretty often too.....

Bribery will get you everywhere......

Sunday was spent seeing some country and counting some birdies. Ring-necked Ducks were seen at Schoharie Crossing, for a FOY for me. Not a bad weekend all in all.

And as a bonus the barn power...and the electric fence...was back on when we got home Saturday.

What was that!

I wake up early this time of year...four at the latest.

I don't come downstairs though, because taking the doggies out is noisy and I don't want to wake the rest of the house.

Thus this AM I was waiting for daybreak when the oddest sound came. It was a repeated loud thumping like the pup banging his kennel to go out, but accompanied by flashing lights on the window. And louder.

I came downstairs to find the dogs and all the people sound asleep and thus not responsible and no sign of whatever it was. And of course by then it had stopped.

But it was loud! And the lights!

I simply have no idea. Anyhow, come on daylight so I can get these pups aired and fed.

You can't make this stuff up

I screen calls. Once you answer Bridget from Cardholders, she's on your back like a six-legged monkey......

However, it's tax paying, hay selling time, so sometimes I answer callers with out of area phone numbers just the same. Alas, it's usually Bridget or one of her cohorts.

Today, since Liz had bumped all the hay ads, I did so. It was an area code I've never seen before, but it was indeed a potential hay customer. The person on the other end was named Omar. He began to quiz me about hay quality, what grass was in it, and such. Then he asked if we deliver. 

Um....no....

Sorry...

So then he explained he was from the circus and looking for hay for the animals. Probably this one.

Omar from the circus. If you put that in a story no one would believe you. I pointed him at some places that might be able to help and we said pleasant goodbyes. You just never know.....

Last Year on this Day

Jade was rototilling the asparagus bed while wearing a tee shirt.

At this moment it is frozen under perhaps two feet of icy snow with freezing rain in the forecast.

March is a fickle friend. Or fiend as the case may be. 

National Puppy Day 2017

Sing us the song of your people, on this your special holiday.....actually he is barking at House Sparrows....

Mi Vida NOCA

I know, I know, it's Mi Vida Loca. But since we sold the cows and our world contracted to a microcosm of its former self, I have kept myself entertained with birds...as you have no doubt noticed....

So for me it has become mi vida NOCA, the latter being the four digit code for Northern Cardinal. BTW I am learning this code for listing because it is a lot quicker to write RWBL than it is to scribble Red-winged Blackbird. I keep hoping the FBI will snoop on one of my lists and think I am a super spy.

It's fun and it gets me and the boss out of the house. He likes to tool around town to see who has a nice barn, who bought a new tractor, whose rows are straight and whose are curly.

I like to find ticks for my lists.

It's kinda loca, but it works for us.

Anyhow, yesterday in the midst of cold howling wind, he needed to go over to Fonda to get a gallon of milk. He asked if I wanted to go down to the boat launch. Since we had seen Green-winged Teal there the day before and listed them on eBird, I agreed despite the nasty weather. GWTE are among my favorite ducks right up there with Ruddy Ducks and Northern Pintails. When the sun hits those green heads there isn't a thing in Oz to compare.

As we arrived another gentleman did too. He was tall and well dressed and sported good binoculars. Ooohhh, a birder! I have only ever met one other birder in our travels, up at Montezuma a while back.

I so wanted to go over and chat, but just couldn't (see introvert, shy, etc.)

Next he took a huge spotting scope out of his car, put it on a tripod, and began scanning the hundreds of geese, scattering of assorted ducks, crows, RWBLs etc. I was consumed with curiosity.

Then he began to fold everything up to leave...and came over to talk to us!

He had come because someone had reported Green-winged Teal there. Maybe it was even my eBird report that sent him down to the confluence of the Schoharie and the Mohawk.

Anyhow, we chatted for a minute or two about the birds there and about Iceland Gulls, which are seen around here now and then, and which I think I may have seen, and then he was on his way. A couple of Bald Eagles sailed by as if in celebration.

It was a little on the loca side, but super cool as well. You simply never know when serendipity will send you a special moment in your wonderful, amazing, and frequently crazy life.

National Agriculture Day

Broadway, my favorite cow of all time

Is today. 

But really every day is ag day for pretty much everyone. We all eat. Most of us wear clothes. We drive cars with tires on roads and like to color our walls with paint.

Bama, back in the day when she was a workin' goil

We like plastic stuff and it all isn't made from fossil fuels.

There are many other byproducts of farm production that we might not think about as well. Green fields, waving wheat, open space, and clean air are some of these. Farms provide homes for birds and wildlife too.

From NRCS: 

"With more than 70 percent of the land in the United States privately owned, it follows that most of the wildlife in the countryside depends on private landowners. Farmers are installing grass, tree, and shrub plantings; ponds; riparian buffer strips; and other wildlife habitat at record rates. Some farmers provide bird and bat houses, while others plant or leave food plots of corn, millet, or other grains specifically for wildlife.

Pheasants, grouse, quail, prairie chickens, mourning doves, and songbirds, as well as leopard frogs, diamond-back terrapin, red bats, and other wildlife, benefit from habitat that farmers and ranchers establish on their land. Farmers appreciate and enjoy wildlife supported by good habitat and also benefit from pollination and pest control by beneficial insects."

We do our bit here at Northview, as best we can, and not just on Ag Day either. Although it isn't always pretty, the land here is home to deer, woodchucks, both varieties of common squirrels, red and grey, sometimes fishers, both red and grey foxes, bats, opossums, skunks, rabbits, chipmunks, weasels, voles, coyotes, moles, mink sometimes, and assorted rodents, both good and awful.

As for birds, we got 'em. So far this year we have seen 45 species. We found 88 last year and are hoping to break 90 this year. If Lyme Disease, bum knees, and other potential problems stay away that is...crosses fingers, knocks wood, and thinks good thoughts....

Agriculture is the number one industry in many states, some of them surprising. Among them are Maryland, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Montana, and at least in 2010, New York State. (This changes now and then.)

However, the farmer's share of the US food dollar is only  seventeen cents. Not such a big payoff for all that comes from agriculture.

Whose Day is it Anyhow?

This guy's.

If you see him today in the far away home of Philly cheese steaks, wish him a happy birthday....or hit him up here if it's handier.

Meanwhile, happy birthday, kiddo. Hope the weekends make up for spending it on the job. Love you!

Farming Styles

Breaking a horse to lead. This Percheron was not having any of it
and threw himself down in the road after we passed. After being dragged a little bit by the Belgian pair he got up again right quick.

I expect by the end of this exercise he will know what the halter is all about.
How he got to such an age and size without knowing is another question.

Five horse assortment coming back from spreading manure on a snowy field

Large bales of straw being unloaded, probably for calf and pen bedding, on a large dairy. Nice stuff.
Despite the several freestall barns full of hundreds of cows, there was no smell except that of good quality feed.
There was also a nice pile of fresh sand for cow comfort in the free stalls and lots of cows eating and going about their bovine business.

Different things work for different folks. We went out around town a bit today while waiting for Becky to get out of work. We saw examples of some of the more old-fashioned methods of gettin' er done and passed two of the largest and most modern farms in the area a couple of miles later.

So different and yet alike in some ways as well.

Mommy, there's Eggs

"There's eggs, Mommy, there's two! Come and see, come and see!"

"Mommy!"

Eggs means new chicks in toddler speak.

In fact there are three new chickies in the incubator in the dining room. Peepeepeepeep PEEP!

Guess how many times a day a toddler peeks in through the window of the incubator....

She brought me a brown-brockled quail egg yesterday for show and tell.

After exclaiming over its amazing cuteness I asked her, "What are you going to do with that?"

"Put it in the inkerbator and hatch out a chickie," she replied. 

Science lessons for three-year-olds, free for the learning.