Year of the Dragon

I love the clicking clatter of their wings

Flies that is. We have never in our lives seen so many. There are thousands upon thousands of them, up in the fields, over by the barn, and here by the house.

A look up though the binoculars at a soaring Red-tailed Hawk reveals a dozen, laddered up to the sky between lens and bird. They can't be seen by the unaided eye, but they are there, hunting, always hunting. They fly in storied ranks before the sitting porch, bent on buggy dining.

Every single field is patrolled by a net of them, a deadly web of voracious appetites, devouring insects in untold numbers. 

I sat on a bale, watching the boss make hay the other day and saw them, jinking and jiving, grabbing beetles and skeeters and who knows what else. You could actually watch them swerve for an insect and then resume course.

Most of them are huge, front-end-heavy green things that never land long enough for me to even get a good look, let alone a photo. One flew right past my face revealing glowing golden eyes like some metallic monster machine. There are a handful of the ones photographed, but mostly the big greens. Do they hatch in the river I wonder....I have never seen anything like them.

***Update: I think the big greens are female and young Eastern Pondhawks (what a great name!) The males are blue and I have seen a few blue ones. How cool is that?

Harvey

Our valley in 2006. It was the same story then.....
people showing just how good they could be, helping each other

Thanks to Facebook I have been watching ordinary people perform acts of heroism that are the stuff epic movies are made from. Watching them graciously turn away thanks and praise and go back for another neighbor. And another. And another. Watching strangers save strangers and glad to do it.

Watching America. Because this is America, not some gang of rent-a-thugs making headlines by their sheer horribleness. You are America. I am America. We are better then those making news lately and if this doesn't show that what will?

Prayers for Texas......and good on all you people that I have come to "know" on Facebook, who are working hard there taking care of those in need. Thanks for what you do.

Not the way I would do it....

This bright and pretty pastoral scene met our eyes as we stopped at Bellinger's Orchard to buy a box of peaches....an activity I highly recommend by the way........mighty fine fruit that....

However the participants in this tableau also almost met our car. 

Head on. 

The horse pulling the cart either didn't like the pony being hauled behind or was just not well broken, so he was slatting around raising heck, all over the road. The pony took occasion to sit back against the lead rope now and then as well. It was downright interesting. Not the way I would do it....

However, they sure looked pretty in the mid-morning sun.

National Dog Day

Shiverish

Chilly this morning, although it feels great to me. Got down to 33 degrees in Indian Lake this morning, which does not bode terribly well for a long, frost-free autumn.



Birded a lot of miles yesterday, going back to a new road gate the boss made into the Old Pasture Lot, which just as you might expect, is pasture turned into hay ground a decade or three ago. It makes great hay. However, the opening from the Old Spreader Field into it had shrunken over the years until he could barely get the discbine though. Thus some heavy work with the skid steer to make it better.

Saw lots of nice birds but nothing new until I got right down to the yard behind the cow barn. Then I believe I heard and saw a pair of Lincoln's Sparrows. They did not oblige me with a good view, so I didn't count them.

Coming back from visiting her other "grands".

Went back yesterday afternoon but didn't see them. However, I did get the first Black-throated Green Warbler in three years, so I am not complaining.

Meanwhile the boss got several loads of hay. Liz was trying to unload for him while he baled late in the evening, but the drive chain broke on the big elevator so repairs will be needed before they can start today.

Heavy dew last night. I had Liz turn Alan'squad around so it faced out where it is parked in the barnyard, so I might sit on it to watch for those Lincoln's. There was so much water on it that three paper towels didn't help so I stood.....btw, I do most of my birding before the rest of the crew is stirring...

Just Another

Day in paradise....

Almanac

Weeds along the farm road, far higher than my head

The tornado warned storm the other night ushered in some clear, pleasant weather. Of course the tractor has been broken down and is getting some more work done today...so not much haying going on. (There was a tornado in one area, but we just got a little wind, a lot of rain, and some minor lightning, thankfully.)

I will surely use landscape fabric for my tiny garden again next year. I only kept the smallest garden for myself, but it has kept both families in snap beans and summer squash so far, with some to give away too. Yesterday I picked about half of what we hadn't eaten and froze them. Might do more today if I have time.

Oh, oh, who's this coming up the driveway with the chickens all out in the yard!

!!!!!

Yesterday morning I tried walking back in the fields, as the boss has made a new gateway and I wanted to check it out. However, up top in the 30-Acre Lot, the clay mud was so slick I literally could not walk on it.

 I went back up last night, but darkness and skeeters sent me back down the hill. Sure enjoyed the peachy sunset though.

I think I heard a Great Horned Owl! Not hooting but screeching!

It was odd. I had just turned behind the barn to head up the hill when I heard a scream right  behind me. Not unusual as the resident Red-tailed Hawks love to fly behind me and screech and make me jump. 

However, this didn't sound quite right. I would never have thought what it might be, but I was playing GHOW sounds on iBird Pro when I got to the top of the hill....we have them and I was hoping for a response...and there it was! The exact sound. Didn't count it, but I will be going over there in the evening again soon....

Everyone is talking early fall. I surely hope not. A lot of farmer hopes are pinned on corn making ears and there was an awful lot of late planting this year. We have seen some decent corn around, playing catch up you might say, but only a couple of fields with well-developed ears so far. Lots of pink corn silk out there yet.

Objects in the Mirror

Just past dusk, but not quite dark last night. Sitting at the computer looking at eclipse photos and reading the news...and let's be honest here...playing Klondike.... I like to play Klondike.

Suddenly, from down by the heifer barn, blood curdling screams of KILL! DEATH! DIE!!!! KILL!!!!! echo mightily. Like the soundtrack of a horror movie. Like your worst nightmare. Like the end of all things. A horrible, terrible, just plain awful screaming....

And then.....

This morning. Early...ish...but nowhere near as early as I normally go outside. Finnbar the Puppy-Duppy transforms into Finnbad the Terrible as we walk to his yard. Rumbling growls are transmitted to my fingers through the leash before I even hear them. Mistrust, anger, and then the urge to attack and protect...all are translated through the thin band of leather. Communication to the pack.

Suddenly the big barks begin. Bark, bark, bark. Bark, bark, bark.

A shape looms by the driveway. A great big thing, cloaked in the swirling fog.

Has the Zombie Apocalypse been brought on by the solar eclipse? Are we safe here on our little family farm?

Answer in the comments.

Don't Look Up

I am going to have a go at birding the eclipse later today. Supposedly birds react to the changing light and do interesting stuff. I dunno. Guess I'll make a list around the time of the celestial intersection and see what I see.

I am not going to look at the sun though. No special glasses-no lookie up. Been through eclipses before anyhow, being nearly as old as the sun itself and all. Eh, it gets dark. Then it gets light again. At least it won't be raining this time.

Don't be worrying about your pets and livestock. They aren't going to look up either. The only animals I been around that routinely do so are Border Collies, and then only at low-flying planes and tempting birds. Chickens will watch the sky for hawks but they sure don't stare at the center of the solar system. Critters just don't look at the sun.... prolly aren't even aware of it except as a stimulus to sing or stretch out on the grass and soak up rays... 

However, if you are worried, get them some glasses....or get yourself some glasses....of wine that is. Then you won't be worried. Or something..... 

Anyhow, enjoy the day. I'm listening to music that is reminding me of connections and people and places, past and present, and I am much enjoying it. A song about riding out on a horse on a fine spring morning, from a rancher friend I've never met, but whose family we know quite well just the same. Still one of my great favorites, Robert.

An Emerson Drive song taking me back to the Fonda Fair many moons ago, when I walked into the arena uninterested, just keeping the kids company because Becky bought me a ticket, and walked out a fan. One of the few bands I've heard that are truly better in concert than in the studio, and I've heard a lot of bands. The girls and I chased concerts from Vermont to Western PA that year and had a fine time. Road trip, anyone? Connections there too, as we got to know one of the player's family online and even met him once, although I am sure he doesn't remember the way we do. Good times.

And this song. Heard it once years ago and bought tickets for the whole family to hear the band at Troy City Music Hall. Still love it. Wouldn't you know....I never noticed until this morning doing dishes hooked up to my phone....but it's about birds. Figures.

I don't play any more but music still traces an outline of my whole life, from songs we played in the band that I still love even though so many years have passed, to songs from every decade since. Lots of songs. Lots of great musicians.

And if I sing along real quietly they won't throw me out of the kitchen.

Runaway

I think I should start counting sheep!

You would think that more than three years after selling the milking herd I would stop dreaming about chasing cows. However, if you don't need to chase your own, you can always dream of chasing the neighbors'...even though they too have succumbed to the terrible dairy economy and followed other pursuits.

At least when I awoke this morning Bama, Moon, and Moonshine were still in our pasture....Or at least I think they are.....alone, with no massive herd of Jerseys, Ayrshires, and Holsteins among them....

There are deer though...there are always deer. 

BBC

An obliging Song Sparrow, which gave us some great looks
near the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook Bridge

Birding before coffee that is. What was I nuts? Yeah, probably, but at least this morning the birds were active again after a good week of near silence and seeming absence. Managed 17 species in just under an hour, which isn't great but better than it has been. No passing warblers yet....

Port Jackson boat launch where we met. There were plenty of good birds to be seen and heard right from the parking lot.

Yesterday I had a tremendous time going on a bird walk sponsored by the City of Amsterdam Recreation.

As you no doubt know, my long-suffering, non-birding husband, the boss, who is really, really good to me, willingly takes me around to look for birds, but other than that I am pretty much on my own. Thus birding with others, learning, watching, and getting to explore a surprisingly rich urban-edge habitat was really a lot of fun.

Another view from the parking lot

Met nice folks, learned many interesting things from our guide, George Steel, and saw some nice birds. There is an intriguing flock of Turkey Vultures that roosts in the city. We saw a wheel of them like something out of a Hitchcock movie, whirling up and dispersing over the city streets. There is a night heron of one kind or the other being seen in that area, so we will no doubt venture down there again. Plus we need to shop at the little market there, Mary Jane's. We didn't get anything this time but we want to.

There will be a couple more such walks in the next couple of months. I am hoping to get to go if the boss is willing and the hay isn't too pressing....get it? pressing?.....If you are interested, even if you are a total beginner, I highly recommend attending. Lots of fun.

Ring-billed Gull

Farming

Despite being sick with a foul cold, the boss made some nice hay yesterday. Alas, darkness and sickness coincided to leave one small load on a wagon...that and he lost some time due to a broken PtTO shaft as well. So it got rained on. Anybody need any hay to feed up right away?

C is for broken bale. Or at least it's shaped like a C. Can't store this one

We are all sick to one degree or another, some on the mend, some on the downhill slide. Summer colds are lousy if you want my opinion. Today is a rainy one anyhow, so everyone can rest and regroup....unless of course he decides he needs to go store it...I hope not.

Hey Grandma

"You wanna come walking with us?"

"Why sure, let's go!" I walked....they ran....

 

Ice Cream for Breakfast

Almanac

First, let me thank everyone who generously provided a quote on this summer's weather in their area. From Alaska to Florida and a number of points in between, these reports made it easy and fun to write the Farm Side this week. I am ever so grateful.



I'm glad I needed to change dog water this morning. Staggering around half awake lugging buckets, I noticed that a tiny, thumb-knuckle-sized toadlet was floundering around in Finn's pail. It seemed relieved to be rescued and carted down to the garden by the back door where I released it under a rhubarb leaf. There is something irresistible about a baby toad.

After Montezuma the August birding doldrums have set in with a vengeance. A week ago nine species singing and flying by in the first three minutes would have been the norm any morning. Counted them faster than I could write them down.....

Yesterday I hiked all the way back to the Old Spreader Field and only saw or heard 19 species. Not a Bobolink, Red-winged Blackbird, or Savannah Sparrow to be found.

This morning bird songs showed an odd juxtaposition of seasons, an Indigo Bunting singing over behind the cow barn, a Blue Jay screaming at me for being out in the yard, Chickadees all over the place after a long summer silence, and a Carolina Wren who couldn't decide whether to come investigate my presence or join the jay in alarm.

Summer? Fall? they don't seem to know either.

However, migration is already under way, whether it is obvious or not. Can fall warblers be far behind?

Meanwhile, if the chipmunks can be persuaded to take their ratty teeth elsewhere, we will have tomatoes soon, and the beans and squash are thriving. I don't know about you but I never seem to get tired of raw beans out in the garden or a nice batch with dinner, sauteed in butter and seasoned just so.

We have all had colds lately, but I am hoping to feel good enough to pick today....

Just one More

First of all, thank you to the kind folks from near and far who left quotes about the way the weather is affecting their ability to farm. Now, just one more.....I know, I know, it's a lot to ask but......please...

If you have anything to say about this summer's strange weather across the country, have at it.

And thanks in advance.