Suspicious Characters

Black-capped Chickadee at the gym.

A photo of a Snowy Owl on top of a truck at the Target/Beechnut complex made its way to me the other day. We had a short window of time open to go birding this morning, and thanks to high winds and hungry eagles the river was bare.

Thus we and the trusty, rusty, battered old Durango tottered down there to do some perusing.

 Like typical birders, we drove slowly and erratically, stopping often to peer through binoculars at objects that needed to appear closer than they were.

Found a nice northern Red-tailed Hawk perched on the side of the town water tower, huddled up against the biting wind. Discovered a cute little flock of Snow Buntings right down by the Beechnut plant. They are adorable, like little winter toys, and I wasted a good bit of time trying to get decent photos of them, way down away from all the other cars.

We didn't find any snowies, but I sure enjoyed myself. However, I remarked to the boss as we drove away that we were probably on a dozen security cameras and if anybody looked at the feed they were going to wonder what the heck we were up to.

Snow Buntings

Fast forward a few hours. Scanner feeds on Facebook announce that the road outside the complex is lined with tractor trailers and the lots are full of police. It's a madhouse.

Seems there was a bomb threat there today, or so people are saying. 

Wanna bet we got looked over a little bit?

Fortunately we are well known to quite a few local LEOs because we drive around acting suspiciously all the time. At first when the boss stopped at Stewart's for gas or milk they would ask, "What are you doing down at Schoharie Crossing parking lot every day?"

After a while that changed to, "Seen any good birds lately?'

So I expect we will be okay. I sure hope so because I want to go back there again soon and look for those owls. Perfect, windswept, tundra-like habitat, and it is always a thrill to see them. 

Red-tailed Hawk with a much wider, darker belly band
than local birds usually sport.

Goose Bond

Been perusing the large flocks of Canada Geese that stop at the confluence of the Schoharie Creek and the Mohawk River to rest on the gravel bar there. (Sometimes that activity is rendered somewhat challenging by the Bald Eagles that also like to peruse...and dine al fresco...there).

Yesterday, with only about ten minutes to spend, I was rushing to scan, and then photograph, and then scan some more. At one point I caught a flash of pale yellow, and thought immediately, neck band. Then I couldn't find it again.

However, upon returning home I found that I had caught, not one, but two neck banded geese, standing side by side, with very similar tag numbers.

I submitted both to the USGS band reporting site and discovered this morning via the report from there that they have been together for at least, four, probably five years, and that they were banded up near Lyker's, which is one of our favorite birding spots. One was a male, the other female. They may well be mates.

How cool is that?  I love spotting and reporting bird bands and learning a little bit of their stories. There is more to goose lore than honking in the night sky and pests littering lawns for sure. 

The video below was taken after a Bald Eagle strafed the flock feeding on a corn field adjacent to the boat launch. Another one was already eating something on the gravel bar, while being harasser by a number of crows.

The Haunted Buck

 

Already abnormally close

What with the changes COVID and the resulting economy have made in our lives, the boss and I have to fit birding expeditions in among a number of sometimes conflicting schedules....so we go when we can....

Day before yesterday we stole a couple of hours to hit the river. Good birds are being seen there so we wanted a look.

We did the Crossing, no Greater White-fronted Goose, alas, then went down to the Yankee Hill Lock to look for sea ducks. That corner of the river seems to attract them for some reason and we have seen White-winged Scoters there a couple of times, as well as Long-tailed Ducks.

We see this odd duck daily...appears to be a decoy someone lost
now anchored in the center of the channel

Nothing interesting was showing on the water, so I ambled up to the bike path to look for sparrows and Winter Wrens. Have seen a single Fox Sparrow elsewhere, but they have been being seen there regularly and I need a photo.

Lots closer

As I looked east, I thought about how I see turkeys down the path that way sometimes, and lo and behold, there was a brownish lump right where they often show up.

I put the bins on it and to my astonishment it was a good-sized buck lying beside the path.

Hoping for a better picture in the early morning fog, I sneaky-sneaked a little closer. 

No reaction.

Closer still.

No reaction.

And closer yet.

Nada.

Along about that point I decided on discretion over valor and turned my back and sauntered away. Deer can and do hurt people and this one's behavior was abnormal to say the least. He let me get way too close.

White-winged Scoter

As soon as I turned around he stood up (I kept checking behind in case he came after me).

He stood in a kind of an awkward pose and never moved...even after I went west a ways on the other side of Queen Ann Rd. still looking for sparrows.

So eerie was his behavior that I hiked back to the car and we came home.

Yesterday we returned and he was gone.

Was he wounded some place I couldn't see? It is bow season, maybe there was an arrow on his other side. Rabid? I have seen several reports of rabid animals around the region, and this guy sure acted in an abnormal manner. He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed enough though.

Or maybe he was just tired from chasing girls. We saw a number of does just down the road and his neck was swollen for the rut.

But then again perhaps he was a ghost from back in the days when the place was a lock on the Erie Canal. Maybe instead of seeing me he was observing men and mules and horses dragging boats along Clinton's Ditch and stopping for supplies at the grocery store there.

I guess I'll never know. But I swear I could have counted coup on him had I wanted to.

Thank you

 

Remodeling

 

Not bad for 72

Yesterday Ralph, Becky, and I rebuilt the stalls in the pony barn. It took the three of us all day and there are still a few bits that need attention.

The stalls were built 34 years ago when the boss got his Belgians as colts. The first two were Dick and Dan and they were beauties, but useless. Later we sold Dan and bought Tim, who was the nicest, and my favorite of the three. Dick on the other hand lived up to his name and was the only horse who ever kicked me. (Cows more than made up for that.) Tim I got along with okay.

Eventually, along about the time they tore down the fence and half killed a filly I was raising they went on their way. We kept saddle horses and my driving ponies in the stalls when I was still riding horses and driving ponies.

They were altered many times to fit their occupants until now they hold two registered Shetland ponies, and magical wee Jack, purchased for fifty bucks some many years ago. He's well over 20 now, but fit as a knight's charger and about as athletic. Wish you could have seen him when we turned him out to work on his house. All four feet off the ground and a lot of daylight under there. I wouldn't want to ride that buck.

Please excuse the burdocks

Anyhow, the big uprights of the stalls had moldered away to powder and the stalls were about flapping the in the breeze. The entirety of Jack and Diamond's stalls had to be taken down, the bottoms of the uprights cut off, repositioned in their respective holes in the floor, and walls rebuilt.

Not being wired that way I couldn't envision how that job would progress. The boss, however, had it all planned out in his head, and other than time spent looking for tools and running to Glen for nails and the like. it went smoothly. One pole had to be concreted in place and even that is done. I can't lie...I am out of shape. Woke up a couple times in the night with throbbing shoulders and had a hard time going back to sleep.

Very satisfying though. When we were farming with cows we undertook jobs like that without a second thought...all the time. Heck, we built the original stalls in an old garage, built chicken houses, calf pens, cow sheds and all manner of such. It was a great feeling to be doing it again. We work pretty well together, which I suppose we should after all these years. 

The biggest frustration for me was a couple of bird phone calls. A friend was after the White-rumped Sandpiper we found day before yesterday and got a Greater White-fronted Goose and a couple of Snows as well. I have both for the year and actually saw the same Snows a couple of days ago, but the temptation to chase was strong in me. We did go down during one of our nail getting trips, but missed the GWFG.

All in all a very satisfying day though. Maybe today we will cement up those holes in the foundation.....

White-rumped Sandpiper

Recommended Reading

 

I'm reading this for about the fourth time I think. Maybe fifth. Other books by the same author used to be available in our local library and I read them too. Looks like a romance, doesn't it? And there is certainly a thread of that through the story.

However, mostly it is historical, in a fictional kind of way, but well-researched and interested as heck.

Set in 1798, it deals with the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Pirate Wars, and the operation of  Pennsylvania iron furnaces to create stove plates, pig iron, and cannon balls from locally-mined ore. 

Although I am again enjoying the storyline, despite the tiny print, the main takeaway is what many people are saying today. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it....or to watch others do so. 

This story is so uncannily like what's happening today that...well....it's uncanny. If you're local and want to read it I could maybe lend you my copy....

Spyder

 

Because, yeah, it was as big as one.

I like to shower early in the morning...start the day all nice and spiffy and no competition for the hot water. When you heat your water with a woodstove, trust me there is competition.

Anyhow there I stood, clad in my reindeer bathrobe, distributing towel, washcloth, and Japanese Cherry Blossom lotion conveniently around the room and there it was.

Literally the biggest spider I have ever seen outside of a pet shop or Google. Mat black, not exactly hairy, but more rough and rugged, and did I mention that it was huge? 

You know how they always talk about spiders the size of a quarter? This specimen could have carried a quarter in each pocket and had room for change. It was more the size of a hubcap. Could've eaten a hummingbird whole and not needed an antacid. 

It was in the tub, but it was in a hurry to get out of the tub, and headed straight for me.

Now you know I'm a nature buff and you might expect that I might do the touchy-feely, nature-sciencey thing and give it a nice tray of tea and crumpets before escorting it outdoors...or maybe to the attic or cellar.

Instead I grabbed a few sheets of that heretofore much hoarded commodity, the collecting of which which may see a resurgence if we get shut down again, swathed it like a mummy, and gave it a swirly.

Like any kid in a middle school bathroom, it protested mightily. It went down, down, down in a gush of flowing water...

And came right back up again, minus a leg but fighting valiantly.

Three flushes and it finally vanished...for good I hope...but I left the lid up so I could watch for it...

Just in case.

And then, just as I was about to step into my personal stream of nice, hot, water, I saw another one on the tub mat. Horrified, I reached for the roll to offer it the same fate. 

Fortunately though, that one, a smaller, more normal-sized specimen, (big as a quarter, but at least not a hubcap), was already dead and didn't reappear. (#What happens in the bathtub doesn't stay in the bathtub).

The whole time that I would normally have spent enjoying the knowledge that no one was going to run cold water for the horses or hot water for dishes, was instead spent hoping that the creepy feeling from the special, shaggy, non-slip tub mat, was water flowing through the pointy things, not more spiders, reaching up to grab my toes.

I will not be telling Peggy about this event. Even after a summer of introducing her to beautiful orb web spinners in the garden, she is not a fan of spiders. 

Meanwhile, sorry/not sorry.....

Blood Pressure Medicine

 

For all my friends of every stripe and denomination.

We were privileged to learn about this Snowy Owl via Facebook a few days ago. I kept quiet about it because the finder was kind enough to allow us to visit his home and photograph it from his garage. I didn't want him to regret that.

The bird has now left the neighborhood and I hope its stunning beauty helps you feel better today....I know I sure needed it.

The Bald Eagles are regulars at Yankee Hill Lock, and not much concerned with the people below. They sure make counting ducks a challenge as they strafe the flocks and loom overhead.

The day this was taken there were at least 60 Common Mergansers plying the river for small fish. They were quite a sight to see, floating downstream en mass, then flying back up, flashing their bright, white, wing patches.

Anyhow, best wishes for the best day possible for everyone reading this. Thanks for visiting.

Winter Finch Irruption

 I have been watching for Evening Grosbeaks. They used to be almost pesky BITD, with hordes descending on the feeders and emptying them in an instant.

Then they vanished. Years would go by and we would not see a single one. Before yesterday it had been two years since we saw any and a long drought of them before that.

This year a big irruption, that is many birds flying south to find food because the cone and bud crops were poor in the far, far North, was predicted.

They did not lie. I have never seen or heard so many Red-breasted Nuthatches (not finches but similarly irruptive) as I have this year. The woods are full of them.

And the Pine Siskins are back. In some places they are back in tremendous numbers, as in thousands reported at Cape May. The most I have seen was a flock of maybe 90 in Maine. That was  amazing enough for me, and now they are coming to the feeders pretty regularly.

Purple Finches actually nest in our spruce trees and bring the fledglings to the feeders before they disperse, but now there are a lot of non-local visitors as well. 

Nevertheless, it was hard to see dozens of photos of EVGR on Facebook and not have them here. I really wanted some. Then yesterday the boss spoke to me as I was tying my shoes, "What are these?"

I had heard noisy finch calls from the feeder right in front of the kitchen windows, but I thought they were Pine Siskins. Nope. At least 25 EVGR, probably over 30, were racing in and out to gobble seeds. There are still a few around today.

I has a happy. 

More Maine

 

Halloween is Here

 

And Harry is attempting to turn Lupin back into a professor. Hope you have a great day and a safe evening!

That Website we love to Hate

 

You know the one I mean, where everyone socializes and reads the news and plays the games...

Yeah, as you are naturally aware they changed the look of the site not long ago. In a word it stinks, and no, that is not the word I would use if I were less polite.

So someone invented a nifty browser plug-in that kept the old look. It was great and I used it gleefully.

And yet the site that shall not be named spent time and effort to make that plug in fail. Yeah, forced people who hate what they did to use the new look whether they want to or not.

Personally I think they actually want to drive people away rather than let them discuss certain news events and stories comfortably. Especially those horrible Boomers.....kids have moved along to other things already. But those Boomers are bitter clingers....

Think about it.....The site owners have enough money. They don't need more. But they do need to push their agenda any way they can. And, yes, I can get you a tinfoil hat just like mine if you need one....just ask.

Meanwhile the folks who wrote the plug-in are working on making it work again.

And despite being a political beast I have been spending a LOT more time outdoors getting the gardens ready for winter and watching for Evening Grosbeaks. Irruption year ya know. I highly recommend the great outdoors as a source of mitigation of modern life.

October Big Day

 

A Maine Great Egret

So today is the fall version of Big Day for birders. The idea is to go out and see how many birds you can count in a day. I don't usually do too well on these sort of things, as they always seem to fall when we are busy with real life.

Cute little Black Guillemot

And after having such a Big Weekend last week it is probably going to be a bit anticlimactic. We were taken to Maine by kids and grandkids, had a great time, and of course there was birding. 46 lovely Maine species, including two lifers, Common Eider and Black Guillemot. There were also lighthouses, landmarks, Moose Questing, good food and a lot of fun....so thanks for everything plus the turkeys.....

Maine Double-crested Cormorant

Anyhow, I will get out as much as I can today, hopefully starting soon, and see what can be found around our acreage. The place is shaggy and unkempt, which is just how the birds like it. About the only ones that like manicured lawns are the robins and starlings. Sparrows are passing through just now and we usually see some nice ones.

The highlight of the past week after returning home btw was a Ruddy Duck up on the pond by the home of a certain popular race car driver we know. Big deal for me, as I have been looking for one in county for several years.

NY Song Sparrow

Even if today is not a Big one for you, I hope you have a great one! Meanwhile, I am listening for the first cardinal to start chirping on the front lawn feeder. He is usually first bird these days...

A Solid Five

 

Amish colt on the side of the road

On the lawn chair scale....

That storm last week I mean. We have this heavy metal lawn chair that some neighbors gave us. You can't really sit in it but it serves grandly to hold the laundry basket while I hang out or take down clothes.

In a "normal" wind event it is tipped over backwards into the flower bed next to the house often scattering clothespins willy nilly. But it doesn't go far...

Yesterday I went out to hang some laundry and could not find it. Just gone. Finally I saw it, upside down in another flower bed several yards away, in the opposite direction. It took quite a gale to pick that chair up and fling it that far. One of my  kitty andirons also took flight and broke alas. They are heavy cast iron and have never even fallen off the log upon which they reside. What a super storm that was...

There have been other storms with sadder consequences. We lost two beloved aunts over the past couple of weeks, tearing the fabric of the family in so many ways. My heart is hurting for my cousins and my dear uncle who have to go on without them. Sad times....

Beach Bandit

 

Sauntering up to the pic-a-nic

Hmm.....coast looks clear....well, except for that fat little clown with the camera....but she doesn't look too dangerous to me.....

Wow, nice selection for a vegungull like me. Gertrude was not too happy the last time I came home from shopping with a beakful of herring....feathers flew if you know what I mean. Happy wife, harmonious nest and all.

Ah, yes, perfect.....

Gertrude, honey, look what I found....