Cooperstown Coots

 

American Coots

A couple of years ago a nice birder friend let us in on the secret of the American Coots that winter on the end of Otsego Lake where the marina runs bubblers to keep the ice away from the docks. Since then we have made at least one trip each year to add them to my state year list, since the nearest other spot that we have found them to be reliable is Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and that is a long haul for us.

The past couple of weeks I have been watching for an auspicious day to head that way and yesterday sure looked good.....

Lil' bit windy here and colder than is enjoyable for outdoor fun and games but it sure looked doable...

Until we got up on the hills! We are so spoiled by living here near the river where the weather is just a bit moderated by it, especially when it isn't frozen. I forget that the whole state isn't warmed by the rivers. Up on those hills the tiny bit of snow we had experienced overnight was being tossed around in thin, icy streams, by that same cold, miserable wind.

The farther south we went the worse it got. Some counties and towns do a better job than others at plowing, salting and sanding their roads. We quickly figured out which was which.

We discovered that our path took us past the
Ames firehouse pancake breakfast

Also Cooperstown is in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The higher we went the worse it got. I offered that maybe we should turn back and apologized profusely for even thinking of such a journey.

Whiteout!

The boss is intrepid and he soldiered on, even when at one point we hit a total whiteout where the windshield was awash with nothing but driving snow and the car seemed almost stalled in place by the maddened wind.

There was a certain amount of traffic
despite the ugly conditions

It was so cold when we got there that the boss hustled back to the car after about five minutes near the water. I had to keep putting one of my hand warmers on my ear to ward off frostbite.

But there were coots! Lotsa coots! Over 30 of them. Plus Buffleheads, Common Mergansers and a few geese. 

The ride home was almost, but not quite, as horrific as the trip over. I was pretty darned happy to hit the gravel driveway.

Before I went to bed, I thanked the boss for the coots, as I try to always remember to thank him for our frequent birding trips. He took the opportunity to tease me a bit about cooties....been a while since I had to worry about those. 

Some interesting links

Otsego Lake...117,000,000,000 gallons of gorgeous turquoise water is contained in this beauty.

Cooperstown NY

I don't think I want to chase any coots today, even though the wind has gone down.

Cooties!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

 

A Couple of Months Ago

 

At the early onset of cabin fever, I was lured into the pages of a seed catalog....oh, those tempting, seductive, cover photos...oh, my, oh, my, oh, my downfall.

Now, on the dining room table, because I have so many plants I can't find room for the seed starter tray near the big windows, tiny, almost microscopic, herb plants are poking up out of the soil...

Mexican Mint, which appears to be some kind of marigold. I dunno what it actually is, but the photo caught my eye so onto the order it went. Seedlings are pretty scraggly, but I can hope.

Tiny threads of Orange Thyme appeared yesterday....yes, I peer into the box every day eager for greenery and all that it portends.

So far none of the assorted basils are up yet, but I am excited. I still have a fair amount of BOOM left, but I like to have enough to share and it is  awful good stuff. For years I have dried herbs from the garden to make seasoning blends that suit our taste buds. Two years ago, entirely by accident I happened upon BOOM.

BOOM consists of Sweet Basil, Oregano, and Orange Mint. B-O-OM. We have a kind of feral Oregano/Marjoram stuff that grows free down along the driveway. When Grandma Peggy was still with us, she and I went out one day planting daffodils to naturalize and this herby stuff to see if it would grow. 

The daffs are mostly Ice Follies. They bloom and spread each year, especially on the edges of the spring-soggy ditches, reminding me of her and that day in such a sweet spring way. The Oregano thrives in big patches that smell like pizza when you pick it to dry, which I do most years. I have transplanted it up here by the house several times, but it always freezes out after a winter or two.

The difference in plant life and vitality as you get farther away from the river never fails to astonish me. Down in town I could winter mums for years and years, coaxing them into giant clumps that when properly pinched looked just like the little potted jobs in the store, only waist-high and covering whole beds with huge, round clumps of bloom. Up here...hah...a mile away, but up on the hill...the only ones that will winter are the Sheffields. Good thing I love them. I tried again this year, setting some purchased pots in the ground and covering them a bit, bit but I think the miserable March weather finished them off.

I grew Orange Mint for well over 30 years at several different houses, but a few years ago it faded and died, no matter what I did. It took us several years to get new plants, as it isn't easy to find, but at least last fall we had a big hearty patch. No telling if it is still surviving out there under the snow (which I pile on whenever i shovel, hoping to protect it from the iffy late winter weather).

Anyhow, last year I bought some Sweet Basil plants...lazy, lazy, lazy...and they didn't grow much, nor did they taste very good. So, no BOOM.

This year I bought the Pinetree basil seed assortment, some licorice Basil, and I don't remember what other kinds. Good thing I labeled everything when I planted. Hopefully all come along and I can pot them up and make some BOOM this summer. I don't try to actually grow basil in the ground up here because the weeds outcompete it no matter what I do. Big pots and buckets take care of that.

One thing that will enhance my summer project...Becky just bought a dehydrator. I hate to tell you how many times I warmed the oven to 200, put in some trays of greenery, then shut it off and left them drying, only to have someone else decide to bake biscuits and preheat it for their project. This will end that fun and games.

So, over the next few days some houseplant or project will have to move away from the windows to make room for the seed tray. My compulsion to  grow things has caused pineapple tops in pots, Elephant Ears as tall as I am, Norfolk Island Pines even taller, etc. etc. and they all love the windows.

 I also started some bright red geraniums in kitty litter bottles (cut a third off the long way, leaving a hinge at one end, which makes a handy little roofed tray). They are just getting true leaves now. If I can get them through without damping off and get them potted, hopefully they will bloom this summer. I have a few geraniums that I started down from seed when we lived in the village twenty-some years ago, but they are on their way out, getting weaker each year. It is hard to find the bright, cardinal red ones that I like and I only have one left. My last orange one, which has always stayed tiny, but prolific in blooms, nearly died of root rot this winter. It is repotted but struggling. We shall see. Geranium seed is expensive, hard to find, and not very easy to propagate, but once mature the plants seem stronger and much more beautifully colored than purchased plants.

And there you have it, some of what keeps me occupied while winter pounds us with storm after storm. Happy gardening everyone!

I also planted some of this

No Comment

 

Storm Birds

 

Voices tinkling like ice cubes, American Tree Sparrows jingle and flare over a suet block with cracked corn. You'd think they were tough guys the way they argue and fight.

Silver-eyed Common Grackles spread Darth Vader wings, threatening maiming and mayhem. The bad guys of the bird feeders. Everybody gets out of their way.

Red-winged Blackbirds, which normally at this time of year show only butter-won't-melt-in-my-beak pale yellow on their shoulders, squabble at the round feeder.

"Move it, move, it, move it, give over, get outta my way. I'll slay you with my epaulettes!"

Flash, flash, like a dozen stoplights blinking all at once they wear their prowess on their wings.

"No, you move! I'm brighter and redder. I keel you!"

The battle screams against a backdrop of snow-clad twigs and branches.

Jill takes it all in, gives me a sheepish look, and rolls and rolls and rolls in the soft fresh snow. What is up with an Oklahoma dog that is crazy for snow anyhow?

You can Dress 'em Up

 

Poor, poor pitiful me
an ol' jack Russell, sittin' by her knee.
On my way to the rabies vaccination
clinic
Oh, woe is me!

See that little dog up there? All, "Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth, poor me, poor me."

We needed to get him an update for his rabies vaccination today, so we headed over to the clinic in Fonda. We have done it before...NBD.

However, today there were lots and lots and lots of dogs and cats there. Lots.

And every single stinking one of them was better behaved than Mack. Every single one.

From the second I let him out of the car until he was back in the kitchen he fought me. He weighs between 12 and 15 pounds. I should be able to handle him, right? I mean, I have showed cows, horses, all sorts of critters a lot bigger than that blasted dog....but

Every ounce of him is packed with muscle and he really wanted to go say hi to all those doggies... and then fight them. If I put him on the floor, people were all, "Oh, the poor little thing...he's choking himself..."

Yeah, because he wants to tear up the floor with your little doggie. Or big doggie. Or any doggie. Or kitty.

There were pitties and kitties, and yappy little bitties and they all made nice, and made their owners proud. Did I mention they acted better then my dog? Way better. They turned their heads in embarrassment for me. I believe that I also turned purple with same....

So I mostly held him in my arms, alternating as he wore me out.

Imagine filling out paperwork on a clipboard with fifteen pounds of dynamite trying to explode in your arms. My sheet was so crumpled it looked like it had been wound up in a round baler and left out in the rain. I write like a doctor at the best of times, so I am pretty sure it was a good thing I had his license with me for the clerk to copy. I had to ask a stranger to take the paper off the clipboard for me.

Of course both the clerk and the veterinarian doing the vaccinations were longtime friends of ours....

Somehow we both survived. And if that experience didn't give me a heart attack I don't know what will. Our longtime friend, Dr. Mark, gave me a hug as I was lugging Mr. Awful out to the car. By that time I needed one.

I haz teefs

Nothing Wrong with Leftovers

 

Some photos I've been saving to use here that I need to move out of my current photo folder....totally random...

However, we are having leftover Italian sausage vegetable soup for supper tonight and that is a whole 'nother ball game.

Public Service Announcement

Peregrine Falcon at nest box

 Please do not pick up dead birds.

We've been visiting the Mohawk Valley Gateway Overlook Bridge in Amsterdam pretty regularly lately, hoping to see the nesting Peregrine Falcons there. After being gated for weeks the bridge walkway was finally open today so I could hike over to Riverlink Park. Earlier in the winter I went around the gates and struggled up on the bridge over the ice, but I was waiting every second for someone to arrest me and take me away. Thus I only did it once. Today there was no ice and no gates.

There was indeed a Peregrine Falcon perched on the nest box though. Hopefully they will have a successful nesting season this summer.

There was also the most incredible number of crow droppings and feathers I have ever seen. Had to be experienced to be imagined...no possibility of taking a single step without crunching on a dozen.

Icky.

I soon encountered five of the cutest, sweetest kids you could imagine. They thought I was a photographer and asked me to take pics of them. When they discovered that my camera could not provide them with a copy, they had me use one of their phones to take one for them.

Off they went.

Before I could realize what they were doing they came upon a dead crow that I had not noticed. One girl picked it up in her arms and carried it off to try to toss it in the river.

Missed. 

I caught up with them and gently suggested that prompt and thorough hand-washing would be in order due to the possibility of Avian Influenza.

They looked at me like I had three heads and went on about their business (which looked to be a morning of fun on the bridge.)

Hopefully the crow met its fate in some other way and the kids and nesting Peregrines will be fine.

Also hopefully the roost disperses soon. What a mess! Geese spend some time on the grass there too, so I am sure you can imagine. My shoes got a good dose of disinfectant when we got home.

Anyhow, picking up dead critters without gloves etc. is not a good idea, especially with such a deadly disease making the rounds among the wild things. It would be great if it ran its course soon.

Taking Advantage

 

I dragged my backyard office chair off the sitting porch and set up a bare bones version of said office despite the season. It was wonderful to sit in the afternoon sunshine yesterday looking up into the naked trees, counting birds and just being.....out....

This morning I took a blanket to cover the cold metal chair, stuck a pair of fresh hand warmers into the pockets of my down vest, layered on my heaviest Carhartt hoodie, found an upturned flower pot to serve as a makeshift table for my coffee, and parked out there in the yard before dawn.

As has been the case for the past couple of weeks the only customers at the feeders or picking at the bugs in the bark of the trees were the commonest of winter birds.

However taking advantage of this weird, yet wonderful weather was a joy indeed. In winter I always forget summer. Can't ever remember green, or warm, or exponential growth of everything. It's like it never happened. Today I got just a small taste of that delight....

And it was good. 

Happy Valentine's Day

 

It's a Big Day

 

For my favorite middle kid!

Happy Birthday, Becky...just keep channeling Peg and Alice. They were great ladies and so are you!

Love you!

The Sparrows

 

Come in before light, just when the dawn takes over the night

Dark shadows they flutter cleaning up the spilled seed

And the corn from the feed store as they gobble with greed.

Guess the hawk can't quite see them until it's quite bright

But the lady with seed cups sure puts them to flight.

White-throated Sparrows

American Tree Sparrows

Dark-eyed Juncos, slate-colored subset

Sometimes the lone Song Sparrow that is wintering here.

They scatter when I go out to fill the feeders and as they race for the bushes the chickadees and titmice whirl in unafraid, to grab seeds and hull them before the big guys come back.

Not the best month, January, but there are compensations.

Worth a Thousand Words

 

Sadness

 In the past ten days two iconic area farmers left us. The kind of men you looked up to and admired and loved to run into at the cow show or the coffee shop. You would always learn something and come away smiling.

Prayers for the families they left behind and for our community, which will be less without them.

Therapy Committee

 

Becky and I just did some awesome retail therapy. It was fun, with no crowds or busy roads involved... We sent a seed order to Pinetree Garden Seeds.

We bought herbs and papyrus and red geranium seeds. I can't wait! 

It isn't easy to grow geraniums from seed, but I've managed in the past and gotten some of my best colors. I already lost one of the old ones this winter though, so time to try again. 

Herb-wise, we bought a bunch of basil, some hyssop, gourds, and some Mexican mint. The basil I use to make BOOM, an herb blend we use to cook just about everything. It consists of basil, oregano, and orange mint dried and stored for winter. The oregano is not exactly the real deal, being some sort of winter-hardy marjoram-type stuff Ralph's mom and I scattered along the driveway years ago. It comes up and grows happily down there, although I have a terrible time keeping it alive up here on the hill, no matter how many times I transplant it. Good stuff!

Winter feels so much shorter when the seed catalogs start arriving...although actually this one has been here a while...

Now to find room among the jungle of house plants crowding the big windows to set some seeds to growing.

Oh, and I've been meaning to tell you about the African violet. I used to grow them bitd, but some froze when the place where I was living lost power in a terrible storm and some died because when we moved down here I used village water on them. Killed them in days (in case you were wondering why we don't drink it.)

Anyhow, there is an Amish family up on Brumley Rd. that sells garlic at a roadside stand (which has an overhang too low for normal people to fit under it...just ask Ralph, who banged his head just about every time we stopped there.) Whenever they put out more garlic and I had a couple of bucks cash we stopped and bought some. Best garlic ever! I forced myself to sacrifice some to plant even though I really wanted to save it all to eat, so there is a row out in the garden for next winter.

One day the lady of the house put out a few African violets for three bucks each. They didn't look too bad, but none were blooming. I had some cash so I picked one out and brought it home.

And waited. I figured it would probably be one of the flat, uglyish white ones with purple shadows in the center, but hey, flowers in winter are flowers in winter. At least I knew better than to give it faucet water.

One day I lifted the pot to feel it if needed water and there was a bud. Within days there was a flower that utterly lifted my heart with its beauty. The photos do not do the magical dusty pink color justice. It is the exact color of the pink shirts rodeo guys sometimes wear and it has been blooming continuously since that very first bud. 

Sometimes it's good to guess wrong.