It was a very nice week weather-wise with only a few showers, but the nights have been cool.
It takes hot days and warm nights to get those blackflies cooked up…then it won’t be long and the noseums will be out.
The deerflies have already made their appearance with mosquitoes riding on their backs.
It looks like it might be one of those bug years. If you have had your night light you may have noticed that the luna moths are already hatched.
There are not too many yellow swallowtail butterflies but there have been a few in the air with more to come.
Bird-wise it was a good week with many more getting on territory as the males are calling to claim their spot in the woods.
I’ve seen lots of birds that got on nests early carrying food for their young.
Just this afternoon as I was coming down the South Shore Road there was a hen turkey with a bunch of young in tow trying to cross the road.
Many hens you see in the tall grass along the highways have young not far away so give them some space.
The group I had at Camp Sagamore went down to the bridge in Raquette Lake to see the American bittern but it was a no show on Wednesday morning.
We were treated to a loon that swam up the Brown’s Tract Stream over the beaver dam and swam under the bridge going upstream, where it was up close and personal.
It must be nesting upstream again this year, as it has for a couple years now.
We went back that evening and the bittern was just thumping away so everyone got to see it.
It is such a neat bird to watch. It was very visible from the road doing its call and dance to attract a mate.
Some of my loons that I watch are on nests and others are just hanging out.
Many times when you see them just hanging out they have a nest but they have hidden it so you can’t see it from the water.
I don’t go looking for the nests as I figure I will find them when they have hatched their chicks.
Then I will check the shoreline and pick up eggshells and egg sacks from the nest if I find it.
Most of the pairs should be on a nest in the next week or so if they are on territory.
A few of the ones I watch have already lost their first nest for some reason, but it is early enough for them to renest.
While checking the Cedar River Flow (6/7) I saw the local pair but didn’t find a nest yet.
There were about twenty geese in the area where the loons usually nest and also a Wilson’s snipe, which let me take several pictures of it feeding along the shoreline.
Many wildflowers are still playing catch up and are about two weeks behind in blooming.
My yellow ladyslippers just came out this week and they are usually gone by now.
I checked the Remsen Bog on Wednesday and only saw a couple showy ladyslipper plants showing any green, so I don’t think they will be blooming by Father’s Day.
If they fail me it will be the first time. I guess there is a first time for everything. If it stays warm all this week they may surprise me again.
A couple things in my yard surprised me for sure. One was my may apple that has been growing out in my woods for about six years.
It finally has a flower so there is hope there will be seeds and more may apples in the future.
Another plant I’ve had growing up the side of the house for six or seven years is a trumpet vine. Just tonight I looked at it and darned if there wasn’t a flower on it—another first.
I gave a piece to my daughter, Erin, and she’s had it growing all over her porch and pool area, but no blooms yet.
When it does it will be beautiful. Sometimes we just have to wait for the beauty.
On a sad note, my son-in-law’s dad, Jack Bills, passed away this week after a tough battle with cancer.
Jack and his wife, Barb, brought the family up each summer and they loved the Adirondacks.
They stayed many summers at Beckers, now Holiday Shores, on Fourth Lake.
He always trailered up his powerboat and loved to be out on the water enjoying water sports with his family.
They had to get sinkers at the Donut Shop to start the day, a tradition that has been passed down to his grandson, Jake.
All the invasive plants seem to be doing well so there is still a battle to win here.
Garlic mustard is growing in almost every back yard in Old Forge and Inlet and in some places the front yard.
If you bring in fill for a flower garden or a septic job you better keep a watch on what else might grow there.
The seeds for garlic mustard are viable for seven years so it might not happen the first year.
But when they start you really have to keep after them.
Pull and bag them and leave them out in the sun to cook. They are in flower right now and with a steady pull you can normally get the whole plant, root and all.
Deer and bear take numbers from last fall, but that’s another story. See ya.