I’m sure a few campers were wet after this week’s weather pattern. And the folks down on Long Island found out what can happen when 13 inches of rain falls in 12 hours.
If you are buying a used car in the next few months you might want to check for a water line on the side of the vehicle.
We’re wet while the west is still dry with forest fires still popping up.
This will occur until snowfall, a couple months away. New York State Forest Rangers sent one crew.
I got a few pictures but never did hear where the crew went.
I chased after the Helldiver moose a few mornings and evenings but never did see him.
He was seen eating in the pond one morning and one evening this week, but I just didn’t hit the right morning or evening.
Folks who did see him were impressed with his size and the rack he was wearing.
One morning I took a trip down the Rockdam Road in the Plains and bumped into a cow and calf moose that were right in the road.
I had my camera on the seat, but never did take a picture as I just watched them run down the road.
I saw a pair of loons one of the mornings at Helldiver Pond.
They swam quite close to us and I noticed bands on the female.
She was a bird we banded on Little Indian Lake in 2009.
I didn’t see her on either of the trips I took to the lake this year, but it was nice to know she is still in the area.
While we were there the pair flew off the water.
This body of water is not that big—especially if you are a loon and need to take off.
She and her mate were down at the east end of the pond when a good breeze came up from the west.
She did her run on the water and got airborne.
She had to circle the pond a couple of times to get above the trees and off she went.
The male, not wanting her to get too far out, tried the same but started too far down the pond.
He had to abort his take off and land in the pond at the far end.
He swam back to where he started and tried again, only to fail a second time.
The third time was the charm as the wind picked up. He had to circle the pond three times to clear the trees at the outlet.
Yesterday morning (8/17) there was a flock of cedar waxwings bug-catching at the east end of the pond.
From where we were we couldn’t see the bugs, but it must have been a good hatch as the birds were airborne most of the time.
I photographed a few deer in the yard. They are losing their summer red coats and changing to their brown winter coats already. Maybe they know something that we don’t.
I do know that we ran the furnace the other day and that doesn’t usually happen until after Labor Day.
If you have been out and about you must have noticed the leaves are changing.
The wet swampy areas change first, but even some of the mountainsides are coloring up.
This year has been a good year for tree growth as some of the softwoods have put on 10 to 15 inches of new growth.
The hardwoods show even more growth than that. For those who rake leaves, there will be plenty to take care of this year.
There doesn’t seem to be any beechnuts this year or black cherries.
The bush berries such as wild raisin, high bush cranberry, choke cherry, mountain ash, mountain holly and common chokeberry all seem to be loaded with fruit.
Let’s hope the bears find them soon and get out of town.
As long as these bears find garbage or someone illegally feeding corn to the deer, they will stick around and be a problem.
On Tuesday, August 26 at 7 p.m., Diane Bowes will present a power point program at VIEW’s Gould Hall.
She will show us what she saw on her birding adventure in Bhutan. The program is free of charge.
Small birds in molt, others just nesting, but that’s another story. See ya.