There were a few wet campers again last week, as t-storms passing through the area dropped several inches of rain.
The wind locally wasn’t all that bad, but a big yellow birch did snap off in front of the house. Fortunately, when it came down with a crash, it was toward the woods and not on the house.
My grandson Jake joined me in taking out most of my loon platforms, which was the extent of my loon adventures for the week.
Jake was the backbone of the operation. All I had to do was canoe him to the spot. He dragged the platforms onto shore to dry out during the winter.
Five out of twelve were successful this season; three other pairs that nested in the area of my platforms have chicks on the water.
This week I found a new chick, one I hadn’t seen before. It was the oldest that I have, and must have been born in early June.
It’s nearly adult size and probably feeding on its own.
There were bald eagles in that area, so it must have ducked them all summer to survive.
While my grandson and I were fishing over the weekend, we saw a pair of bald eagles. They were scuffling in the air over a fish at Moshier Reservoir.
I don’t know why, because at that location there seemed to be enough fish for everyone.
Jake even caught a norlunge, which is something I never caught during the summer.
I have, however, caught several through the ice on Lake Durant.
We had fun catching bass using both top water plugs and while trolling with rapalas.
There is a trick to hooking up with a top water plug. Jake never did master that, but he did catch some.
He had a big one eat his plug several times, yet when he pulled up he had nothing on the hook.
He did better with the rapala.
One night we quit just when the fishing was getting good. It seemed every fish in the lake was just waiting to bite on anything we threw at them.
Jake is looking forward to deer hunting season with his bow. He had some close encounters last year and aims to get one this year.
He has all his licenses and has been practicing in the back yard.
Though Jake is off to community college where he will take conservation courses, he will be living at home. That should give him plenty of time for hunting.
He had his trail camera out on the dam of my pond and was able to get pictures of red fox, coyote, turkey vulture and raven, that all came to check out the fish guts there.
The guts resulted from the nice catch of splake I took with David Koester and his sons on Limekiln Saturday morning.
We ended up with nine fish, measuring between twelve and eighteen inches.
David’s son Zack had tied me some nice streamers for catching rainbows this fall in the Fulton Chain.
I just sent him a picture of the one I’ve used for several years, and he copied the pattern very well. I can’t wait to wet the water with them.
Biodiversity Research Institute’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation has a beautiful loon quilt. It was made by Nina Schoch and will be raffled on October 12 at our Adirondack Loon Celebration.
This quilt is just the right gift for any loon lover you know. Tickets for the quilt can be found online at www.briloon.org/adkloon. They sell for $5 each or six for $25.
The free celebration event will be held at the Saranac Lake Town Hall from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will include a variety of loon-related activities for the entire family.
I will be presenting a Loon Program at the Woodgate Library on Friday, August 29 at 7 p.m. This is their last program of the summer.
All are welcome to come and learn a little more about this fantastic bird.
This time of year, everyone says to me that there are no birds around anymore.
Well, some have left the area already and are heading south.
The others are in molt stage, so they can’t fly as well as when they have all their feathers.
So, this time of the year, they are pretty much silent and sulking around waiting for those new feathers to grow in.
When their feathers develop fully, these birds will also be on their way south for the winter.
The goldfinch and cedar waxwings are nesting this time of the year, so you might see more of them out and about getting food for their young.
The cedar waxwings have been hawking (catching bugs) around the lake shorelines the past few weeks.
They find a hatch and call in the troops. Then it’s everyone for themselves, and many times you will see a collision as two birds go for the same bug.
Yellowing of some of the balsam needles, but that’s another story. See ya.