I almost wrote down the wrong year on this column as another year has quickly passed us by.
Well, we’ve already had three January thaws and it’s only the 5th. How many more will we have before the end of the month?
It doesn’t look like much of a thaw this week with forecasted temperatures in the teens and below zero a few nights.
This should make some ice for the pond hockey rinks.
I saw some ice fishermen out on Fourth Lake on Thursday.
They crossed some mighty skinny ice to go fishing as there was open water there two days earlier.
The weather was pretty wild last night as the temperature dropped from the forties to near zero this morning with a little fluffy snow.
When this temperature change roared through the south it spawned some tornadoes, which aren’t supposed to occur in the winter months.
But all that has changed with global warming.
I don’t think we can depend on our winters or summers being like they were in the old days.
You might get some warm days during the summer and some cold days during the winter but the seasonal weather isn’t that consistent anymore.
We had some great snow for skiing and snowmobiling for a little while but that all went away with the day of rain and temperatures in the forties.
I was out checking traps in the rain yesterday and saw lots of yellow birch seeds on the snow.
With all that wild food available I wondered why the American goldfinch didn’t stick around. They must know something that we don’t.
Then, this morning I looked out and a flock of 20 redpolls showed up at the feeder.
I quickly got out one of my sock feeders of niger seed and they jumped right on it.
I had a tube feeder up all fall and the goldfinch used it some, but they went for the black oil sunflower seeds more.
I thought it was going to be a quiet winter with only chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, turkeys, two bluejays and one lone white throated sparrow at the feeder.
There were also eight hairy woodpeckers lined up at the suet and peanut butter feeders this morning.
I also have a couple adult bald eagles that come pretty regularly, so I guess the bird wild is going to be good to me this winter.
Lots of folks say they don’t have many birds at their feeders.
Pine siskins are visiting feeders in the eastern Adirondacks so there must be a partial cone crop in that area.
I’ve been out and about checking my traps and catching a few beaver and otters.
So far most of the beaver have been ones that have flooded the local ski and snowmobile trails.
Trail 10, north of Rondaxe Road to Big Moose Road, is now passable as the town crew got in and moved most of the water off the trail by Goose Pond.
Down in back of Limekiln Campsite the ski trail was completely flooded below the second bridge on the nature trail.
That should be going down this week as I’ve also caught the beaver in that area.
The price of fur follows the stock market. Usually, fur prices are up when the market is up which is good for the trapper.
Most trappers aren’t in the sport for the money, but it does help.
If you added up the hours spent preparing for, trapping and skinning the critters you would end up making minimum wage.
But you would also be getting lots of fresh air and lose some weight to boot.
The new Adirondack Out-doors sportsmen and women magazine is on the newsstands and available locally at the library and local information centers.
The annual statewide duck count is coming up next weekend and there won’t be much open water in this area after this subzero weather goes through.
Much of Lake Champlain will still be open and the ducks will surely be there, as they have been in the past.
We did see a pair of hooded mergansers on the North Branch of the Moose River the other day and I’m sure there are still some on the channel going into Old Forge Pond. Some hang out to the bitter end in the Inlet Channel, which never freezes. I had a king fisher stay there most of last winter.
The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up from February 13 through 16. Keep those feeders full and maybe some of those redpolls will move into your yard.
The count is a combined effort of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society. Last year over 144,000 reports of birds all over the world were sent in.
It was the greatest snapshot of birds ever recorded, so backyard feeders do count for something other than your pleasure.
There is also a Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey. The 2015 national survey runs from December 31, 2014 through and including January 14, 2015.
The national and New York state target dates for surveys to be conducted are January 9 and 10.
Check the ice before going out…but that’s another story. See ya.