Fires and flooding have occurred in the same breath and area in California so the rains sure helped put out the fires, or at least got them under control.
Parts of Arizona got over five inches of rain that washed cars and motor homes down the highway. It’s amazing that no deaths were reported in most of these incidents.
We had a few thunderstorms roll through here Friday night (7/17) and early Saturday morning (7/18).
I know because I got caught in the Saturday one at Helldiver Pond when I started my Loon census count.
It was pouring and there was a single loon out on the pond but no Moose, as far as I could see anyway.
From there I went into Icehouse Pond where there were no loons. I pedalled by bike to the end of the road to Little Indian Lake.
Along the way I stopped at Muskrat Pond where there was a family of ring-necked ducks and a mallard family…but no loons.
I got to Little Indian just before 8 a.m. and the pair of loons was on the water. I called them in real close and I saw bands on the female but no chicks.
When I pedalled back out I stopped at Squaw Lake and took a short walk down the old trail to the ledge on the south shore.
There were some campers from Rhode Island at the east end of the lake who were firing off a lot of ammo.
The loons were at the far end of the lake. I called them in fairly close and saw they were not wearing bands, nor were there any chicks.
The woods were pretty wet from the rain storms and so was I. I drove around and biked into Beaver Lake.
I met a group of six walking back out and asked them what they thought of the big white pine that’s right beside the trail. One said, wow!
I also asked if they had seen any loons or chicks. They said they had seen two out in the middle of the lake but because they didn’t have binoculars they couldn’t tell if there were chicks.
I got to the lake about 10 a.m. and from the landing could see a single loon on the water and another sitting on a nest.
Another loon flew over and called but didn’t land. It was probably the loon from Helldiver Pond who had seen enough people by that time and left.
On the way out I stopped by the big pine for a picture with my bike in front.
It’s a 15-minute ride into the lake and a 13-minute ride out. There must be more up-hills on the way in.
From there I went over to the Mitchell Pond Trail and biked in to the Upper Pond where there was a single loon. Then I walked around to the Lower Pond where there were no loons. I was about spent and soaked to the skin mostly from the inside but some from the outside.
Of the seven bodies of water surveyed, no chicks were seen.
On the way out I stopped to photograph some small purple fringed orchids that were in full bloom.
There certainly are ups and downs in the loon world. The loon chick that was on last week’s cover of the paper died on count day on Twitchell Lake.
It was collected to see if we can find out why it died. That was the downer; the loon parents were still mourning their lose today (7/19).
The upper came tonight when Lynn Ballou called. She had a sad story about a loon chick that hatched that day on Raquette Lake but that she thought was lost even before its first swim on the lake.
She told me there were egg chips in the nest. The parents were making all kinds of calls but left the area without a chick.
I told her the chick had hatched and she might want to go out and check around the nest for it.
She did, and you guessed it…the chick was there and hungry and nibbled on her fingers for something to eat.
The female of the pair came over to see what was going on by the nest site. Lynn put the little guy in the water and it quickly found mom and climbed on her back just like it was at home.
Lynn said she didn’t get any pictures but she can draw it in her mind and it may be the cover for her new book.
She was pretty happy and it sure made my day!
While out checking loons the last couple of weeks I’ve seen several different birds bug-catching over the water that were not just the normal swallows.
Some swallows were also out. Though their young had fledged they followed them to the food supply.
Over at the Cedar River Flow the alders were full of young as barn, bank and tree swallows caught green drakes and fed all their begging young at once.
Along with the swallows were red-winged blackbirds, grackles, cedar waxwings and yellow bellied sapsuckers.
All these birds watched from the shoreline and flew out to snatch one of these big flies.
There was a good hatch all around the canoe as blackbirds hovered many times before catching one.
One night Karen and I were up on Moshier Reservoir and the cedar waxwings were catching those big flies along the shoreline. Karen said she saw a red bird among them.
I said the waxwings are brown and yellow with some red wing and tail tips, but not all red.
She said it was all red, and sure enough it was a beautiful scarlet tanager.
About that time a really big fly came off the water and that tanager flew out and snatched it.
I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to catch it eating the fly on the branch above us. It had more than a snack that night.
Some neat orchids are still blooming…but that’s another story. See ya.