by Gary Lee
The coldest day of this winter may have passed us over the weekend as I had minus 44 degrees. Many said I read it wrong as it was a quick look and the power was out so I had to get the generator going.
We ran the furnace after the power was out from 4:30 to 5:30 that morning to take the chill off.
We got it up to 62 after an hour or so and then the power came back on and I don’t think the furnace stopped running that afternoon.
We were gone most of the day as we drove to Lake George for lunch at the Log Jam with friends.
The house was warm when we returned and Inky was ready to cuddle for a nap on Karen’s lap.
This was The Great Backyard Bird Count Weekend and the cold sure did drive many more birds to my feeder.
The goldfinch had been absent for about two weeks but they showed up on Friday and were still around this morning (2/15).
Others at the feeder were about 25 American goldfinch, 15 blue jays, 20 black capped chickadees, 14 turkeys, 6 hairy woodpeckers, 4 downy woodpeckers, 3 slate colored juncos, 2 purple finch, 2 tufted titmouse, 1 white-throated sparrow, 1 tree sparrow, 1 brown tree creeper, 1 brown headed cowbird and 1 pileated woodpecker.
Most of the activity was down on the dam where the 20 ravens, 4 bald eagles and 2 crows were working on the carcasses that I put out for them.
It’s close to mating season for the ravens and the chases were going on all weekend.
You never knew if it was a male chasing a female or a male chasing another male over territory.
There is one pair that nests up on the ledge behind the house and one night when the whole gang was here there was quite a squabble over who was going to have ledge rights that night.
The two crows seemed to be more at ease with the eagles than the ravens and they would feed right on the same carcass together.
My trail camera shows a grey fox has been coming in nights to grab a snack also.
The carcasses are frozen solid so the pickings have been slim to none the last couple days.
I go down and chop into the carcasses with an axe and it gives them something to work on.
I have been doing counts on all my walks in the woods while checking traps and today was the best day yet.
I went down the Ferd’s Bog Trail about 1:30 p.m. and saw two pileated woodpeckers on the way down the hill.
I had a pair of ravens fly over while out on the bog and then the four gray jays that I saw last week showed up…and I had nothing for them to eat.
The wind was blowing pretty good and the snow just started to fall so I got back into the woods and did some barred owl calls.
A hairy woodpecker showed up and then a black-backed woodpecker came in to see what was going on.
I heard a flock of siskins flying around. They finally landed in a bare hardwood top so I could get a count of 20.
Up on the West Mountain Trail, on my way to Beaver Brook, I almost always bump into a flock of chickadees and red breasted nuthatches.
Friday, the first day of the count, I found them as I was coming out.
The more I spished the more birds kept coming out of the woods.
I had over 20 chickadees, 4 red breasted hatches, 2 golden crowned kinglets, a brown tree creeper and a downy woodpecker.
Not far down the trail there were ruffed grouse tracks crossing the trail and then I flushed one. A couple days before that we saw a big red-tailed hawk over Beaver Brook, but I didn’t see it this count day.
I heard and saw a pileated woodpecker near the Shallow Lake Trail the same day.
Another storm coming up the coast has been dropping snow on the bigger cities during the day today.
We are going to get some tonight, then they are predicting freezing rain turning to just heavy rain for tomorrow afternoon. It’s certainly not a normal winter in the north country.
I saw some pictures from Saranac Lake’s events and parade over the weekend when it was –15 degrees.
People looked mighty cold but appeared to be enjoying themselves.
Maybe the weather will get played out before next weekend’s Frozen Fire & Lights events in Inlet.
Let’s hope for a little snow as it is still winter on the calendar… but that’s another story. See ya.