Be on look-out for puddling butterflies, dropping fawns

I’ll bet a few of you ran for cover this week as thunderstorms rolled through the area on Tuesday.

I parked under a big tall white pine to protect my windshield from the larger than mothball-size ice balls that were falling from the sky.

I saw some on TV that there were bigger than golf ball-size in the Boonville area.

These could put dents in your vehicle and even bust a windshield if you were driving into it at 60 miles per hour.

There was a big change in temperature when this storm went through of about fifteen degrees.

I was down by Squaw Lake in the Plains and I just found some Garlic Mustard in the campsite there.

I pulled these plants after about the fifth storm blasted by.

I would like to talk a little about Garlic Mustard as I’ve seen it just about everywhere in Inlet and Old Forge.

The plants by Squaw Lake came from some seeds in straw that was used by campers as mattresses.

When they were done with it they just scattered it around the site. Now there are Mustard plants all around the site.

Since the seeds from these plants are viable for up to 14 years you are in for a long battle when pulling the invasive plant.

It takes over an area by killing all the other wild flowers and plants growing there.

There have been some studies done that show that the plant even affects the tree growth in areas where it  covers the landscape.

One large plant can probably produce several thousand seeds so you only have to miss one plant and you are in for the long haul.I first began pulling Garlic Mustard from the grounds of the Old Forge Library back in 1998, and I’m still pulling it there.

The leaves make a good salad green but I don’t eat that much salad.

Besides the seeds arriving in hay and straw, they also come in fill such as sand and gravel, which is brought in from outside the area.

In my travels this week I found it in Limekiln and Eighth Lake Campsites, along the north side of Martin Road, around View, along the driveway at the new house part way up the summit, along the Number Four Road and in my flower garden.

Keep after it folks it can be beaten.

Along with the sunny days this week came Yellow Swallow-tailed butterflies by the hundreds.

Many people asked me about them and what they were doing in large clusters on the ground.

It is called puddling, and is done mostly by males who pick up salts and minerals from the soil.

This is passed onto the females in his sperm to improve the viability of the female’s eggs, thus increasing the pair’s chances of passing on their genes to another generation.

Often this puddling is done on dirt roads, such as the Stillwater Road.

Running through one of these puddling areas can kill 50 to 100 butterflies in one shot, so duck these if you can.

I haven’t seen a fawn yet but I’m sure some have been dropped in few yards in Old Forge.

The does do this thinking that their fawns will be safer from Coyotes that live on the edge of town that come through town during the night time hours looking for a snack.

Many people don’t know it but a Bear is as big a predator of fawns as the Coyote.

Many does now go onto islands in the lakes to have their fawns, figuring the Coyotes won’t be traveling there.

On one small island in Sand Lake on the Adirondack League Club I saw a doe with a fawn.

When she swam to the next small island there were four other fawns following her besides her own.

This is one way where nature has had to adapt or lose every fawn to predators.

Other does have their fawns out in the middle of big bogs like Ferd’s or the Beaver Brook Bog, which you cross while going to Shallow Lake.

While doing the Boreal Bird Surveys in these bogs I’ve nearly stepped on fawns curled up in the bushes.

These little guys don’t get their sea legs too fast so if you see a large Deer crossing the highway watch out as a fawn maybe not far behind.

I will be leading a bog hike to Ferd’s Bog on Friday, June15th.

We leave the corner of Rt. 28 and Uncas Road at  7 a.m., looking for boreal birds and orchids.

Then on Father’s Day, June 17 I will lead a trip to the Remsen Bog.

Meet at View at 9 a.m. or at the OK Corral parking lot in Remsen at 10 a.m. as we will be looking for Showy Lady Slippers, other orchids and bog plants. Trips go rain or shine.

Moths are enjoying a no-bat year, but that’s another story.

See ya.