Variety of birds flock to Eight Acre Wood for Easter feasting

A little spring weather finally came to the area which brought the snow depth down a few inches.

I heard someone took a swim in Big Moose Lake with their dog the other day, but they got out safely.

This time of year the ice could be safe when you go out on it as it freezes overnight. But with a little sun, the area around the shoreline area can turn to unfrozen slush in a short time.

I was ice fishing off Limekiln beach one day and it did not freeze that night. I tried to get on the next morning but there was no solid ice for the first twenty feet or more.

I called it quits for ice fishing season. The next time I go it will be in a boat. My dad and I stretched the ice fishing season back in the spring of 1965 on South Bay of Lake Champlain.

The north side was completely free of ice for over fifty feet but the south side of the bay still had well over a foot of ice. We rowed out to the ice and walked over and fished the south side, taking the canoe with us. One day the sun came out and the middle became very soft and black by noon. My dad said we had better get off it before we had to swim back.

We had a sleigh full of nice saugers and got off okay, but we sank about six inches in the honeycomb ice as we walked to the open water. The date was April 12th—the last day we fished there.

The last day of March, Easter Sunday, brought in a new batch of birds from the south. While watching the feeders I saw a big bird circling overhead. It was a Great Blue Heron.

A little later I saw a TV (Turkey Vulture) checking out my pond full of food. Just as I was asking myself where the Juncos were, one showed up. Then there were six, and five American Tree Sparrows, too.

A flock of Redwing Blackbirds and Grackles came in, and in the afternoon a beautiful Fox Sparrow was under the feeder.

I got bands on a few of these birds as they were passing through.

In the Channel to Old Forge Pond there were a number of Canada Geese, a few Hooded Mergansers and some Mallards. In Fifth Lake Inlet there were four Geese and one Hooded Merganser.

Two Robins were alongside the highway by Fifth Lake. A Northern Shrike came in chasing the little birds under the feeder but I never saw him catch any.

He was only ten feet from the window a few times which gave me some excellent photo ops. When I first looked out the window at daylight yesterday (3/30) a Gray Fox ran across the backyard.

In another sighting, Ruth Phillips saw a Bobcat walking down the sand bar along the channel to Fourth Lake.

She tried to get outside and get a photo but the cat was having none of that and disappeared down toward the lake.

Another Bobcat came a little closer to civilization than you might think. Judy Riedman of Old Forge was out soaking up some sunshine in her yard when the cat jumped off the garage roof right beside her.

She said it was so close that she could have petted it, but she thought better of it when she saw what it was.

She got her camera and took some neat shots of it when it went under their shed and when it came out to sun bathed and fall asleep sitting up.

This cat was very skinny and am sure it was hoping this winter ends soon.

I caught my last beaver on Friday. All along the beaver dam there was a hatch of midges. They were all over the snow and a flock of Chickadees were having a meal of them.

These little birds didn’t have to go very far from where they were as the little bugs were everywhere you looked.

The birds paid no attention to me as I took some photos of the little bugs. They just kept eating not five feet away from me. It’s amazing how these little bugs—less than a half-inch long—hatch out, breed and lay eggs back in the water to keep the species going. They must have some antifreeze in their bodies.

Some of the new things we might see while going south, but that’s another story. See ya.