Today is Earth Day 2024 and what I see outdoors isn’t a heavy frost that got here in a single day, however mild snow and 22 levels on the thermometer. The chicken tub is a frozen skating rink for the birds because it was additionally yesterday morning, April 21. The excessive temperature yesterday was solely 39 levels, and the little birds have been mobbing the feeders as they will need to have identified what was coming. I had a brand new chicken on the feeder for this 12 months yesterday, a Chipping Sparrow, which went away with a band. The day earlier than, I noticed three Northern Flickers on a garden alongside Limekiln Road feeding with two Robins.
The day earlier than that, I had one other new chicken within the yard, a male Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, as I heard it drumming. I caught it later that day and banded it. The subsequent day I caught the feminine, and I heard them drumming this morning as I walked all the way down to the pond. There have been numerous different little birds across the feeders, together with over 50 Pine Siskins, over 25 Purple Finch, 10 Slated-Colored Juncos, and some American Goldfinch. Those male Goldfinch are placing on their fairly yellow feathers and black head caps.
I watched the Common Ravens carry nest materials into the salt shed on the city barn. They most likely have eggs of their nest by now as their young are out of the nest by Memorial Day. Another pair is nesting alongside State Route 28 on the ledge simply previous Bald Mountain Pond. You can see the whitewash on the rocks under their nest. Both pairs have been utilizing these nest websites for just a few years now. I’ve had a number of experiences of Loons on native lakes, and I’ve but to see one. I heard them calling over the hill on Limekiln Lake whereas I used to be selecting birds from my nets this week.
Some of the brand new Loon rafts have been put out by the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation on Raquette Lake for the second 12 months in a row. Only one was used as a second nest website final 12 months, however being on this early, the others could get used this 12 months. They have a wire cowl that’s lined with camo materials to guard the Loon nests from Bald Eagles who will take eggs and new child chicks from the nests. You may even see a few of these rafts on different lakes on this space, as they appear to be little floating homes. Some could also be marked with hold away indicators, however others could not, so hold your distance in order to not disturb the nesting loons.
Hepatica. Photo by Gary Lee.
Some wildflowers have been out earlier within the week. I noticed numerous coltsfoot on the shoulders of the highways in full bloom. Then we had a tough frost, they usually didn’t look so good the following day. Later within the week, I noticed a single hepatica flower in my backyard and several other spring beauties alongside the trail to the pond. I feel all of them may be toast after final evening at 22 levels, however time will inform. The herd of seven deer have been looking on a few of the wildflowers which might be simply developing and a few of the new tree seedlings that had began up from final 12 months’s seeds.
As I look throughout the pond over to the far ridge, I’ve seen bushes have began to flower and put out leaves, particularly the crimson maples making the all grey panorama flip crimson. Many of those bushes begin with their flowers proper together with the leaves, which could take a success with this tough frost. Many birds and animals depend upon these seeds and fruit from these flowers for his or her meals. I haven’t seen any flowers on beech and cherry bushes but, so possibly they’ll make it. Both of those bushes are essential meals sources for thus many wild critters. I do know the bears are out, as a result of one was hit by a automobile on State Route 28 down close to Old Forge the opposite evening and the bear received, because the automobile needed to be towed. I don’t know the way the bear fared.
I had a touch upon my column that the issues that I report on akin to floods, fires, hurricanes, and excessive winds that I discover on the web have been occurring for a very long time, however solely the quick reporting of them has improved so we hear about them. Well, local weather change right here on Earth Day is altering and inflicting lots of the occasions to be one-hundred-year storms, that are occurring most of the time. The oceans and lakes are warming, and ice on the poles is much less and fewer.
I simply noticed a pleasant Zoom program from the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation on Loons in Alaska by Tamara Zeller. All 5 species of Loons nest within the state of Alaska and the Yellow-Billed Loon, which is probably the most endangered by the warming of that space. Several of the larger lakes they nest on are being drained, because the permafrost melts as that is the dam that holds the water. One day they’re huge lakes and the following day there’s a gap within the permafrost, and they’re mud flats. These Loons want these huge lakes for nesting and feeding their young.
Full moon tomorrow evening so possibly that may give us a warming development, however that’s one other story. See ya.
Photo at prime: A male Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. Photo by Gary Lee.
