Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 324
It’s cooler today than it has been but still there is not much rain in this area. A few showers passed by as I was up in the Stillwater Fire Tower all day yesterday. Late in the day the wind changed from west to north and the clouds moved right in so that it was like nighttime. The temperature went down ten degrees in an hour to sixty-four when I left the tower at four nearly in darkness. The clouds were so thick you could just see the trees around the tower. Those trees are very dry to the point where their leaves are turning brown and falling off. Not much moisture on top of the rock with very thin soil. There was one beech tree under the tower that had nuts on nearly every leaf growing on every branch. I didn’t see anything feeding on those nuts, the red squirrels were working on cones on the red spruce. There were Blue Jays and Ravens in the area most of the day, but they may have other beech trees where they were eating nuts.
They were a big flight of green darner dragonflies working around the tower all day. Very few other flies were around so the dragonflies were doing their job. I did see a Merlin glide by once going south and then about an hour later I saw it going north with a green darner in its talons, so what eats sometimes gets eaten. I have heard that Merlin’s and Kestrels will catch these dragonflies from the air as well as many other fly catching birds. Several times while cleaning out Bluebird and Tree Swallow boxes I would find a whole big dragonfly which must have been too big for the little ones to eat and left beside the nest.
Earlier in the day I could see more of the Stillwater Reservoir as several big trees around the north side of the tower had been cut down to increase visibility to the north. It was very hazy most of the day, but I could see Blue Mountain to the east and once in a while some of the high peaks showed their tops.
On Saturday I traveled to Caroga Lake down in Fulton County for their 100-year celebration of the Kane Mountain Fire Tower. Several people took the walk to the tower before they got together at the Caroga Lake Fire Station and meeting room for cookies, a beautiful cake of the Kane Mountain Tower and drinks. Then some tower and Forest Ranger stories were told by me-26 years retired FR, retired FR Captain Paul Hartmann from Region 6, Bryan Clothier once observer on Spruce Mountain in Saratoga County, Rick Miller once observer on Kane Mountain and Larry Weill once observer on Pillsbury Mountain in Hamilton County and Assistant FR in the West Canada Wilderness Area. Larry has authored a few books about his experiences in that area. This celebration put on by the Canada Lakes Conservation Association in coordination with the Forest Fire Lookout Association and the DEC have worked to preserve the tower and ranger’s cabin. In 2001, the Kane Mountain tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Back out on the road the deer are doing lots of feeding roadside as many of their forest plants are dying of the dryness and heat so they are coming roadside looking for any nibble they can find. I counted ten roadsides on the South Shore Road at noon the other day and many more were seen on my travels around the north county. A deer can do lots of damage to your car or truck so slow down and be aware if one goes across, look out for the second one, which could be a fawn. Many are going to lake and pond sides to eat the vegetation and get a drink there.
Fire Tower Lighting this year will be on Saturday August 30 from 8:30 to 9:30 but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo above: Stillwater Tower with clouds moving in
