Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 336

We had a few mornings that were white, but they didn’t last all day. The roads were a little slushy but that went away by noon. Places I have been walking regularly that had springs running across the trail still have no water in them, so the ground is soaking it up so far. Water is running out of my pond for the first time in over a month.

The winds keep taking down the beech leaves and lots of small branches as my pick stick is busy clearing the trails of little stuff. Leaving the big things for the trail crew who have been through once, but they will need to go through again with all the big stuff that is down. The beavers have been busy in a few places also flooding the trails which is where I’ve been trapping some. They have enjoyed the recent rains giving them some more water to work with hauling in their winter food for their food piles. My grandson Jake watched three beavers hauling branches to their food pile the other afternoon while he was hunting. He didn’t know it, but four coyotes were also watching the action hoping to get one of those beavers when they were ashore getting a branch for the pile. He saw all four who were bounding through the low brush. One stopped long enough for a shot, but he missed. Then the others let out with quite a chorus once they were out of his sight, laughing at him, I guess.

The bucks are chasing the does, and on the move, so watch out for them crossing the highways. This time of the year there are more vehicle deer hits than any other time of the year. A couple northern counties have over 2,000 hits during the fall. I saw three crossing the South Shore Road one day last week right during the day.

I did catch a few more Saw Whet Owls on a couple of the clear nights without any wind or rain. This is about the end of their flights south. I did flush an American Woodcock on my way to the pond three different nights so it must be good worm picking in the area. I have an American Robin hanging around the feeder’s finding worms under the leaves as I watch him. My crab apple tree is covered with fruit but maybe he uses that for dessert. They have cleaned off the mountain ash tree by Tony Harpers in town but the invasive bittersweet vine right beside it still is covered with berries. I’ve seen the Cedar Waxwings there a couple times but the traffic through town scares them away. I had the Fox Sparrow for over a week cleaning up under the feeders when the Blue Jays weren’t around. He would retreat to the brush pile with a sunflower seed and come back out when they were gone.

The full moon was hiding behind the clouds, but I caught it the night before as I was leaving Third Lake Creek. I never had to turn on my head lamp using the moon light all the way to the truck.

The snow one morning painted a pretty picture on all the mountain sides all the way to Old Forge. The few tamaracks with yellow needles covered with snow by the Rondaxe Road were painted nicely. I saw few folks stopping to take a picture.

The fringed gentians are still trying to get out a few late blooms before they are covered with snow but that’s another story. See ya.

Photo above: Moon Over Pine Brook