Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 353
Some spring like weather has arrived and maple syrup makers are collecting sap as temperatures have gone up into the fifties making that sap run. My neighbor did his first boil over the weekend, and he will continue to collect with freezing nighttime temperatures and above freezing during the day for the rest of this week.
This break in the wintry weather may give those little fawns a chance to make it through the winter. The bigger deer are a little slower this time of the year and many are getting hit by vehicles as they cross the highways. I had one hit my car as she came out of Rocky Point Properties Entrance the other day, but she got up and ran away. That is the first deer that I have ever hit with my vehicle, and she actually ran into me. I went up on the snowmobile trail, but she couldn’t stop and she hit me right in front of the driver’s door and luckily, she ducked under my side view mirror. Another big doe was killed there last Friday, and the town picked her up. I put that deer on my dam for the Ravens and Bald Eagles, and they found it along with the coyotes and a nice red fox. I put a trail camera near the carcass, so all visitors are getting their picture taken. There were eight Common Ravens and immature and a mature Bald Eagle feeding there this morning. Two fawns have been killed on twenty-eight just before Eagle Bay this week.
There were several tornadoes from Texas to Michigan in the last week. There has been a total of ninety-three in the US since the first of the year. Eight fatalities just this last week four in Oklahoma, two on March 5 and two on March 6 and four in Michigan in two different tornadoes. One town of Union Lake in Michigan was completely destroyed by an EF3 tornado. In other areas high winds and hail put out power and washed-out roadways. Hail in these storms was from dime size to the size of a softball which also did much damage to vehicles, homes, and businesses. Looking at the weather maps it looks like a repeat for the next day in that same area.
The Old Forge St Patrick’s Day Parade will be on Friday the 13th starting at 5:30 PM. Line up will be on Gilbert Street between the school and the Post Office. It is a hoot to watch with friends and neighbors or make your own float and be in the parade. For further information contact Chloe at lonerganchloe@gmail.com.
With these warmer temperatures even with almost two feet of snow still on the ground the birds are on their flight north. Flocks of Canada Geese have been going over, and some smaller birds have been visiting feeders on their way north. Red-winged Blackbirds have been reported at feeders in the area, and my Evening Grosbeak flock is smaller each day as they head back to their nesting areas in Canada.
Out in Yellowstone Park our guide Tom Murphy was helping move 130 Bison from the park to the Fort Peck Reservation a couple of days after we left. Then on 2/19/26- 65 banded Trumpeter Swans were released in the park. When we were there, we saw a single Trumpeter Swan with a yellow leg band number 4H7 on the left leg and a federal silver leg band on the right leg.
If this snow goes in a hurry, there could be flooding in the valleys downstream but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo above: Banded Trumpeter Swan
