Mississippi Kites Photographed on June 12 2022.

I visited Ridge Lane, Meridian Lane, and Burning Bush Blvd today, between 12:00 and about 1:30 pm. I observed them 5 times soaring somewhat distantly and two times fairly closeby. One of these times, I saw one of the kites transferring a dragonfly from talons to bill.

I was also pleased to talk to several birders who were often seeing Mississippi Kites for the first time. I also talked to local residents and visiting friends and family. There is an air of excitement that there is a rare bird in the neighborhood. Pat and Joe were two such people who encouraged me to past these photos. Thank you. I have been remiss for a long time in posting photos and observations of Natural History and Art topics I had intended to use this space for.

As I said in most recent post, I have many many ideas for blogs in my head. Besides being Nature related, the other thing that they have in common is that they are still in my head and not in writing. The idea for today’s blog was kindled by the most recent snowstorm of Tuesday into Wednesday January 26 into 27. I took the trash and recycling out in early evening after perhaps 3-4 hours of snowfall. As if by magic, there were two sets of prints on the snow that had fallen into our carport. One was a rabbit, the other a squirrel. The rabbit was fresh in the family’s mind as we saw one munching under the bird feeders as we returned home after dinner with other family around 7 pm. It is likely that it was that rabbit that left the prints.

I have always been fascinated by tracking animals. It was an important feature of the self reliant woodsman/frontier hunter during the 1750s in the books our Dad read to us. They could read tracks, tell if a branch had been bent by a creature or a person passing, know which direction an animal was going. It isn’t my purpose to revive those stories, but I do want to share how I knew which animals they were and which direction they were going. I will also share a set of fox tracks I found the same day that I saw the Red Crossbills and plant remnants I wrote about last blog.

When I used to lead Nature walks for the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation between 1987-1989, I read a lot and spent a lot of time observing in Saratoga Spa State Park. One of my key resources were the Stokes Nature Guides by Donald and Lillian Stokes. A Guide to Nature in Winter and A Guide to Animal Tracking and Behavior were key resources as well as other naturalists in the NY Parks and DEC. But, as always, getting outside and observing is the best way. So, back to the evidence at the top. The rabbit jumps and lands with one front foot behind the other then the rear feet come over the front feet and push off again. This, in the photo, the hind feet indicate the direction the rabbit is going. We think of jumping with all four feet staying in position, but the rabbit needs to spring on again to the next jump. Squirrels are similar, except their front feet land next to each other and the hind feet come over and are prepared to jump. Another indication is that Squirrels often begin and end at tree trunks, rabbits don’t. The fox in the third picture is trotting right left right left towards us. The snow that fell on the tracks later dulled the edges, but the bigger part of each track is the front part of the paw, the thinner part, the back.

These quick drawings and text are borrowed from the Stokes Guide to Animal Tracking

The last thing I wanted to share is that the distance each set of tracks is from each other indicates the speed the animal is going. The rabbit was kind of hopping around our carport as was the squirrel. You can find them far apart and imagine the speed they are going. For big time drama, if you are lucky, you can see animals interacting, such as a fox chasing a rabbit.

As always, get out and observe!

I have been thinking about posting to this blog for about a year since my last one. I ‘write’ all kinds of clever things about the things I am seeing in Nature and thinking about as a result. One huge problem: I never put any of it to ‘paper’ and thus share with an audience beyond my head. With this blog, I want to make it a regular thing by sharing interesting things I find in Nature and ruminations that result. I am hardly the first person to do such, but having recently turned 62, I do have some years of observation, by just noting what I see and hear, and by categorizing through taxonomy (the study of classification of animals, plants and fungi) I have spent thousands of hours in Nature learning from others and by connecting what I see to field guides that connect me to a name and information about that species. It is my intention with this blog to share my observations and connect the reader to my background and more importantly, to make connections of their own. Where possible, I will share where the location is so you can go there. There are times when certain species are very timid or landowners don’t want a parade of people checking out ‘their’ natural wonders.

So the first of this new series is derived from a walk I took yesterday at the Woods Hollow Nature Preserve in Milton/Ballston Spa. I parked in the Northline Road parking lot (there are a few pull offs that give access off of Rowland Road, but this is the only true parking lot). My goal was to try out my new pair of Yaktrax to see if they can help me walk more safely on ice and snow and to look for either Red or White-winged Crossbills which have come down from way up North to avail themselves of Pine Cones which are less plentiful in their usual Winter range. Along with Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins, these birds are known to birders as Winter Finches and the times they come down en masse are known as irruption years. This has been the best irruption year for a long time, getting area birdwatchers all excited about the chance to see them.

As I was walking around the icy parking lot (and approving of the traction the Yaktrax gave me) I saw a flock of about 25 small birds fly straight to the top of a tall Pine Tree next to the parking lot. My Winter Finch alert system rang an alarm (not quite, but I was excited) and I immediately started taking photos. The gloomy gray skies made for dark photos, but I quickly confirmed that they were Red Crossbills. The top and bottom parts of their bills cross over to allow them to lever open the space in cones and allow their tongues to pull out the pine seeds. They are eager for the treat and busily crunch on the pine cones. In less than a minute, they moved on to another tall Pine and did the same. In about 2 1/2 minutes, they took off over the rest of the preserve. I had heard Red Crossbills early this year, but these were the first I had seen in several years.

I then marched off on the icy trails, cautiously confident that the Yaktrax would make previously scary trails a place I could walk over instead of returning to the car. I looked in many tall groves of Pine Trees for the Crossbills, to no avail. I then turned my attention to the many remnants of flowers and trees that are all over the fields and woods. Though they lack the beautiful colors and solid structure of their best days in the Fall, many plants still have a quiet beauty. It is that view that gave me the title to this blog entry. We tend to think about Nature as being vibrant and green during late Spring through early Fall, but for better or worse, we have a long Winter around this region of upstate New York and getting to actually see what is here all along is a lot more rewarding than one would think. I only really saw the silhouettes of trees in Winter for many years. It still is one of my favorite things to appreciate at this time of the year. Each species of tree has a distinct shape and the ‘bones’ of the tree are so visible now. I will devote a future blog to that as I am already getting long-winded! What I do want to share are a sample of the many plant remnants I found at Woods Hollow NP yesterday, including oak and Aspen leaves that sometimes warm up in the sun and melt down into the snow. I encourage others to explore this nature preserve at any time of the year as there is so much to see and hear.

Now that I have gotten back to taking the blog content from my head to the blog, I plan to continue to write and share what I see in Nature.

Ron

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