Notes from the Aerie

This last Friday I decided to take a short ride up to the Tioga-Hammond Lake complex to see if any of the geese I had seen flying north had put into the lakes.

My first stop was at the overlook above the junction of the two lakes. There's a weir there that mixes the waters of Hammond Lake/Crooked Creek with the acidified waters of Tioga Lake/River. (Drainage from the Bloss coal mines has caused the Tioga River to become something of a dead zone.) The overlook is on an exposed point some 75-100 feet above the water of Tioga Lake. The wind gets funneled through the gap in the mountains in this area and, since it was coming from the south and blowing right up the lake to begin with, was quite strong. I needed to hold my knit hat on for fear it would be blown away. This wind, in conjunction with the warm winter we've enjoyed, had freed the Tioga Lake of any ice but it also kept the number of bird species to a minimum. I was able to spot only a handful of Common Mergansers and several hundred Ring-billed gulls. The gulls were putting on an aerial acrobatics display that was impressive but the wind prevented me from spending much time enjoying it.

A glance over toward Hammond Lake showed that the more protected waters (the wind had to navigate over the mountain and hit the lake at right angles to its length) still had some ice on it. On that ice I saw three large dark birds that I determined were immature Bald Eagles. There was also a Red-tailed Hawk soaring on the wind.

Driving on to the Ives Run Campground area, I spotted half a dozen American Crows working the tall grass of one of the fields near the day use area. Out on the water there were more Common Mergansers and several hundred Ring-billed Gulls but no geese of any kind.

Leaving Ives Run, I drove the Railroad Grade Trail towards Hills Creek State Park. The RGT was not wind blown as it too is protected by the mountain ridge that runs east-west on its southern side but there were no small birds visibly (or audibly) present along the mile and a half length.

Hills Creek State Park had a little more diversity. A dozen or so Canada Geese had taken advantage of the open waters as had several Ring-billed Gulls, eight Common Mergansers, two dozen Ring-necked Ducks, and a pair of Mallards. I heard, but did not see, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees and a White-Breasted Nuthatch in the thickets along the lake shore.

My count from this outing wasn't that great. While it was pleasing to see the Bald Eagles, I have more species of birds around the Aerie and only the numbers of Ring-billed Gulls topped the Goldfinches and Dark-eyed Juncos I see at the feeders on a daily basis.

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Yesterday (Sunday) I spied a relatively slim ground hog scurrying through the woods here at the Aerie. "Your cousin says you've still got two more weeks of winter, you idiot! Go back to sleep!" I shouted out to it but it kept on going. Then I laughed as the lake effect snow flurries arrived and the temperature remained below 32 degrees. When I go to 15 degrees last night, I (sorta) hoped the little sh*t froze.

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I've heard several Red-winged Blackbirds the last two days and saw my first of the year when I went for mail this morning. The males typically arrive before the females to set up territories but I wonder how they decide what constitutes a prime site when many ponds and marshes are still frozen and the cattails and phragmities they use for nesting sites are still nothing but humps of tan/brown?

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The winds today are coming out of the north-northwest so I guess any geese desirous of heading north are going to hunker down where they are for a few days until they get some favorable tail winds. With the cold night time temperatures we are having, it's probably for the best.

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Our furnace is acting up again. Last year we started having some problems with a "return water temperature sensor." The computerized controls would shut off the furnace when the sensor indicated a lack of electrical juice running through it. We had a repairman come out to look at it then and he gave it a clean bill of health but said if it should act up again, we might have to have the sensor replaced. Well, since Thursday the damn thing has shut down a dozen times. It restarts when we press reset, but it sure doesn't inspire any confidence. Twice we got up to 50 degree temperatures inside. Leaving the house for several days is, naturally, out of the question. The water in the pipes (PEX tubing actually) that normally heat the house isn't a worry. The thermostats tell the circulating pumps to keep that water flowing even though it's not warm enough to heat the house. The supply lines to sinks and showers, however....

So this morning I stopped at Williams Oil & Propane, the company that installed the system, and told them of my concerns. The guy I spoke with tried to contact the manufacturer to pick their brains but had no luck. Their guru was out of the office. The Williams guy will try again and get back to me in a day or two. *sigh*

Weather.com tells me the low tonight will again be around 15 degrees. It will warm up Tuesday (high of 43, low of 28) and Wednesday (high of 60!, low of 40), however.