The Hummingbirds are back!

Look who showed up last week! This guy is all puffed up and looking a little chilled. He stopped for a rest on the top of a balsam near the feeders. 

It's Memorial Day weekend, 42F with a steady rain. Typical Adirondack spring weather! We do not put out any feeders until the birds arrive from their migration journey. When the birds do arrive they go directly to where the feeders were placed the prior year, which I assume must mean they are last year's birds.

Hemlock Varnish Shelf Fungus

I was clearing some brush on the property near the pond yesterday and came across a standing dead hemlock. The base was covered with a shelf fungus which looks to be "Hemlock Varnish". 

Hemlock Varnish Shelf Fungus

Hemlock varnish has been used in Oriental medicine for centuries. The mushroom's mahogany color is quite shiny and really does look like it is "varnished".

Bullet Pond Ice Out - April 20, 2013

The first open water appeared last week along the north shore, exposed to the sun traveling though the southern sky. The winter ice yields to the encroaching water as a stiff breeze helps break up the ice and send it downwind with a few fallen logs to the west side of the pond. Over the next few days hooded mergansers usually show up to fish. Two appeared on the pond this morning. By tomorrow they should have the entire pond to explore. Sometimes they nest in the reeds near the Russo dock. The loons will join them very soon, maybe later today.

The New Year brings our first Deep Freeze

Bullet Pond ~ January 5, 2013

The New Year brought our first deep freeze on January 3rd and 4th, with temperatures dropping to -12F. Friends on Charley Hill Road a few miles south of here recorded -17F. Schroon Lake is finally freezing across the entire lake on the north end.

Foot trail west of Bullet Pond

We also enjoyed 18" of snow fall this week, and took advantage of it to do some snowshoeing west of the pond along the snowmobile trail. The only animal sign we saw on the entire trek was a vole scampering across the driveway. I was surprised that no one had been back there yet with a snowmobile. We'll go exploring again today, as temperatures have risen into the 20's.

A pond resident comes to visit.

Just as the ice begins to set up in December, we frequently will spy a mink or an otter enjoying a meal of fresh fish at the ice edge. When Mary spied some activity in the pond in front of the house, I assumed that I would find one of those pond dwellers in my camera's lens. What came into focus was another resident - a muskrat.

Muskrats feed mostly on vegetation, but the foraging evidence they most often leave for us is a pile of fresh water mussel shells from the previous night's meal near the water's edge.

Barred Owls - Who Cooks for You?

Barred Owl on Stoney Lonsesome Road

I think barred owls are my favorites, if for no other reason than their most recognizable call. The mnemonic is "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all".  Today we were driving along Stoney Lonesome Road, on the north side of Eagle Lake in Essex County, and Mary spied this fellow in the woods. Luckily I had my camera on the back seat set up with a telephoto lens. 

I think we should call him Archimedes. Anyone remember why?

"Lobster" Mushrooms

It is the first day of autumn and we had some scattered showers overnight. 

We found lots of "Lobster Fungus" mushrooms all over the property today. 

The fungus is technically not a mushroom, but a parasite that feeds on mushrooms. Whatever it is, it's delicious, with a mild "seafood" flavor and firm texture (and it does look like a cooked lobster!)  I found a few rissoto recipes on the internet, but a quick saute in butter yielded great results.