Fishing Birds

While fishing along the Ausable River I have often seen a kingfisher dive into the water and come up with a small trout. On more than one occasion, I've seen a fish hawk hover above the stream, then fold its wings and dive into the pool like a shooting star.

Following the foamy splash of the water, the rotating wings of the hawk churn to escape the water and regain the air. In the talons of the hawk there is a large trout wiggling to escape its captor.

Slowly and with obvious exertion and effort the hawk gains some height and alights on the stub of a dead tree on the river bank. With vigorous pecking of its beak the hawk kills the fish and takes off on route to its nest of young.

A Deer Floats By

Early one evening in the spring while fishing with my Uncle Raymond in the river below the Hamlet of Keene, a large deer came floating down the stream. Not very much of the body was visible but the head was up and alert. It drifted by and continued down the river out of sight.

We did not know if a dog had chased the animal into the water or whether it was simply seeking easy passage to a more desirable area down the stream.

How to Find a Partridge

In the fall of the year, when the snow is on the ground, you are likely to see the ruffled grouse, or partridge "budding" in yellow birch trees or in aspen trees.

The yellow birch tree puts forth a rather long seed pod in the fall, and, likewise in the fall, the aspen or poplar trees develop large buds which form on the stem at that season.

The partridge ( sometimes several of them) frequently come shortly before dusk and feed on the birch seed pods and aspen buds before going to roost for the night.

If you know where to find yellow birch and aspen trees when the snow is on the ground, you may see the partridges silhouetted against the early evening sky.

Head's or Tails

Grandfather, a very poor man went to the Westport fair. Being unable to read, the written signs in the area meant nothing to him.

He met an acquaintance coming out of a near-by tent who suggested that grandfather should pay .25 cents, go inside and see a horse's tail where his head should be. Grandfather paid his money and entered the tent. A horse had been backed up into a stall, so indeed, his tail was where his head should be!

Maple Mice

One spring many years ago, Mrs. Murray Gibson of Philadelphia visited Keene Valley. While in town she visited one of the active maple sugar making operations.

In that era many of the local families were large. In a maple sugaring operation there is always plenty of work for all members of the family both the old and the young.

Mrs. Gibson noticed some family members were tapping trees, some were gathering sap, one adult was hauling sap to the sugaring house on a horse drawn jumper; another adult was splitting wood and another was firing the arch under the evaporator.

One little boy, seven or eight years old, was sitting on a high stool overlooking the boiling sap. He was holding a wooden scupper in his hand.

In the steaming warmth of the sugar house the deer mice were running up and down the walls and along the rafters.

Mrs. Gibson, observing the little boy, said,"Sonny, what do you do?" The little boy replied "When the mice fall in the sap, I skups' em up and throws 'em out."

An Owl Carries His Share

One time, years ago, when I was walking between the north trail to Marcy and John's Brook a mile beyond the "Garden" parking lot I stopped on a wooded promontory to view Mother Nature's scene beyond and below me. There was no wind, it was late afternoon on a fall day, there was no snow on the ground, the land fell sharply away to the northeast where the mountain stream was making its noisy passage to the river in the valley.

In the calm air forty yards in front of me an owl, with silent, slow and labored motion flew by me at eye level. The owl was carrying a snowshoe rabbit in its talons.

Nature is designed to give life and to sustain life which is laudable. Too often, man is the needless and unnecessary destroyer of life for no such valid reason.

How to Share a Meal with a Porcupine

Porcupines live in the caves of exposed ledges or in a nest of huge boulders at the base of ledges.

The presence of the porcupine habitation is perhaps most clearly evident in the winter season when the snow is on the ground. When the porcupine comes out of his den in the winter he will make a very obvious trough in the snow on his way to his feeding area. The feeding "ground" will likely be a young, short, bushy hemlock tree which the animal will climb, eat the evergreen needles, and practically defoliate the tree.

In the spring of the year when the sap is going up the trees, the porcupine will girdle the base of the deciduous trees in a irregular pattern - more likely in the vicinity of the den.

In the spring before the leaves come out, one is likely to see the porcupines high up in the basswood trees where they climb into the branches and eat the tender bark that is formed around the smaller limbs.

I have seen the porcupines most frequently in the spring, an hour before dark, high up in the basswood trees , a week or two before the leaves come out.