Raw Weather

Posted on April 15, 2014 by mattbeagle

My daughter was sick this morning so I ended up spending the day at home with her. The day started cloudy and the rain started slowly, but it kept falling all day. It was some raw weather. We walked out in the afternoon to meet the school bus (at least all of us did not stay home) and to get some air; by then it was really coming down. I noted several times today how wet it was outside. It was some serious rain.

After dinner we took a walk to see the river. Sometimes the road floods when the river gets high enough. That was not the case today but I will not be surprised if water flows over the road tomorrow. It was flowing high and fast.

There were a couple of mallards swimming around the bend. I guess they don’t mind the wet. A neighbor stopped and we chatted about the flooding. Sounds like some places are really underwater. He mentioned a police scanner report of a truck up to its mirrors getting pulled out by a tractor. Ouch. The rain is washing against the house right now as the light fades. It is chilly and soggy and windy. Not a good night to be sleeping out. Like I said–raw weather.

Winter Getting the Shove

Posted on April 4, 2014 by mattbeagle

I got up early again this morning. This time of year, especially, I like to get out as the sun rises. I walked slowly and quietly to the river. Robins were singing like crazy. Song sparrows were starting up. A few red winged blackbirds were rattling out to the dim light. Venus pierced the morning glow.

It was cold, about 25 degrees. I knew the day would warm up, but it was winter weather to start things off. The river, which had been frozen over, flooded over the last week. We got rain and warm weather and all that ice melted or flowed downstream. The river spilled out over the fields. Water everywhere. But last night ice started to form again. Sheets built up and then got pushed around. They cracked and smacked and popped into the morning as the river pushed them as it flowed.

Close to the river I cold hear mallards quacking their typical duck quacks. I heard other ducks as well. Wood ducks whistled, and something else made a noise halfway between a quack and a whistle. As I snuck closer I could see waterfowl of some kind swimming close to the bridge. I watched through binoculars and got as close as I dared. Ducks are skittish critters. Turns out the closest birds were hooded mergansers. Here is a pic, poorly taken from too far away in low light with my small camera, but it will give you an image of these amazing diving ducks:

There were seven of them. As I watched them something else made some waves. I watched a beaver part the surface as it swam with a branch in its mouth. A cardinal sang out. The ice snapped. And all through it the sky grew lighter.

I kept trying to get closer to the water and eventually all the ducks flew away. I could see them far off on the bend in the river, and I could identify some of them, but there were definitely some in there I just couldn’t ID from the distance. I listened to the water curl under the bridge. I walked a ways further up the road, listening to the dawn chorus. I heard my first phoebe of the year.

We won’t have many more days of ice, and that dawn chorus is going to get louder and louder. I will be getting out there to great the sun as many days as I can.

Morning Mink

Posted on March 22, 2014 by mattbeagle

I went for a morning walk today. We had some fairly warm days this week (it got to 40 degrees yesterday) but the river is still pretty much frozen over. When I got to the bridge over the river, I peered down to see how much open water was there. There was a small opening, maybe three feet long and less than a foot wide. The water burbled under that opening, proving that river is still alive under all that ice. And then this little dude popped up.

I had only been there a moment when I saw a brown something-or-other approaching the opening. I thought it was a branch at first, floating under the ice. But it was a mink. It slipped right up onto the ice and stood there, looking around. I had plenty of time to watch it. I eventually had the stellar idea to put the camera into video mode, but as soon as I hit record the mink disappeared again into the water.

No other water is visible from the bridge. I figured it would have to come back that spot. I waited and waited, video mode at the ready. But no dice. Maybe there is a hole under the bridge. I got no video, but I got to watch a mink up close. Good enough.

Sneak Peak at Spring

Posted on March 11, 2014 by mattbeagle

Blue Sky Day

We’ve got Camel’s Hump and the waxing moon and a little snow and blue sky, not to mention 41 degrees. That is your fine spring scene for you. The road was a bit muddy–really muddy on the edges. I got sucked in a bit when I was forced over by a passing truck. No matter–I cleaned off my boots in the grainy snow.

I walked out to get some air and to see what I could see. The afternoon was stunning, I tell you. I unzipped my jacket. I took off my gloves. I watched a red tailed hawk soar out over the fields and catch dinner. I was feeling pretty good. At the river I stopped and examined it for a bit. I saw lots of ice with water pooled on top, animal tracks criss-crossing the wet snow on the surface, and just a small area of open water. Soon there will be beavers and mallards and kingfishers here.

Not much open water right now

Almost back to the house and I heard something I haven’t heard since fall–the echoing call of a killdeer. I thought I might have been mistaken. Perhaps it was just a robin behind some trees, the sound twisted by the landscape? So I listened. I heard it again. Then I spotted it way out there–white and brown moving against the white and brown. I tromped over the snow and ice and dried grass until I got close enough to see it well. Then I heard another and spotted that one, too. Then another. Now that is a sign that spring is just about here.

Killdeer here early

Tomorrow it is forecast to snow. A lot. We might get a foot or more by the time it stops. The annual battle between winter and spring seems to have begun. We will enjoy the snow–sledding, skiing, digging. I imagine the snow will not stick around long. Then we will enjoy spring. Winter and spring both offer a lot to amaze me. I can’t go wrong this time of year.

Ducks on the River

Posted on February 20, 2014 by mattbeagle

Common Goldeneye on the Winooski River

Lake Champlain is pretty much frozen over at this point. It has been cold, after all, with little snow. That is what happens to bodies of water when the temperature drops–they freeze. Lake Champlain does not always freeze all the way across. It always has some ice but only every few years does it freeze from Vermont to New York. This is one of those years.

Typically there are ducks on the lake in the winter. Last year there were lots of them as the lake did not freeze entirely. There was enough open water that the ducks stuck around. Until recently there were all kinds of ducks on the lake. But now, they have less and less water in which to swim and dive and find good things to eat. Many of them have been hanging around the ferry channel. The ferry runs all year if they can keep a channel open from shore to shore, and so far they have. This means the ducks have a place to swim. But there are a few other spots for them to swim as well.

Some ducks dabble and some ducks dive. Mallards, the most common duck around here, are dabblers. You can see them raising their hindquarters in the air as they dip their heads underwater to find vittles. Divers plunge right down to scoop up what they can find. Today I saw some divers.

I wasn’t on the lake. I was on the Winooski River, which leads into the lake. In the city of Winooski the river drops over some falls. This means the water is open, not frozen over. I took a half hour to see what I could see. I saw common goldeneye and a lone bufflehead. These are just cool-looking birds, and fun to watch as they disappear and then reappear on the surface. I was unsure what I would see this afternoon and so was happy to see them.

I hope this weekend to see something interesting at the ferry landing. Since I often work in Winooski I will plan to check out the falls at the river again as well. I need to try to see these birds that spend the winter here before they fly off once spring comes. Before I know it, warblers and vireos will be singing in the newly green trees and these ducks will be off to their breeding grounds. Right now the forecast calls for rain and snow and sleet, so I have a little time, but every day I wait means a day I might miss something. I need to make sure I don’t make excuses. The ducks won’t wait for me.

Frosty Foggy Morning

Posted on September 20, 2009 by mattbeagle

We got our first frost this morning. It was chilly and foggy, with ice settled on the grass and leaves and rocks. Mist rose from the river. I ran early again, determined to keep getting out there before the day gets too far underway. It always seems worth rising early, and today was no exception. I ran into the fog across the river, I watched the sun tip over the hills, and I saw the color seep into the leaves with the morning light. It was the last morning of summer. It let me know that fall is here. Apparently it arrived a day early.