The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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October 19, 2016
Loughberry Lake
I managed to sneak a few minutes before a meeting to see what was happening at beautiful Loughberry lake. I’m so glad that I did because we were about to get slammed by three days of wind and much needed rain. The foliage was absolutely magnificent and the weather was perfect, partly cloudy and warm.
I would kill to live on this road, it’s just gorgeous.
Loughberry lake is the primary source of drinking water for Saratoga Springs and all hunting, fishing and recreation is banned. I only had time to check out the southernmost section of the lake and the photos were taken from high up. It was only yesterday that I realized that the camera was set on macro zoom, so apologies there.
There were a few wood ducks around, mostly near the shore. They will be leaving any day now.
The majority of ducks I saw that day were Ring-necked ducks, at least a couple of hundred. I also saw a few Lesser Scaup mixed in. No other species that I felt sure enough to Identify. I double checked my ID by looking at the counts for the same day on ebird.
The ducks seemed to make mostly line formations (rafts?) that went from end to end across the lake and there were many of these lines. They didn’t seem to spook easily either, unlike the mallards I’m familiar with.
This gull circled the lake from on high, occasionally he would plunge down and skim the water briefly before climbing and resuming the slow, lazy circle. I will leave the identification to others as I haven’t a clue. All I can say is large with white undersides and black tipped wings.
Mallards were constantly taking off and landing. As far as I could see the other duck species remained on the water.
The lake freezes over eventually, December IIRC, at which point the waterfowl move elsewhere. I checked ebird to see what was around in November and December of last year, before the freeze, and found thousands of Canada geese, hundreds of ring-necked ducks, both greater and lesser scaup, ruddy ducks, hooded mergansers, lesser mergansers, green-winged teals and a steady population of 4 buffleheads among others. I have to say the last surprised me as I thought buffleheads were purely migrants. There is still plenty to see when the lake is frozen. There are hawks, four types of woodpecker and many passerines. Needless to say I plan to revisit Loughberry Lake often.
The next day I grabbed this shot just as the rain was starting.
This finch knows how to pick a perch that will intensify his plumage.
During a brief lull in the weather, just before dark I caught sight of a barely visible hawk in this newly stripped tree.
Here’s a cropped version, not a big improvement I know.
Now after four days the landscape around me looks bedraggled and a bit monotone and tonight there is going to be a freeze. Time to pick the last tomatoes, eight of which are my favorite purple heirlooms. Thanks for stopping by.
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Now It's Your Turn
What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.
Thank you.