September 2: went out to the Lost Swamp in the morning. Most of the deer I scared up were near TI Park - oh yes, I saw a fawn running in the noon day sun outside the Withers place yesterday. I got to the Lost Swamp pond at about 9:30. No otters, nor muskrats. To my surprise geese were in the pond, two gangs of them often honking at each other. When a bunch flew off at the far end of the pond, I hoped an otter was scaring them. I later heard rifle shots - is there a season for resident geese? There were several ducks. On the far lodge in the southeast end of the pond some ducks were grooming themselves, and one grooming another duck. At my end of the pond I saw a few solitary ducks. The osprey perched on the trees across from me and made a couple of forays over the land, then hovered over the pond, and then went south, and low. I don't think it caught anything. The turtles were out, as well as the blue jays with their alarm cries. The otters have been out on the south shore of the pond across from where I usually find scats. The scats were not that fresh but within the last few days. I haven't seen scats there in a long time. At the usual scatting spots, I saw nothing fresh but smelled something fresh.
This time as I walked to Otter Hole Pond I didn't flush any deer. The pond has gotten even lower. I sat near the den straining to hear noise. Nothing. The sandpiper flew in again and this time worked the shallow water. This pond is about to give out - even the beaver channels are low. I found some otter scat off Beaver Point Pond - it's been a couple of weeks since I saw any there. I was getting ready to declare that the beavers were keeping them out, but not so. Only one large scat though. The pond seemed muddy but that is just as likely from all the beaver work the night before. The beavers did not take down the maple I thought they might, but the new lodge had grown and I'm pretty sure I heard mewing coming from it. Hot day. Sky still cloudless.
September 3 in the late afternoon we went to the land on a very hot and still day. After watering the garden we sat by the teepee. The red squirrel there has just had babies judging by her swollen teats. She tried to tolerate us but just couldn't so we got a good measure of screeching and perhaps some of the hickory nuts that dropped were aimed at us. Just as we were moaning about how low the pond is, a muskrat appeared in the middle. He was intent on feeding - his jaw going a mile a minute on the water's surface eating what seemed imperceptible to us, though there is much green stuff floating on the pond and growing below it. When we scared it, it made a trail through the underwater mud to the pickerel bed. I didn't see the pickerel move so either it just stays there with a nose above the water or its made a hole in the bank which it goes into. I hope the pond never gets so low that I see the hole. A red squirrel also came down for a drink - not the one above us. I wonder if the territory of several squirrels radiates from the pond so all can have access to the water. Three blue wing teals flew down to join us quite scaring Leslie. These waterfowl don't slow down when they land. They only stayed a little while and then flew off. I forget to mention that we have been seeing minks around our house. I saw one small one while eating dinner. It scampered across the rock below me and L and O saw two more.
September 4 Another hot dry day. I worked on wood in the morning and then went off to the ponds at 3:30, into the teeth of the drought and summer, hoping to record the nadir of the high season. I took a route directly to the woods between the first and second swamps. The branches that smack me in the face seem as hard and unforgiving as they are on a cold day in the winter. Then when I gained the woods I recalled how famous this used to be for us as a place to get lost in. There the rock ridges have their own pattern - not generally west to east as in other areas. With some adjustments I made it to where I wanted to be on the south shore of the Lost Swamp Pond. I parked myself under a dead tree and waited. The geese were once again in the far east end of the north section of the pond. I watched them, the osprey, and another bird - a wet king bird or something that really had a olive green breast? - then I was shocked to see a woman and a dog coming along the south shore from the Nunn's land. It was Hilary Nunn looking for the property line. I showed her the line, the markings now covered by leaves. She claims they will keep all hunters off this fall. When she left - her dog , I must say, was sedate, I settled myself under the tree again. In the binoculars I saw a beaver lurking in front of me in the middle of the pond. It was wedged between two logs, head up, tail slowly lapping, looking into the sun. I could flatter myself that it was looking at me. Then it got most of its body out of the water. Then it went off without a sound, and though I had nothing better to do, I didn't see where it went. I soon saw that the lodge by the rock had fresh saplings outside it. Have the beavers moved there because of the otters? A hawk flew over me - small to medium size - with something in its talon. Then the geese lined up and made a procession into the very shallow far end of the pond. It seemed like a pied piper was leading them and I did see something on shore. That something resolved itself into a deer staring blankly as I was at the procession. More white shows on the geese now. It was quite striking. They all went in only to fly out. Half of them quickly, then some more, but a few remained there. I checked for otter scats and there were more on the south shore and perhaps some piles on the north shore had been freshened. I saw the muskrat, as usual, making one of the great circle routes around the pond (how often I've seen them do this!) But no otters. I know they had been there. The trail to Otter Hole pond looked used but with the grass so dry trails keep easily. I can't distinguish the scuff of a deer hoof from the scratch of an otter paw on the dry ground. Otter Hole pond was not too low for ducks. They flew off. I took a video of what I hope will be its lowest level ever. I didn't want to sit and contemplate. After determing that there was no new major otter scats I headed toward Beaver Point pond. I saw a beaver in the distance hurry through the shallows. I thought out of respect for me, but before I left Otter Hole I could see that it was cruising up the narrow channel toward the hole. I waited to see it come through - the pond is still of use to beavers - it went to the far shore and nibbled the bright green grass. Meanwhile there were four beavers in the southeast edge of the pond just before me. I got over a newly downed and already plucked and somewhat stripped red oak and got a vantage to video of them. A big beaver tried to munch on as two smaller beavers swam and mewed up to it. The big boy shrugged them off with a splash. Could that be father or just a harried mother? The little ones swam up toward the damn. The smaller of them leading the way. Two larger beavers stayed back munching. How many beavers are here now? I admired some of their recent work, all on red oaks. I'll have to go back to the northwest corner of the pond, where they had been working on poplar to see if they have given up working on that. Many deer around TI Park.
September 5 muggy partly cloudy, no rain yet. I rode the bike over through the dump. Took a video of some concrete pushed back on a willow tree along the marsh. Plenty of heaps waiting for burning. Idiots. On the East Trail, I flushed 12 grouse. A relatively open area. The only delicacy I could see was a type of hickory nut pecked open and nibbled by the grouse. I took my tour of the Thicket Pond. Even without water, it remained impassable. Perhaps Ottoleo could crawl through. Button bushes all over turning color from green to orange. Some of the channels were still moist but no water. I flushed a deer from in there and also two fawns on the little ridge above it. I went to the lodge and got my best pictures there. A huge opening under the lodge facing into the pond. I think there is actually a small pond area in the midst of it. I got a glimpse of it. Otherwise it is all channels carved between the roots of the bushes. A marvel. I went up to Shangri-la Pond. I could bear seeing it because the low water was not to blame on the park's silly pipes. I made my way along the edge of the rocks as best I could. Beautiful rocks on the cliff and below - the boulders that came down. Beautiful lichen. No sense of the old stream that used to go through it. There was still water - enough to lap along the cliff at one point and force me up. Some signs of recent beaver activity - not at lodges though. Nibble sticks along the shore. I climbed the cliff and then went through the East Trail swamp - very low, all the old boardwalk is above the water. With the main lodge almost high and dry the beavers have built another lodge just where I saw the start of it a few days ago. Between the rocks and the dam on the southeast side of the pond. There were fresh otter scats in the usual place and one almost atop to ridge on the way to Otter Hole Pond. I took the high road hoping to see otters below - no such luck. The woods are extremely dry - we need rain. It's supposed to be here tomorrow night.
September 6 we woke up to the sound of rain and later in the morning we had a shower, but then it cleared up, hot and still humid. I kayaked over to South Bay - water still going down so I couldn't get into the marshy shores. In the area of the north shore of the south cove where I thought otters might have been I saw troughs in the mud. Sitting low in the kayak I couldn't get an idea of what they were. I went around to the other side and first saw one that looked clearly like a turtles. Then I saw larger troughs with roots on the water end, perhaps what a beaver might like eating. I kept scarring ducks along, and also an osprey who after the third time gave me a screech. I went into the cove west of the Narrows, more ducks, geese, a heron, not as many small fish there as in the South Bay cove. Let's hope for heavier rain tomorrow.
September 7 a good rain in the morning and then it let up. We went to the land and I took a walk along the Bunny Trail Bog which, though dry, is filled with those beautiful orange honeysuckle berries. Quite a few leaves changing and falling. I found a pile of nipped oak leaves, probably by squirrels. Leslie noticed that the acorn crop is almost nonexistent. No wonder the red squirrels are always dancing in the hickory tree as we sit in the teepee. The apple tree back on the ridge seems slower than the others. Most apples still green. Not a big harvest at all, but perhaps we'll get something from it. Leslie discovered that it was easy pulling the clods of mud out of the pond - so I did that enough to work up a sweat. Then it rained harder. We were off before it started to pour. We had a long lull and it is raining again. Can't wait to see the ponds, but I don't get my expectations up.
September 8 the rain stopped this morning and I'd say we got about 2 inches total. We went out to the ponds via the boat. As we got up to Beaver Point pond we saw three beavers, two of them munching on fresh maple branches. Their lodge looks bigger. A tail splash moved us back. We were after otters after all. All was quiet at Otter Hole Pond. The water level was up - no so patchy between the south shore rocks and the beaver lodge. We went up to the Lost Swamp. I was surprised that we scared up no deer. On the ridge up the the Lost Swamp there was a fresh deer leg. We couldn't find the rest of the body. No action at the Lost Swamp either - heron, kingbird, chickedees. You felt like there was a big party in the rain and all the celebrants were now sacked out in bed. On the way back to Otter Hole I took some video of the yellow flowers in the swamps - marsh marigold? Also looked at the horsetail branched out, and Leslie admired a grove of pines where the deer trimming still left a hope for the future. She also saw seedlings which the deer will soon get. The tree frogs were also singing. As we walked along South Bay that brown shore bird flew by in the distance, also the osprey. A few terns entertained us. Ducks seemed to be drying out. Oh yes, when we came back all the beavers were in the lodges. Most of the otter scat was also washed away so when I go out tomorrow I might be able to tell where the otters were today.
September 9 After breakfast I walked to the ponds, nursing, I'm afraid to say, a little obsession with otters. Why is that I feel when I feel that way that I won't see otters? As I rounded the South Bay trail near the inlet I reminded myself to get the camera ready - too late. Two birds flew off, one a small heron, night heron I assume and the other looked more like the mysterious brown bird. Otter Hole and Beaver Point ponds were both quiet. I thought I smelled a vague odor of otter from the den. Going to the Lost Swamp I took the the high road and sat up in the crook of the pond so that I could see the upper end. Now I saw another different bird. Thin like a heron but flying much more like a duck. Unlike the brown bird I've been seeing this bird, these birds since there were three of them, flew much higher, again, like a duck. There were no otters, nor beavers nor muskrats for that matter. I studied the far shore and decided there was a possible otter den a dozen yards east of the lodge near the rock. It appeared to be a hole in a sort of ridge with a small inlet to it. This was the area where the otters swam too and then disappeared. I thought of walking over there but decided to wait and let the otters show me. I then toured the shore and found otter scats on the rocks at the crook of the pond. Not fresh, but none too old. I also found a beautiful example of the brown mushroom that girds trees. I found two other nice mushrooms - a delicate purple one on a log and a white one growing up out of a log. At the south shore scatting site I saw one fresh scat, nothing fresh on the north shore. Just as I left the honking geese flew over, otherwise there were just a few ducks either solitary or in threes. I walked over to the Big Pond and first walked up to the lodge which was all grown over and with so much young green grass about it was hard to think that muskrats still lived there. Then I walked along the dam. I flushed a snipe full out of the grass. It sped across the water and crashed into the tall grass there. Quite a definition of a shy bird. At the spill way there were several otter scats, perhaps a fresh one in the water. So the otters have been there. Also several raccoon scats and next to them an apparent scat with white filaments all over it - mold or fungus? I found a path over the next dam but no otter scats - the fungus scat was there! At the middle pond something dove and swam under the pond to the other side - a muskrat I am pretty sure. Again no deer. An odd synchronicity. It is as if when all the human families left TIP, all the deer families moved too. Shall I peer into Jonah's house and see if the deer are living there? More bird activity - one hoarse call with a kind of whoodewoot, high in the trees, that I'll try to identify. After lunch we went to the land and walked down the valley and then along the ridge. Perceptibly more water in the pond by the teepee. The moss looked livlier and Leslie was pleased with the revival of the golden rod. Several monarch butterflies on the goldenrod. I found the moist ground under the hemlocks - nice wind as it clouded over. Rather comfortable. I may have dozed off briefly. The cat tail bog had a little water - I saw no frogs. The bogs down the trail mostly dry. We went up to the apple tree and down the bunny trail bog area - no water there. Leaves are coming down in droves, By some nanny berry trees we interrupted several robins and at least on squawking blue jay. Then we went down to the garden and then picked more apples from the lower tree. Contemplated the pond and discussed ways to make it easier to get in and out. Tomorrow I'll cut down and trim up some trees along the ridge there and see what we can do. A light rain as we picked through the garden.
September 10 a rainy early morning which delayed my going to the land. I got there just as the brilliant sun came out. Since making a "ladder" to get into the pond for swimming is somewhat silly since if anybody swims it will be once or twice a year, I looked at the ridge more as an area to clear to make passage more enjoyable. But I did trim up a large maple so that it might be used to climb out. I found two tall and thick, standing but dead ironwood which I cut. Then I cut up a lot of red oak limbs. Very moist there and many branches quite rotten. During one break higher on the ridge I got eyeball to eyeball with a chipmunk who though he had probably never seen a human before didn't spit out the seeds in his mouth. Also as I cut one of the rotting ironwoods I noticed a millipede about to make its way up. As I sawed it curled its head around as if to say how dare you.
September 11 went to the land for lunch with Ottoleo. After eating we got him pulling out clumps in the pond - it did not rain enough to ruin that sport. Then we worked on the dam of the second to last pond. We'll see if that gives us more water next year - the well there is dry. Then we pulled the maple I was working on into the big pond but it was too chilly to go into - who else would go in but me? I saw few logs off the maple trunk. There is water back in the spring and a nice white flower around there. Beautiful blustery day with dramatic white clouds. Shoulette came buy to say he was going to take out a couple of trees near us - wood for the winter. He did not grow enough this year for his livestock. Gardens survived - Wills gave us a lot of tomatoes from his, but crops had it harder.
September 12 late Sunday morning walk to the ponds. I went to the Middle Pond first going off the TIP Nature Trail and along the ridge. The deer were back in their usual places - as it the return of the weekenders reminded them of their proper place. That pond was quiet but I didn't linger. The Big Pond was also quiet save for a few ducks and a grand heron off in the distance (I always take my binoculars now.) Something had been along the dam, but no sure otter signs. I got up to the Lost Swamp and sat further back than usual. A red squirrel entertained me but I can get his tail screeching back at home. I most say, he liked looking at me more than some red squirrels. A good gaggle of geese were in the pond - very quiet. One barrage from goose hunters on the river. I got out my recorder and entertained myself and all who might listen. As usual a tune in a minor key and then something sprightly. To imitate I had the clucking of chipmunks and then the screeching of blue jays. Playing along I realized how really fast the rhythm of these nature sounds are. Somehow when we listen to them we slow them down. Perhaps because we expect them to be short lived. We don't realize how raucous they are in the brief moment they sound. So as not to disturb the geese I didn't check the rock in the crook of the pond for otter scats. I wish I had because elsewhere I saw nothing. And then when I saw how unused Otter Hole Pond was -- my guess is that the otters are more in the Big Pond and perhaps marking the way from the Lost Swamp to it. I scared more deer on my way to Otter Hole and then couldn't resist going down into the marsh marigolds which are thick in the swamp. I found the few bare spots just off the very old beaver lodge there. Once there I was surrounded by monarch butterflies and bees of all sorts working the brilliant yellow blooms. Here was a task for a full day, trying to figure out the rhyme and reason of their visitations on the yellow blooms. To get to the dam I skirted the blooming plants and tried to go to the high dry grasses. There was a little water in one depression just up above the mudcracks. I can't believe otters make their way through this - deer only by their leaping. This time I saw no raccoon scats. The smaller animals must go along the ridge like I do. The dam was dry - figwort going to see there, some bare vervain, one or two marsh marigolds. The stream down to Otter Hole Pond was dry. The depression just above the middle lodge did have water in it. I saw awhile about Otter Hole Pond, even reading Wordsworth remembering of his trip in the Alps. No sign of otters, no muskrats. I was quiet enough for a heron to fly in and I saw a hawk sprucing on a tree across the way. And about every minute a monarch butterfly flew right in front of me, eye level as it flew WSW in a WNW wind, quartering and rising. Sometimes two flew by together. Beaver Point didn't disappoint me for changes. Here is where life is! The red oak being held up by a small maple was down but it didn't seem like the beavers chewed on the maple any more. The weight of the bigger tree finally prevailed. Down near the dam I saw a hump in the water - a beaver after roots. Then I saw another beaver near me. This was "golden log time," and I would have enjoyed staring at a beaver lazing in the sun drenched water before me. But these beavers were working. I saw one move mud on the dam near the new lodge. I thought I saw two beavers go into that lodge and then I saw three beavers near the other lodge. I followed one out from there who came all the way along the dam until it was at its far end. It was hard for me to see what it was doing - gnawing on some muddy water logged log. Then another beaver came toward me, diving quite a bit - yes, sort of otter like, and at one point one beaver paraded with the root brought up just like the otters parade with a fish. (Is this a sign that otters had been there - the beavers imitating them?) And then the beaver made like a muskrat biting its way through the duck weed. So I think I saw from three to five beavers - in the middle of the day! As usual they exchanged work stations without a murmur, though one stayed still as the other left. And they used their tails alot. One had the tail cocked into the sun, the head in the shadows eating. The tail seemed a separate beast and briefly a tail alone was out of the water. These are delightful fellows - how richly churned with mud the pond was! But they did seem to be eating leaves when they could get them. Are they too shy to get out of the pond in broad daylight? (I've seen other beavers out without problem.) And do they eat leaves because of a lack of roots and bark? Hard to believe. I think its just nervous munching. But perhaps there is a whole other night shift. I walked out of the pond so as not to disturb them. I thought for a moment of backtracking for otters - but must watch my obsession with them. Patience. And aren't these beaver entertaining much like otters. Today I see three at once, frequently diving, moving gracefully, with no violence. More deer on the way back.
September 14 We had rain at night but it ended in the morning and I went directly out to tour the ponds. I walked past the swami tree along the rocks above the golf course to the big rock over looking the first swamp. I scanned what I could the Big Pond with binoculars. Why should I see an otter? Well, why should I see the duck I saw? The pond did not looked visited today. I did see a new beaver lodge being thrown up on a bank maybe fifty yards beyond the state line on the north shore. There were also freshly nibbled sticks just off the dam on the south shore. There must be some little beavers here too. I crossed the dam and then walked up to the line and took that into the Lost Swamp. I didn't linger as much as I usually do. Not even a duck or goose today. And along the shore there were no fresh scats - though finding them in damp weather with the leaves coming down is not easy. At the big tree by the south shore scatting place I saw an interesting large bee. I fancied it was digging into the wood of the tree for a home, but when I looked back it had flown away. I walked all the way up to the dam and beyond - no scats, not even by the hole I thought they might be using for a den. I did hear mewing from the beaver lodge by the rock. Most of the brush they have piled there is willow or buckbrush. I didn't see any signs of them taking down trees. The supposed otter den hole went up into a little bushy ridge - no sign of water escape routes. I was entertained by the dam by two piliated woodpeckers. One bobbed up a dead tree and then down, as if he only bobbed up to get a better look at me. Blue jays are all about the swamp and a flock of fast flying things came through but I was too distracted by the woodpeckers to keep track of them. Then I cut over to the third swamp. The lodge on the upper end of the Second Swamp is so covered with brush as to make it indistinguishable from any hillock there. I scared a deer into swimming through the meadow grasses. Why do the deer go so far there? In the woods when I actually see a deer before it moves and see it see me, it will often move off a dozen yards, then turn around to look at me. In the tall meadows, when I don't even see the creature, it starts out and continues for a few hundred yards. I eased down the hill to the East Trail pond since the beavers had just built a new lodge below it. More fresh work on the red oaks on the hill. No mewing from the lodge and I sat there for awhile. Still ducks in that pond. Again, no fresh scats. I went up the trail I fancy that the otters use and when I gained the rock ridge that affords a view of Otter Hole Pond, I saw two heart stopping splashes that followed a heron's flight from the pond. But strain as I did, I could see no otters, no wakes, no consequence to the splashing. This was not a day for big turtles. Anyway I gained the conviction that otters were in the pond, but really had no evidence. I eased my way down the ridge and then sat on a tree trunk at the foot of it, in the shade but with a good view of the lodge and the denning rocks beyond. I had a hunch that my not seeing fresh signs of otters for the past few days meant that they were spending more time at the lodge with its ample room for scatting. Their presence there would explain why I hadn't seen the muskrats who had been coming out of the lodge like clock work. I sat perhaps ten minutes periodically scanning the pond through the binoculars when I saw something furry eating some greenery on the side of the lodge. Muskrats aren't like that. It was too small to be a beaver. I kept looking and saw that there were two of them. I had to think of mink until I saw the white chin patch of one extend down to its belly. The otters were there. Between fumbling for my camera and keeping an eye on them with the binoculars, I seemed to lose them without getting a real good look. Though I did see one dive in the water and wave its tail in the air. Then it started to rain which meant problems for the camera. I kept my binoculars on the lodge. One otter went down and into the water and then I lost him. The rain picked up and two otters, the little one first seemed to come out of a hole on the side of the lodge and hurry down into the water. At first I worried that there were afraid of getting wet and only went to a lower chamber inside the lodge, but soon enough the three of them were in the water. The two pups immediately started wrestling, splashing furiously in the water, the eye of their storm moving slowly up pond. Mother went off fishing. After five years of seeing otters operate in relatively deep ponds, I was not prepared for the fury of shallow pond fishing. To say it was like a fist moving through the black waters loses the sinuosity of the otter movements. The otter, the water and at times the mud of the pond were a united force. Between the lodge and me and toward the dam and the rocks beyond there was enough deep water for the traditional dolphin like swimming, but the rhythm of coming to the surface, the steepness of the parabolic motion was totally different. And with much less water in the pond all the energy of the otter was translated into forward motion. The little ones especially I would lose track of in the deeper water - they were soon fishing themselves. I saw one major catch - fish or frog I'm not sure - but big enough to bring the otter to the foot of the lodge out on dry land were it could gargle the morsel down in proper style. I had a bad angle for seeing the progress of the fishing expedition. Sometimes I only knew they were there by the splashing I heard. At one quiet point I fancied that they were heading up to the Lost Swamp and then I'd see the three of them bucking the water toward me. I saw another big catch that required getting out on a log to masticate the fish. Then that otter caught another fish and I knew it was mother because she swam over and gave it to one of the pups. I tried to study the idea that the pups were not good at fishing, but all the otters moved too quickly. I was only certain of who the pups were when they started tussling. At one point both pups went atop the lodge, I thought with the intention of playing, but one soon dove into the water and went toward Mom. I wondered if there would be any tussling - but the pup got right into step with her for fishing. They fed for at least 45 minutes. The pups went in and mom stayed out a bit. I kept moving closer and with the swirling wind I was worried she'd get a scent of me. There was some snorting but no show that I had been seen. I think she finally knew I was there because she went directly to the lodge without any last dives around the lodge, which they are wont to do. Plus I should think they'd have liked to lounged out on top the lodge (the rain had ended) At least I didn't get any angry snorts. Perhaps they missed seeing me as much I missed seeing them - ha! On the way back at the foot of the ridge I saw a hollowed out red oak in which all the porcupine pooh had been cleared out. What fastidious creature had moved
in instead?
September 15 calm sunny day; I motored over to Picton and rowed around the quarry area and as far back in the cove there as I could. No sign of beaver work. I saw what looked like an otter scat on a boulder by the river just before that level area as the channel narrows. I couldn't row up to it but as I got closer I thought I smelled otter - but that may just be a Pavlovian reaction. Just at the point of the island, near the swinging rock, there were several large swirls of whirligig beetles - like a fool I didn't bring the camera - quite elegant and moving enmasse, en whirling mass, to avoid my intrusion.
We went to the land in the afternoon. As I took my post lunch doze a grasshopper and then two dragon flies landed on me. Work today was to saw the downed maple by the field - we worked the two man saw to get the bigger blocks. Then we diddled with the ladder by the pond. Then I went in the pond, found its deepest point - probably over my head. I jammed an iron wood poll into the mud and it was pretty firm. The trouble is the sides of the pond there are hard slippery clay - under water - and so very difficult to get up. Leslie had to give me a hand. We harvested the great rutabago but it may have been too worm eaten - L did get a good small cantaloupe. Tomatoes keep coming, and squash and the pumpkins are growing. As we sat by the pond two pileated woodpeckers flew by - is this their mating time? Beautiful clouds today - perhaps the high fine fringe of the great hurricane to the south which it seems will largely miss us. How will the ponds fill with water?
September 16 went to the Queens Library today and on the ride home in the early afternoon kept urging the cloudy heavens to open up. I clinched the argument by getting Lester to go out with me to Otter Hole Pond. Of course, once we were there it started raining. I hoped that would inspire the otters to come out, but it didn't. Expecting that I assured L that we could then watch the beavers - they didn't come out in the rain either. But weathermen than ours because we did get a good bit of rain - falling from 4pm to the wee hours, perhaps an inch and half of rain. At the ponds I did see the work of the beavers. They trimmed off the top of the red oak that had been held up by a maple, and they downed a tall thin maple further up the ridge.
September 17 We got about an inch and half of rain. After lunch we went to the land. We inspected the ponds. Not only was there more in the two upper ponds, but water in the area where we carried out the dirt clods and the other depression in that pond also had water. The marshy bog's water was muddy. L dragged out the "frog protectors" she put in there. I sawed the crown of the large red oak that is down by the shed. Then I took a slow hike down the field and up and over to where the best saw mill is. I flushed the grouse no less than three times. I noticed quite a few dragon flies along the way - at first I thought they fancied landing on the dead Queen Anne's lace but they landed on everything including me. My idea is to use the from of the miller, slowly rotting out, as the frame for a floating dock in the pond. Of course, the trouble is dragging it down the rocky hill to the pond. L was not impressed with my idea. I read a little of Haig-Brown's To Know A River which didn't satisfy me much. Then I hobbled along the rocky hill to where they were high grape vines - no luck in getting many. Picked and ate from the garden as usual. Tomatoes not as sweet, more small ones. Chilly day, sun in and out. It seems the ground is getting saturated enough so that the rain begins to puddle. Hurry up rain, come again.
September 18 Quick tour of the ponds in the morning - no sign of otters. In the smaller ponds and Otter Hole I could see a higher water level. The deer are congregating under the oak trees for the acorn harvest. I think the oaks have had a difficult year. Often I see large patches of green oak leaves on the ground. Then we went to the land with fishing equipment. Ottoleo wants to catch the great catfish that took his line in the spring. I've seen the wake or splash of the monster several times since. Ottoleo even insisted on getting a 20lb fishing line! Well, during an hour's fishing I got two bites, lost one worm, but no tugs on the line. Ottoleo got zilch.
September 19 In the evening I took Johanna to see the beavers. We went to beaver point. It was quiet at first. First I heard gnawing from the south, then the beavers began coming out of the lodge to the north on the bank - one periodically splashed a tail at us and the others after their winding fashion went off to work. One did dive and go into the new lodge along the dam, but I would say that on this night most were still living in the old lodge - with more water in the pond from the rain perhaps the housing crisis is over. Also saw two deer across the pond. A goose hunter rather close sent the ducks flying over us - how harried they look flying over. The end of South Bay is getting low - the mud reappears in front of the bullrushes - some troughs there. Johanna sees animals go by her dock at night. She thought they were otters. Also people on the island across from her, cedar, had a boat house blocked by beavers and claim to have lost 16 trees to them. Oh yes, Saturday night talked to Viva who is down at her father's. They had "beaver trouble" again, but she is trying to live trap them. The particular point of conflict is always the boat house.
September 20 we went to the land after lunch all prepared to make our "dock" to get in and out of the big pond. We made it without much fuss - a kind of inclined plane and ladder. Leslie went in and was quite excited. I swam too - colder - and get out without any trouble. Walking back to the road, we noticed yet another apple tree, on the edge of the marshy area where the concrete "spring" is concealed. A small tree, but with redening apples - should be easy to care for. I took a walk up to the bunny bog and along the bogs, then down to the field, down the field and then up to the hemlock cathedral, over to the outlook I fashioned last year, then back through the hemlocks, along the ridge, to the shady valley, through the gap to the little theater and back to the central valley. Last year such a trip would have been an ordeal. Now there are trails all the way and I went smoothly along like a knife through the proverbial butter. I saw more green leafy growths on the golden rod. There is still water in the upper bog areas. The water soaked in where we had pulled out the clods. The day started sunny and then clouded up, plus there was a brisk wind. Not a bad venue for the fall flowers. I was bending over golden rod; admiring the spiky conclusion of some magnificent grass. The spot where we saw the first spring flower - tiny white hepatica, I saw what will be the last fall flower, that delicate golden rod that has the yellow buds coming out of the stem stalk inside the leaves. And at the overlook, I took a look at White's Swamp and saw how much lower it is now. It began to rain and we went to get Ottoleo.
September 26 Today I took a tour of the ponds. My route now is up to the TIP trail, then along the ridge, down to the Middle Pond, up to the Big Pond, over to the Lost Swamp, across the dry 2nd swamp, to the East Trail Pond, up the ridge and down to Otter Hole Pond. I gazed at the Middle Pond for awhile. It's pleasant to sit on the shady ridge and look down. Nothing doing in the pond, but blue jays were foraging on the hill getting bugs as best as I could see. The squirrels were also about - red chasing away the grey. No signs of otters up at the Big Pond. Muskrat and raccoon scats. Ducks well in the distance. At first the Lost Swamp seemed quiet just the remains of the red squirrels beautiful on the moss,
and I sat in the shade just off the crook in the pond. Then I saw a deer in the water raising its head through the water but not bringing up any vegetation. Just drinking? Didn't seem so as it was fairly deep and rather methodical. The ducks were swimming relatively near to it.
Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a persistent ripple; I checked with the binoculars and saw it was an otter. I saw her before she sensed me because only after I saw her, did she start snorting and sniffing at me. It came closer and sniffed quite awhile; the wind was cutting across me. I passed. The otter went off fishing. No other otters appeared for this noon feeding. It never got close for a good video so I looked at it some with the binoculars. It fed mostly in the center of the pond, going straight down and bringing up plump whitish blobs. I can only think that they were small bullheads as I can't imagine it chewing shiners to the extent that it chewed the fish. I thought I saw a tail go in last. The otter kept its tail up quite a bit, curved slightly out of the water. It came up onto land once - on a rock across the pond from me to the east.
It went up, paused, sniffed the air, went over to the edge of the rock and pooped into the vegetation bordering it. It quickly went back into the water, using the same route it took to get up. Then it was back fishing. At one spot it dove 3 times, scrounged around, and each time came up with a morsel. It also liked to dive around sticks in the water and I could see the sticks move. It surfaced twice near a painted turtle on a log. The turtle didn't flinch. Then I lost it and got up to pee. I moved a bit and then saw that it was on the top of the lodge. It sniffed the air, looking right at me. Then seemed to relax - a noise from the woods sent it scurrying to the other side of the lodge and I assume down below.
I checked the usual scatting places - one scat on the way to the 2nd Swamp. There I found that it was not as dry as I thought and got my feet wet. An uneventful hike save for scattering ducks. Not much new work on the north side of Beaver Point Pond - red oaks there not touched. These beavers like felling trees on a hill and the tree don't get hung up as much over there. I twice flushed grouse from dry areas on ridge near juniper.
September 27 went out to retrieve a camera battery that I left in the ponds yesterday. Went over by boat - South Bay getting shallower and I didn't row in as far. There was a beaver out at Beaver Point Dam - curled up in such a way that I thought it might be dead - only munching intently. All quiet at Otter Hole, except for the birds. What delight for them and me to see the brown things working the brown vegetation festooned with white stars gone to seed.
I walked up to the Lost Swamp. A great many birds migrating through - sparrows, warblers, robins, black birds. Several fresh otter scats on the south shore hill - very dark, few bones.
Perhaps the otters are getting pollywogs. The otter fishing yesterday dove in the middle of the pond, stayed under in one spot. Would frogs be out in the middle of the pond? Bullheads too fast for that kind of fishing, judging by the zippy little guy I have in the tank next to me. No otters today, and no battery.
September 29 After dinner L and I went by boat to see the beavers. They weren't out when we first got to Beaver Point. I had to take a crap - then went over to the south shore. One, then another, beaver there gnawing near shore. Then one came out of the new lodge and swamp over. Two small deer came down the slope - then I step on a twig and sent them running. Back at Beaver Point, L saw two muskrats go into the old lodge and two beavers come out of the new.
This morning I went to see otters. Rains still holding off, still warm but cloudy and breezy today. Much raccoon pooh on the Big Pond dam - what exactly are they eating, berries and seeds in scats but I don't think of that area as famous for berries - just getting a drink? I got up to the Lost Swamp and saw some big ripples along the south shore, west of where I sat the last time. I suspected otters - they soon surfaced heading away from me. I got closer - a mossy rock just off shore redolent of otter smell - I looked down and saw a fine array of scats below me. One otter soon turned and came purposefully toward me, snorting all the way. Just as it got below me, two little otters came up, all three snorting,
but I'm not sure they saw me. They went off fishing, never close enough to get a good video. On the water at least the young otters were all business. Once Mom came up with a fish - tail hanging out and pup came up with a pollywog tail evidently in his mouth. The otters went to the lodge twice, kept looking around, come grooming and play then off to swim and fish. The second time on the lodge they scatted or two of them did, on the lodge - same place. One scatted then another came all the way from the other side of the lodge to scat in the same place. Nice tail arching scat.
Then they headed off to the south - didn't come back. I walked around and saw them off the lodge in the upper pond. They climbed the lodge, then down. The troubling with fishing there is that there are few logs in the water to climb on and chaw. One otter swam a considerable distance to use one. They also seemed jumpy on that lodge. Then I didn't see them and I headed down to Beaver Point. Maple taken down last night, already half-trimmed and gnawed - at place where I was standing last night. I was studying the lodge in the camera when I descried a beaver out gnawing on a log by the dam.
I saw the same one two days ago. Had a curious two toned look. I guess because his head had been out ong enough to dry light brown while the rest of his dark body was in the pond. He noticed me and leaped into the nearby lodge. Flocks of black birds, many ducks, several blue jays and a few doves - peepers last night and today.
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