Outdoor Adventures with Gary Lee - Vol. 307
I woke up this morning and as I looked out the bedroom windows the half-moon was passing by, but it faded into the clouds as the sun was trying to shine through in the east. About that time a newscast came on announcing that Pope Francis, age 88, had died this morning of a stroke and heart failure. He just got through pneumonia a couple of weeks ago and he celebrated Easter just yesterday among the people in Vatican Square. He was the first Pope from South America, and he led the Catholic Church with many changes for the poor people of the world for 12 years.
Also, out the window as daybreak came, there still were a few hundred birds feeding at the feeders and six Turkeys were picking up seeds on the ground. The Pine Siskins, American Goldfinch, Slate Colored Juncos, Common Grackles and Red-Winged Blackbirds were in a flurry all around the feeders and on the ground. It didn’t take me long to fill the feeders and set the Potter traps. I caught birds all day, checking every few minutes while I wrote. One of the Pine Siskins that I caught was wearing a band and it was a bird that I banded in March of last year. That is the first return in a different year of a Siskin that I ever had. When I picked the bird out of the trap, I saw that the band was worn, and the beginning four digits were different from the ones I had been putting on. New birds that showed up that day were Chipping Sparrow and White Throated Sparrow, some of which are now wearing bands.
My Grandson Jake came up for the weekend and we planned on fishing Saturday, but that didn’t happen as the rain would only stop for a few minutes and start again. It was a warm rain, but it sure was a wet one as it poured enough to turn off the TV signal many times. He started my 1,000-piece Cardinal puzzle by putting the outside border together and now I’ve got to finish it. It is a tough one as pieces don’t fit together like any puzzle I’ve ever done. It takes up the dining room table, so I guess I won’t be having company for supper anytime soon. The warm rain brought out my daffodil blooms and a friend sent me a picture of blue hepatica from her yard. I only have white ones, never had seen the blue variety.
This piece was written by Brooks Wade of Jocassee Lake Tours whose pontoon boats were used to study the Loons there for two weeks. He goes out on his own to watch them return in the fall and leave in the spring. I thank Brooks for letting me print his writings. He called it “Alchemy.”
“Today brings to an end this remarkable Loon season. I saw just three Loons on the lake this early morning, the same as I saw in early November to begin our Loon year. Two weeks of remarkable research and discovery, led by Dr’s Paruk and Mager, and the last three weeks spending most mornings on the lake before first light, gleaming what I can from the mysteries of spring migration. So, this is a note written on a sad day, an amazed day, a grateful day, in so many ways.”
“We come from so many places to share and explore our love for Loons, from Florida to Maine, to Colorado. We come to assist in the ongoing research, and we come for the simplest of reasons, to spend some quiet time with the Loons in winter on lake Jocassee. To spend time with one of nature’s grand wild birds in a wild and glorious setting. It is a gift somehow and honor. We come, some of us, knowing each other from years past, and some of you come knowing none of us nor a thing about the wild beauty of Lake Jocassee. It is what we are by the end of each week that continues to amaze me. We transform a group brought together for the sake of the Loons to an extended family, with all the joy and affection that is part of any genuine family. Loon love and Lake Jocassee. The ingredient for wonder, for joy, for the formation of long and meaningful relationships. I stand humbled. Every year.”
Time for a little trout fishing, but that’s another story. See ya.
Photo above: Blue hepatica by Stacy Robinson
