Bear Creek is a little business at the junction of Route 23A and Route 214, east of Hunter, west of Tannersville. The proprietors try hard to entertain the local families and the summer visitors, giving them something to do in the evening when the Sky Ride and Zip Line at nearby Hunter Mountain close for the day. There's a restaurant and bar, mini-golf, a driving range, horseback rides, a kiddie playground. They tried paint ball, they tried go-karts. To their credit, they keep trying things to attract a few bucks and make a living.
Last night, they lit up a fireworks show, and boom! As they do every time, fireworks worked. People in the GNC love their fireworks and hundreds converged on Bear Creek to watch. The extravaganza went on for thirty minutes, featuring all your favorite pyrotechnic effects and ended with a patriotic display of red, white and blue sparkles in the night sky. Everyone left feeling quite American, I'm sure. Good Job, Bear Creek.
About 3am, Mother Nature decided she would show Bear Creek how to put on a show. Lightning lit the sky as if it were high noon; thunder rocketed through Stony Clove, echoing from peak to peak and rattling my window panes. The sky threw furious rain at the GNC. (Still is, as I write this Sunday morning.)
We sat on our deck last night, watching the fireworks rise just over the treetops, impressed by the effort Bear Creek had put into producing the show. We awoke this morning thinking how cute those little firecrackers were. If you really want to see a brilliant show, wait for a lightning storm in the GNC.
What happens when Mr. Midtown moves to an isolated acre in the Great Northern Catskills? It's Inconceivable!
Showing posts with label Route 214. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Route 214. Show all posts
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Perfect Night For Fireflies
Last night's hot, humid, calm air was perfect for fireflies and they knew it.
In the GNC, County Route 2, from Mosquito Point to Prattsville, climbs the shoulders of Mt Vly and then takes a long, windy descent, past farm land, forest preserve and a few scattered homes until it rejoins Route 23 near the border with Delaware County. As I drove it after dark last night, short darts of light punctuated the road, the lawns and the fields. They were short flashes, but there were so many of them, that it had a disco-ball effect on me. I pulled over near Harry Peckham Road and decided to count them.
To be sure I didn't count the same firefly twice, I had to catch it and tag it with a sequence number. I searched the car for something to use for this purpose, and all I could find was an old roll of raffle tickets used to track door prize chances. The numbered tickets went up to 1,000, so I figured I could tag 1,000 and then extrapolate from there based on the volume of atmosphere surrounding Mt Vly.
I caught the first firefly and attached the tag to it with a rubber band from the glove compartment. Of course - I should have known - the tag was too heavy for the firefly to lift off. So, I had to rip the raffle tickets into four pieces, thereby having enough tags for 4,000 fireflies. I soon ran out of rubber bands and so I used little pieces of bubble gum for the rest. This worked well enough, though the flies seemed a bit wobbly as they flew away.
When I had completed tagging 3,999 and looked out over the fields, it seemed as if I hadn't accomplished a damn thing -- there were still hundreds and hundreds -- perhaps thousands more. So, I said to Number 4,000, "There are so many of you guys...how many of you are there?" I released the fly and was about to drive away, thinking how foolish I was to try to count fireflies in the GNC.
As I walked toward the car, I stopped to enjoy another deep breath of the sweet, oxygen-rich air. There above me in the cloudless sky, the fireflies had formed 9,999,999,999,996,000 in blinking dots.
In the GNC, County Route 2, from Mosquito Point to Prattsville, climbs the shoulders of Mt Vly and then takes a long, windy descent, past farm land, forest preserve and a few scattered homes until it rejoins Route 23 near the border with Delaware County. As I drove it after dark last night, short darts of light punctuated the road, the lawns and the fields. They were short flashes, but there were so many of them, that it had a disco-ball effect on me. I pulled over near Harry Peckham Road and decided to count them.
To be sure I didn't count the same firefly twice, I had to catch it and tag it with a sequence number. I searched the car for something to use for this purpose, and all I could find was an old roll of raffle tickets used to track door prize chances. The numbered tickets went up to 1,000, so I figured I could tag 1,000 and then extrapolate from there based on the volume of atmosphere surrounding Mt Vly.
I caught the first firefly and attached the tag to it with a rubber band from the glove compartment. Of course - I should have known - the tag was too heavy for the firefly to lift off. So, I had to rip the raffle tickets into four pieces, thereby having enough tags for 4,000 fireflies. I soon ran out of rubber bands and so I used little pieces of bubble gum for the rest. This worked well enough, though the flies seemed a bit wobbly as they flew away.
When I had completed tagging 3,999 and looked out over the fields, it seemed as if I hadn't accomplished a damn thing -- there were still hundreds and hundreds -- perhaps thousands more. So, I said to Number 4,000, "There are so many of you guys...how many of you are there?" I released the fly and was about to drive away, thinking how foolish I was to try to count fireflies in the GNC.
As I walked toward the car, I stopped to enjoy another deep breath of the sweet, oxygen-rich air. There above me in the cloudless sky, the fireflies had formed 9,999,999,999,996,000 in blinking dots.
Friday, May 20, 2011
* Mine are Vixen 7 x 35, 341 ft at 1,000 yards
I'm not a "birder" by any stretch. Nevertheless, from the front deck facing the Schoharie and and back deck facing Becker Hollow, within sight and sound there are:
thrushes(several varieties),
swifts, warblers, robins (found 3 nests of these),
jays, cardinals, finches, hawks, owl,
(in the swamp off Route 214) heron and other fowl
woodpeckers, is that maybe a Tanager?
don't know what that one is - over there -
pretty throat markings though,
not to mention crow.
I'm guessing an experienced birder with good optics* could sight fifty or more species without having to go too deep into the forest, if it would only stop raining.
thrushes(several varieties),
swifts, warblers, robins (found 3 nests of these),
jays, cardinals, finches, hawks, owl,
(in the swamp off Route 214) heron and other fowl
woodpeckers, is that maybe a Tanager?
don't know what that one is - over there -
pretty throat markings though,
not to mention crow.
I'm guessing an experienced birder with good optics* could sight fifty or more species without having to go too deep into the forest, if it would only stop raining.
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