November out of Wack
A Warm and Dry November
November, for me, is a time to build a fire, bring in more wood, hunker down and build bird boxes. But this November was exceptionally dry and warm—I was riding my bike to run errands on November 17. Because of the dry, brush fires ignited in the region, and smoke filled the air. Because brush fires are unusual on the East Coast these burns made me feel even more that the world is out of wack. It was so warm out that on a walk at Greig Farm I saw Checkered Skippers flitting about. And Forsythia buds were emerging, the bushes ready to bloom.
Because of the strange weather—not just dry and warm but also strong storms, birds like Cave Swallows (which I have never seen as they properly belong in Mexico and the south in states like Texas or the tip of Florida) were showing up locally, no doubt blown off course by fierce winds.
Some of the out of wack-ness of course comes from the election, which left many rattled, anxious, or downright depressed. My solution: focus even more on the small things, like the princess pine (also known as Common Ground Pine) that grows among the trees at Thompson Pond, one of my favorite nature reserves. And that journey to Pine Plains took me past ponds where I saw the expected: hundreds of ring-necked ducks puddling about, a pintail or two, ruddy ducks with their pointed tails, a grebe delighting in its deep dives. The ducks and geese blanketing the ponds and Canada Geese working the farm fields were familiar and welcome sights of November.
On November 23 the first snow fell in the Catskills and the snow buntings returned to Greig Farm, which I saw on a rainy Thanksgiving day. As I write this it is 20 degrees out and the fire is going, as if all once again is “normal.”
