Snow geese showing up in the ricebelt

Mixing in with the specks. Still 90 degrees

We all gotta eat

One weird year, even in the animal kingdom. We have bucks chasing about 3 weeks before time and ducks on the tanks we have never seen ducks.

Weird year up here too.

First spring was a couple of weeks late, then everything busted loose and we had major flooding everywhere. Next the rains hit and didn't let up till late summer.

On a typical year we get 6 to 12 inches of rain over the spring and summer. This year I recorded 18 inches total in my yard before July first, a few miles over one neighbor recorded over 20 inches while yet another recorded only 14. We've had less then an inch after that.

Next the the Specs showed up well ahead of schedule and left before they normally do. Then the Canada's left even though half the fields were not harvested yet.

Now we are into our second week of -6 to -10 Celsius weather. That's about +28 to +5 on your thermometer i think. Not sure of the conversion any more, we've been metric so long I forgot all that stuff.

Now they tell us to expect 2" of snow on Monday.

I'm not looking forward to what the weather has for us after that.

And that doesn't even cover the Bear problems we had. Even had one looking in the window at me. It's been years since I had one in the yard. There are always a few around but not like there was this year.

Does sound like something is off keel. Our rain situation was strange too. We got a couple weeks of above average rain then it stopped but it came in at times where I still have some shallow tanks that dry up still holding water. We have a coyote problem this year for sure. Hogs were gone for a long time and now back with a vengeance. I've seen more lizards and frogs on my place than I've ever seen. Flies were down but ants were bad. My peppers, okra and tomatoes did great but the squash, cucumbers and melons bloomed but never produced.

Many local gardens were flooded out by the rains up here. Two of my sisters lost everything they planted.
Only one family member had a good garden. That was one of my nieces, They live on a sandy ridge with no level ground,
Their garden was crazy good.

I didn't notice anything unusual with any wildlife other then the birds and we had more bears this year then any year since I moved here, but the bear issue was due to a huge fire out west last year.
We are seeing way more Ducks then normal and migration was late this spring and early this fall. But insects seemed about normal, even the mosquitoes.
We only have one reptile up here, Red Sided Garter Snakes, I didn't see any of them this year.

Wolf numbers are way way up, but it's been that way for a few years now. Elk are up, Moose way down. Both species of Deer seem to be holding at good levels.

The biggest difference the rains made was to farming. Last fall was insane with fields looking more like rice fields then grain fields. This year most pea fields suffered root rot, some to the point of total loss.
Most of my neighbors are farmers but I haven't talked to them about this years harvest. From what I've seen I don't think any are having a good year this year.

As I type this my closest neighbors, a 1/4 mile north of me, are in lockdown due to one family member testing positive for covid. I haven't talked to them for weeks.
I often help one or more of my neighbors with the harvest but this year none called, I suspect because of my age and health they didn't wish to risk exposing me to the Vid.

I tell ya, I don't like this new normal, don't like it at all.

Hey guys, I've been wondering, what are these tanks you are talking about?

I get the impression they are small ponds, is that right? Or are they some sort of stock watering tank made of metal or concrete or something?

I have both and the small ponds usually dry up but this year they haven't gone completely dry.

Thanks.

Very little water in the panhandle. Central Texas and the Texas Coast should experience above average bird numbers this year.

There were some snows in marsh yesterday, I was out fishing/scouting

I guess we know why the ducks were bailing out of there. My brother in Nebraska sent me picture of Mule deer eating out of his front yard with snow on the ground.