Buttermilk Falls, Mergansers and Signs of Spring
March 19th, 2025
(Apologies for hitting your inbox with two posts in one day. That will happen rarely if ever in the future. I’m bootstrapping this site and figuring it out as I go.)
Meteorological spring arrives tomorrow, March 20th, but I have no illusions that winter is done with us. Even so, signs of spring are appearing everywhere. Here are a few photos from a brief visit to Buttermilk Falls and the Raquette River earlier today.
A pair of Common Mergansers resting along the Raquette near Buttermilk Falls. Common Mergansers are always one of the first of the migrating birds to reappear in the spring. In recent years there has been open water on Long Lake by this date, and groups of Mergansers have gathered waiting for the remaining ice to clear. So far this year, there is very little open water on the lakes so the birds have taken refuge where they can.
Water levels on the Raquette river are high, in keeping with the spring melting of the past 10 days.
