TRR photo by Ed Wesely An American elm flower

Heat wave. As I write on April 19, it’s 84 degrees at our place near Milanville, the first 80-degree day since September 14, 2003. Following a weekend in the high seventies, there’s been a flurry of activity in the plant and animal worlds.

Shad. River temperatures at Callicoon and Barryville have risen to mid-fifties from highs of 47 degrees a week ago. A recent report of the Delaware River Shad Fishermen’s Association notes “loosely packed schools” at the Route 202 Bridge, 16 miles above Trenton, with “catches reported up to the Delaware Water Gap.”

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