Saturday, September 29, 2018

New York Vacation - Day 3

Hello out there,
Can you believe it's already autumn? I hope everyone is doing well.  Thank you for stopping by and visiting. It's been a little while since I've posted anything. I keep getting caught up in daily life, and before I know it, it's the end of the day and I'm too tired to care about anything that isn't sleep.  Things are going well here. We've made a few day trips - over to Hammonasset in Madison and down to Milford and Stratford. We're not seeing a lot of wildlife (some night herons and miscellaneous ducks mostly), but we did have a sighting of a Roseate Spoonbill in Connecticut! It is said to be a first for Connecticut. They're not supposed to be here. We spotted it at a place called Raven Pond in Stratford. Here is my photographic record that it was there and I was privileged to see it.


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Okay, enough of that. Let's see more of our August vacation in Upstate New York. 

The fall flowers were on full display creating a spectacular feast for the eyes

I really love the warm colors of autumn, but in the back of mind, I know what's coming in a few short weeks! Brrrr

One of  Mother Nature's own flower arrangements

In the treetops, the Osprey would occasionally begin its repetitive "chirp, chirp, chirp." It's funny that these rather large birds have such tiny voices.

This Great Blue Heron was standing on the side of road. We drove past it slowly, so as not to startle it. Still visible in the rear view mirror, it was clear that the bird wasn't going anywhere.

In the top of a tree, this Egret was watching something in the sky

A Goldfinch was perched nearby

These Rose Mallows were everywhere. 

A Great Egret was perched on a stump and looking for a reason to pitch its head into the water. "Fish, where are you?"

This Cormorant would occasionally stretch its wings in an impressive display. I didn't manage to get a shot of it though.

And finally, to finish this post, this Tern was looking around ...

And these guys were getting restless as the day was coming to an end.

Thanks for looking. I'll be visiting some blogs this weekend and catching up a bit. 

Until next time.  😊




Thursday, September 13, 2018

New York Vacation - Day 2


The next day, we drove into the refuge and were greeted with the raucous sounds of gulls, as if they were celebrating the morning.

Webs were lit up by the morning sun

The ever-present geese stood near the road again

This Egret was perched on this tree limb

The flowers greeted the day and turned their heads throughout the day to face the sun

We saw a lot of Grebes, mostly the back ends of them as they dove down into the water. I managed to get this one right side up! 

Great Blue Heron

We took a drive to another area and saw some Sandhill Cranes that were poking their way through this field

Unfortunately, they were moving away from us, so I only got a couple of distant shots

We moved on to another area and saw this Green Heron in the afternoon sun. We headed back to the hotel for awhile to take a break from driving.

After a few hours, we headed back to the refuge, and on the way, we saw this family of deer in a field.

This one paused for a moment 

Into the refuge again, another Egret in a tree

The light was changing with the setting sun

Eastern Kingbird perched on a Rose Mallow stem

The sky was displaying some nice color now

And it was a thing of beauty

Going down...

Down...

And finally... Down.

A good day!
Until next time.
😊

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

New York Vacation - Day 1

The anniversary of September 11, 2001. What a dreadful day that was, but I'll never forget how the world wrapped its arms around us in collective grief and comfort. I hope one day we'll see that kind of unity again, not out of tragedy, but out of desire to simply be better to each other.

It's now September 12, 2018. Astronaut, Alexander Gerst with the ESA, is currently in space and shared some photos of Hurricane Florence, with these words, "Watch out, America! Hurricane Florence is so enormous, we could only capture her with a super wide-angle lens from the Space_Station, 400 km directly above the eye. Get prepared on the East Coast, this is a no-kidding nightmare coming for you."  All I can add is that if you're in the path, I hope you'll leave.  Lives matter. Everything else is just "stuff."
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I've been out of touch for awhile. We decided to take off and head to upstate New York for a week. We really enjoyed our stay there. We did some sightseeing and visited some nature preserves to look for wildlife. Bird migration is happening, but there wasn't that much going on there yet. We probably should have waited a couple of weeks, but we still had a good time.

The weather was forecasted to rain off and on all week while we were there, but we can't complain. We saw a few drops here and there, but not enough to stop us.

 Upon driving into the refuge, the sun was shining through the petals of Rose Mallows that lined the road.

There were Canada Geese at the edge of the road. We drove slowly past them, trying not to disturb them. This one stopped and kept a wary eye on us.

Fall flowers were on full display in a spectacular fashion

I think this might be an immature Peregrine Falcon (?)  He paid no attention to us, but was instead fixated on something below

This Great Blue Heron stood motionless, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for a fish to swim by

There were a couple of Trumpeter Swans. These birds are enormous compared to the Mute Swans we have here in Connecticut. 

We saw a lot of hawks on this trip - much more than usual. On the other hand, we saw fewer varieties of ducks and other birds

Toward the end of the day, we spotted this Great Egret perched high in a tree. The sun was lower in the sky, casting a golden color on its feathers. I love seeing these big birds in the treetops. I don't know why, but I simply never expect it.  When they are on a nest - yes. Just standing around - not so much. I know, I know. It makes no sense, but that's me.

This Eastern Kingbird posed nicely on a stalk.

We saw the swans again later in the day. They were swimming away.

And soon they flew off. 

It was time to call it a day. We headed back to the hotel to grab a bite to eat and kick back for a quiet evening, look over our pictures, talk, and watch a bit of TV... just like home! More soon about our trip. 

Thanks for stopping by to say hello. I'll visit your blogs and say hi, too. Right now, I have some chores to do. See you later!
😊