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!

😊