A New Year is coming

May the Cardinal of joy and prosperity fly up your nose this year.
This guy was the only thing we saw at the State Park this morning so he will have to symbolize the new year.

A cold grey day ... why are they here?

It has been very cold and gray why are these Robins still here?
or these American Goldfinches
Or these Cedar Waxwings.

I saw the Robins in the trees close by and took some pictures of them a little further away in the gray distance. When I got home and actually looked at what I shot I realized that I was looking at more than just the same Robins. The Waxwings are about the size and I knew the Goldfinches were smaller but I thought they were just some Black Cap Chickadees which are very common around here. Yet another case of not everything is what you think it is.

No Swimming

This sign just breaks me up. I didn't see anyone swimming, but it was 9° F and about a 20 mph wind. Ice skating would be in order if it wasn't so bitter cold.

The trail

We had a bit of snow overnite, but the day started out bright and sunny. This is the trail in Boughton Park.

Art in the park

We went out GeoCacheing today. What we found was some art in the fields and woods. I am calling this Archaeopterix for lack of a real name.
This would be the Deer "Head", a Geocache located in the deep woods.

Hi Tor Creek

The snow is still in the valley along the creek, but is melted from all around by the rain and warm weather. I had to add the moss on the log to have some colour in the picture.

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas to all. This was the sunrise this morning and probably will be the only sun all day.

Hiding in the brush

Mr Jay yesterday
Mourning Dove in the brush today.

Frozen

This American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea) is all puffed up against the 20° F weather. Not much wind but still cool.
Clark's Gully Naples, NY is pretty much frozen for the season.

Around the pond in the park

Grenville is waiting to catch me should I falter.

We chased this Red tailed Hawk down the length of the lake. Grenville was disappointed in the lack of squirrels and the hawk was probably disappointed at the lake of dinner.

Banish Lamentation

The "cattails" around the pond and the clouds seem to work together.

Fox and hound

This mangy fox was leaving Victor this morning. He was probably run out of town by the better foxes since he was heading for the otherside of tracks located close by.
The hound, Grenville, giving his most intimidating look. He was most upset that he couldn't chase the fox and get the mange himself.

Frost forms

These frost forms were still around this afternoon when I finally got out for a walk. This morning it was 9° F and therefore was not great for a walk.

A beautiful mistake

These 2 images were mistakes. I printed the cover of my new book to check how it would look, but I put the paper in the printer upside down. The ink made a very wet image which I didn't want to get all over the place so I set it aside to dry. Several days later I found the large images made from the small images in the pictures above. I love it, but probably will not repeat this.

Sunrise and Ducks and Geese

This was all the sun we saw on Sunday.
The Geese and Buffleheads were just spending time at the end of Canandaigua lake.

Geese picnicking

The past several days have been either wind driven rain or wind driven snow which has limited the picture opportunities although we did go out into it every day. Today it is bitter cold, 17° F, with lots of "ornamental sunshine". These Canada Geese were picnicking in Boughton Park, but staying close to the western side to be protected from the wind that is still blowing.

Bristol Mtn Ski Slopes

Bristol Mountain started watering this weekend. I heard that they will open later today with some trails.
If all goes as forecast, we will have plenty of natural snow later this week to help the ski area.

PS: This last picture was printed in the Daily Messenger, the local Canadaigua paper.

Mallards in the pond

Mallards resisting the move south, but they were relegated to one end of the pond that has not frozen overnight. In the coming days they will have very little if any open water.

Fort Hill Sunshine

I think this is the sunshine for the day. It rained but is too warm for snow at least until tomorrow.

Graffiti on the backside

This was seen on the backside of a barn I have seen for some time but didn't see the art. I think that it is now visible because of the lose of leaves etc. I think it looks really professional.

Start of December

"You aint nothin but a hounddog" comes to mind when I look at this with Snoopy doing the singing.
Today was the first of December and the first snow. That makes November a real record with no snow! It is getting harder to make pictures due to the dull grey sky and lack of natural colour. I will try to publish at least once a week, but don't expect pictures for your walls.
This is the Auburn RR. Notice the location of the ties despite the cover of fine rock dust layed over the old RR. Since the RR was taken up 40, 50, or 60 years ago why does this happen? Ghosts? I think that the ground was rally compacted under the ties and retains heat and conducts it better than the looser soil. If anyone has a real explaination I would love to hear it.

Night Lights

The folks are starting to bring out the Christmas lights.

Geese

The boys were just sitting around on the West Pond at Boughton Park.

Moving South

A Mallard flies off as one of many.
These Geese are stopping off for a short rest then it's off to Canandiagua Lake for the winter.

Lehigh crosses the Auburn

Dull grey day so we are looking for any image even it it just a graphic. This is where the Lehigh Valley RR crossed the Auburn, Rochester and Syracuse RR. The Lehigh is on top.

Cardinal and Red Berries

This Cardinal was among the red berries but was actually eating the grapes near by.

Ring-necked

I couldn't get the black cat sneaking up on this Ringed-necked Pheasant. I don't think the Pheasant even realized the danger. Not sure what happened since I was parked in the middle of an intersection and had to move along.

Geese

These Canada Geese just flew over the ponds without stopping but will probably be stopping in soon on the way south.

A Cobblestone House

We were Geocacheing at Mendon Ponds Park when our track lead us behind this Cobblestone house. It is a great example of the architecture from the workers left around after the Erie Canal was finished.

A Blue Heron

This Blue Heron was standing in a tree at the south end of Canandaigua Lake. They just don't look like they should be in a tree without some sort of safety devices. They are just designed wrong for tree roosting.
See! We need to get some engineers working on a better design.

Fort Hill again

The view from the top. A great day for November with sun but very cold.
This is a map of the area showing the settlements of the Indians.

White deer at Romulus

It was a very frosty morning even late morning, but we took a quick trip to the former Seneca Army Depot at Romulus. In the day it was barricaded and secured giving rise to a tribe of White deer. As you can see from this girl they are not albinos, just white. This one has a lot of brown hair, but a pink nose and ears.
Same deer different shot.

Frost and sun

The is out today.
This was a small patch of frost hiding in the shadows.