NYS Fair

We stopped off at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, NY. I don't know who the mascot is but I assume he belongs to the Fair since he was greeting everyone at the entrance as we were leaving.

I don't know who these guys were but they were GREAT. Two were on stilts like this and a third was on the ground as a trainer. The guys on stilts could maneuver the animals like they were real. They heads moved side to side twisted and the mouth opened and closed. You would think they were actually riding the beasts.This was fun to watch the goat that is leaving had it's head under the stall trying to get someone else's fadder. When that failed he started rummaging around the stall and the gate opened so he decided to take a stroll. There was a shout and he returned. I think he knows his name and so does the owner. Maybe this was not his first run in with the law.

Doves and Lilies

Mourning Doves and Water Lilies found in the swamp.

Flash trial

It was a cloudy day with some rain around. I took this opportunity to take some flash pictures using the camera and flash unit set to manual and the flash hand held off camera. The top picture is using natural light. The bottom used the flash low and to the left set to 1/16 power and the camera set to 250 sec/f14.

A Green Heron - actually Green

I have finally gotten a picture of a Green Heron (Butorides virescens) which actually shows why it is called Green (hope you can see the green feathers on your monitor). I have many pictures of these guys and none show the green back feathers so I have always thought it was misnamed.

Book

This is a book I put together last year and is available from Blurb.

Seeing With New Eyes...

By Dana Jones

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Grosbeak and Pearly Crescentspot

This Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus lubovicianus) got within an easy putt. I think that is lunch leftovers on his beak. This is a mature Grosbeak where yesterday's was immature.
The tiny Pearly Crescentspot (Phyciodes tharos) has been flitting about lately but rarely settles down for a portrait session .

Mud and Columns

Once again we were down in the swamp letting the mud ooze up between our toes and coating our legs and stomachs in black muck with the smell of a refrigerator after a week of power outage . Ok, actually Grenville, the dog, was doing that not me but he was having fun.
This is a Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) getting seeds.
I love the color combinations of this bird - a young Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)
I have always wondered what the inspiration was for the Corinthian Columns. I think I have found it.

A quick stop at the park

Must be a slow day in the park. I only pulled into the park to turn around when I saw the field of yellow flowers. I go out to take a picture of the flowers when the deer provided a great background.

Mt Hope Cemetery

The Mt Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY is home to such notables as Susan B Anthony, Fredrick Douglass, George Seldon first to patented automobile, et al. We were there working on a Geocache, but it is still very interesting to see and walk around. Hattie's marker is one that really cought my attention and must show she had a sense of humor.

The Wall-That-Heals

The "Wall that heals", the traveling 1/2 size Vietnam Veterans Wall, has been set up in Perinton, NY for the weekend.

Found out in the field

The dragonflies are out in number today flying about the flield. However, none seem inclined to land leaving me only one choice - to shot them on the fly.
The purple beauty and the green monster.

Fort Hill view to S by SW

The plaques have descriptions from the diaries of Gen. DeNonville and his men of the Fort or Palisaded Granary that was here and burned by these men. They also mention the neighboring villages the First Nations had.

On the Ontario Pathways Trail

The mobile Vietnam Veterans Wall pasted through town this afternoon. It was an amazing sight just to see the motorcycle escort - there had to be 500 bikes.

I had to choke back a tear.
The Ontario Pathways is trail is an abandon railroad so is generally flat and mostly straight. This section follows a creek so it meanders more than most sections. This is quite a nice section with lots of trees but not so much that they block the view.
Not very big but very nice cascades along the trail.

On the way to a friends house ...

Had to stop by a friends house and saw this young Red Tailed Hawk (I think) sitting on the fence to the local airport. I am not sure if he was giving flying lessons or receiving lessons.
Later we found this Woodduck, a female or juvinile(?), down in the swamp. She looked around and was only rattled when she saw the dog, Grenville.

Adirondack stuff ...

Been camping in Adirondack Park for the past several days which may account for the lack of updates. The picture above is the North Fork of Forked Lake as seen from our camp site. This was the daily fog burning off reveling a beautiful day.
A short distance down the road from the campsite is this Buttermilk Falls (there are several more Buttermilk Falls in the state)
What is a trip the Adirondacks without a picture of a Loon?

Treed Coons ... Ok, more like Bushed Coons

These two guys must have heard us coming and beat it for the closest tree. In the swamp, however, the trees are far apart and more like bushes. Grenville went over and tried to talk them down, but they would have none of that.

Yet another Hummingbird ...

This is absolutely amazing! This is the 3rd day in a row I have seen and photographed a Hummingbird. As I was saying yesterday, making this the 4th time I have seen a "Wild Hummingbird". What is going on - the full moon? something in the water? the Dow over 9400?

Hummin' birds

Yesterday I took a bunch of pictures of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) in my neighbors flowers. She has had a Hummingbird feeder for years but neither of us has seen a single hummingbird at her feeder. So she stopped putting it up. It was funny to show her the picture of a hummingbird attracked to just her flowers.

These pictures are from today when I was able to watch 2 or more Hummingbirds at the south end of Canandaigua Lake. Including yesterday this only the 3rd time I have seen Hummingbirds in "the wild" away from a feeder. It has been really cool!!!

Steam Pageant '09

This is the first day of the Steam Pageant in Hopewell, NY. They show off the earliest in farming tech, most of which is in working condition. I think of a noisy train when I think of a steam engine, but actually these engines are very quite and you need to keep looking behind you on the roads to make sure you are not about to steam rolled.
When running there is steam coming out all over. What fun!!
Everybody loves "Deer Green"
The last time I was here this dragline was digging holes in the fields with a young guy sitting on the operators lap.

Ducks and weeds

The Woodduck was swimming with his brother down on the ole beaver pond.
I have taken many pix of Orange Jewelweed, but have recently found some Yellow Jewelweed. I love the way the background turned out on this image. I just wish I had not been feeding the mosquitoes and had time to do a better job on the image.

Flying debris

This is just one of a squadron of Pondhawks that were flying around the field. It was great fun to watch as they would fly in a formation and break up into individuals then form up again.
I could not find what this guy is, but he sure is pretty. He was dangling from a branch about 20 feet in the air. It is amazing how strong silk is.

Honey Bee and Viceroy

The Viceroy was feeding off several Queen Ann's Lace this afternoon.

Mud Creek

We were out Geocaching this morning. The nice thing is we were able to multitask by feed the mosquitoes. The bridge is over Mud Creek and used to support the Auburn RR.