Happy New Year

A bright sunny day

 This Cardinal and several of his cronies were enjoying the sun and very cold -10C temps

We had a little frost that the was melting quickly.

A bunch of birds

 Red-bellied Woodpecker out tapping the woods.

 Cedarwax wing

Bufflehead and Hooded Mergansers out on the lake held way off by the ice.

Boxing day through out the colonies

 The deer on the trail is hard to see just on the left way down the trail.

 This may feed the birds, but really pisses me off that hunters dump the bones back in the parking lot.

The bridge too far and too cold

Merry Christmas ... Yule is over the days are getting longer

 I didn't check my phone to see if the ice effects reception.

This is the biggest group of Turkeys that I have seen.  I have seen small groups here (see the post on Saturday), but this must be the whole family home for Christmas.

Deck the boughs ...

Sponsored by Grenville, my dog.

Birds of a feather ... at least they have feathers

 Turkeys near the road so we turned around and went back to shoot them.

I haven't seen this Bald Eagle since the ice went out on the lake.  Not sure where he has been all summer, but great to see him back.

Red Tail and Mallards

 This Red tail is looking over the Golf course for a bite to eat.

Mallard family  swim about the pond which as just melted open some.

Cedar Waxwings

 The Cedar Waxwings were huddled in the tree

Not much warmth they way they were together Must be for companionship.

Bitter cold on Fort Hill

This was a small fraction of the Starlings flying around the park today.  I don't know if hey are grouping to fly south or if "The Birds" is coming true.

It is bitter cold, but the sun is out and lots of really cool views (cold views?) in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Water Ice no steam (it isn't that warm)

View of the snow at Boughton Park and Fort Hill

Lehigh Valley Line

 This is the bridge where the Lehigh crosses the Auburn line

 A caboose waiting to be restored

A other caboose in the snow storm

Gonondagon

The recent rain is now cascading over the low falls in Gonondagon

Northern Harrier

This Northern Harrier was feeding on something while we went for a walk and was here when we returned.

Redtail Hawk

One of a pair of Redtail Hawks.  I thought they were Vultures at first because it is rare to see more than a single Redtail.

Pollywags

I saw these at the end of Canandaigua Lake on monday.  I think they are Polliwogs under the thin ice.  This is unbelievable at this time of year.  If anyone thinks these are some kind of fish tell me what they are.

Lumpy rain

 We started out with lumpy rain, but returned to the Jeep in just lumps.

 Later the lumps added up to about 3 inches and with all the rain over the past days the ducks were floating all over the golf course.

On the far left is a Blue Heron searching for golf balls in the fairway.

First Snow of the Season

 This is the first snow of the season that amounts to something.  Fort Hill scenes.

Taughannock Falls for Thanksgiving

 Stopped by Taughannock Falls SP on my way down for a superb Thanksgiving dinner.  I agree with my nephew Thanksgiving should be once a week.

Since I couldn't exercise Grenville at the falls overlook, we stopped at the park area down below.  This would be the power plant supplying Ithaca NY which is just to my right a ways.

Blah!

The weather and time of year have made picture taking very difficult this past week.  It has been just BLAH.  These Mallards were swimming in the golf course pond.  So I shot them.

Males are out on this nice morning

 A Buck watches as his harem crosses the road. I think there were 4 Hinds.  I just pulled up to take Grenville for a walk when these guys walked across the road in front of us.  I grabbed the camera and shot through the windshield so not the greatest pictures.

 A Blue Jay

And a Cardinal Both noisy on this sunny morning.

Another one of the girls

The Does are out but no so much for the Bucks

A tranquil day ...

A  Tranquil day at the boat launch

Four does hiding out in plain site

The Mink tree

Poor pictures but it was great to actually see this guy.  It was dark and misting so I didn't have my big lens and this guy was up near the tree top.