HERONS AND MORE

Sunday was a ten-heron day around the Bay, with the tenth quite probably being a Black-crowned Night-Heron  (my first!). It was sitting on the far Coast Guard dock after sunset - too dark for a photo. It jumped down into the water, but flew back to the dock as I approached.  Short, stocky with yellow legs, a dark patch on top of its head and a really thick, short bill. I thought it was a seagull at first, because of the colors - gray, white and black. Thrilling! 

Here's a Great Blue Heron captured by Judy with the Canon on North Huron Road. We also found some Ducks That Were Not Mallards, but couldn't get a good-enough view to ID.

The view from North Huron Road, East of East Bay, looking East. Judy's, with the Canon.

 

Turtle Line-up on East Bay Road

 

Great Blue Heron from Lake Bluff Road

Great Blue Heron fishing at Sawmill Cove, Shaker Tract Road

Gaggles of Geese at Shaker Tract Road

GREAT BLUE HERON LANDING

Here's a great view of two Great Blue Herons landing high in a tree near their nest. Sapsucker Woods, Cornell University.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr5E2MA0w38&feature=colike

Here's the link to the live web cam on the nest.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=2433

BUNNY SEASON BEGINS

Today is Easter. I'm excited because of bunnies and truffle eggs and spring, so I suppose I should refer to it as Ostara, instead. The seasons and phases of the moon are predictable. Religion, not so much.

After giving up the illusion we could be lakeside by noon, we blew through Marion around 1:30. In the little pond on East Williamson Road before Witherden I saw either a muskrat or a beaver. However, by the time I ran back to the bridge he was gone. Two Canada Geese sat like decoys, and refused to give him up.

Onward to Sodus Point, via East Williamson Road to Townline to Lake to water.  Slight hopes that asparagus would be ready were dashed when passing Burnaps. 

We unloaded the car and the dogs, debated walking down to the beach and decided on a nap instead. It was around 45°, and really windy. Suddenly we remembered cheese. Off to the Heluva Good store for cheese, then for a ride to see what was around.

Grebes off Route 14 between the old trestle and Margaretta Road

Beautiful, blue sky was all around, but not many birds. We crossed Bay Bridge, seeing only a couple Mute Swans on the South side.  Suddenly, something soared over the bridge heading south. Adrienne said "I think that's an eagle". We caught another glimpse of it and it was big, and had a beautiful white head and tail. Yep, that's a Bald Eagle. It soared out of sight so we tried to follow around a really big block - Ridge to Lake Bluff to 104 to Brick Schoolhouse Road. Note to self: go back and get photos of some of those buildings.

Back over Bay Bridge, we stopped on the side of the road and the Eagle showed up again. He flew right over the car several times while I attempted to get pics with the Lumix - missed every time. I need to calibrate that. So I changed to the Rebel and tried again, and finally got a few of him overhead.

Bald Eagle over Bay Bridge

While waiting for the Eagle to reappear I checked out the swan nest - she was there sitting on the nest!  I took a few pictures, but she didn't move much. When I looked at them later I realized there was a bonus bird in the picture.  A really skinny Great Blue Heron.

Mute Swan on nest with Great Blue Heron on guard

The wind moving the willows was beautiful, too; video would have been better.

 

Heading back into the Point we stopped at Harriman Park, next to the boat launch, between Arney's Marina and Margaretta Road.  Saw more Grebes, gulls, a few Mallards, maybe a Redhead.  AND - my favorite little buddy, the Kingfisher on this pole.

Belted Kingfisher near Route 14 boat lauch

After cheese and crackers and sparkling grape it was time to check out the light for later. Here, everything seems to revolve around the light, the wind, waves, and weather.

 

Red-Breasted Merganser at Rt. 14 boat launch. Say it with me, it's fun - Mer-Gan-Ser

Looking North from Bay Bridge - windy

I wondered why this bunny didn't run while I took some pictures. Until I got back and saw the picture on a bigger screen!

The rising Full Pink Moon over Sodus Bay and Arney's Marina. Not a cloud in the sky until moonrise.

 

 



LAKE ONTARIO CONDITIONS

Lake Ontario Surface Temperature - Current:  http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/ontario/o.html

Lake Ontario Cloud Cover:
http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/modis/modis.cgi/modis?region=o&page=1

MAPS

Maps, charts and aerial photos fascinate me. I need a place to store source information, and will start here.


MAPPING SITES

CoastWatch: http://www.coastwatch.msu.edu/twoontarios.html

National Map: http://nationalmap.gov/

OpenStreetMap: http://www.openstreetmap.org

USGS Topo:  http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/

USGS EarthExplorer:  http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/




CHART SITES



AERIAL PHOTO SITES

AerialPics.com - Great Lakes imagery:  http://www.aerialpics.com/A/welcome.html

Great Lakes Aerial: http://www.greatlakesap.com/gallery/

MapMart: http://www.mapmart.com

MyTopo: http://www.mytopo.com/index.cfm

Photography Plus - photos of Great Lakes, Lake Ontario and Sodus Bay: http://www.photography-plus.com/ScenicPage.htm

SkyPic: http://www.skypic.com/

TerraServer: http://www.terraserver.com/

USGS Aerial Imagery: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/aerial.html

Vintage Aerial: http://vintageaerial.com/

IT'S BUNNY TIME

  PETER COTTONTAIL

Here Comes Peter Cottontail  From the movie "Hills Of Utah"; performed by: Gene Autry; written by: Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, ©1950

http://www.wtv-zone.com/REMEMBERTHEN/lyrics/musiclyricsd.html

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter's on its way


Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter
Bright and gay


He's got jelly beans for Tommy
Colored eggs for sister Sue
There's an orchid for your mommy
And an Easter bonnet too. Oh!


Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day


Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Look at him hop and listen to him say,


"Try to do the things you should"
Maybe if you're extra good
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way


You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev'rywhere,
Oh!


Here' comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day.

2012'S LONE SNOWSTORM?

Palmyra and Sodus Point received about a foot of snow since yesterday afternoon, most of it overnight to about 1 PM.  It's cold right now (24), but up from the upper teens earlier.  Here's what I saw looking out the front door this morning.

One meteorologist posted that other areas around us received up to 16", which is 3/5ths of the snow received this season to date. I don't know anyone complaining.  While I was looking forward to experiencing lake-effect snows first-hand this year, I didn't want to start in mid-February.

AROUND SODUS BAY FEB 11 2012

It's a day trip this weekend. Lots to do at home, and there's a possibility of lake-effect snow in which we'd love to be trapped, but need to be more prepared. About 25 degrees out, with a wind out of the north at about 25 MPH, gusting higher. Blowing snow and sand, Sodus Point was almost deserted. Perfect.

A ride around the Loop revealed some ducks on the South side close to the village. Who knows where the rest are. I liked this view because of the flat ground, the single dark tree, the open water and Charles Point beyond. That's blowing snow and spray over the water.

From the $299,000 lot at the end of the Loop. Cool frozen spray.

These long rollers were coming in all the way past 5th Street, maybe even to the docks. I've never seen rollers come that far, or whitecaps right up to the edge.

Some great rollers on the Lake.

Shipwreck?  A's been watching the one on the left for weeks. It finally started rolling in the waves yesterday, but we weren't ready to go down and get it.

Ducks on a roller coaster in the channel.

A calls it Upstate Coral.

THE ELUSIVE EIDER

Finally. I've seen enough pictures of this bird taken by other people to be sure I was looking at the right bird. More reports of sightings at Sodus Point on Friday prompted me to take even more looks on Saturday. I was determined to see this bird for myself, and to be positive it was the right bird.

It's a female King Eider, apparently rare in these parts, and she's stayed close to the same spot on the south end of the channel for several weeks now. My first look was through a magnificent scope offered up by an experienced birder a couple weeks back. The birds were rising and falling fast on the channel swells, and I just wasn't sure I had the right bird.

I've researched Eiders in general and examined my own hundreds of pictures very closly, but haven't been sure enough to tell myself "that's it!". Until yesterday.

More pictures of her were posted on Flickr by Melissa and Wade here, taken last weekend. So, I was more determined than ever that I was finally going to see this bird, this weekend. This has been the winter that wasn't, until yesterday. It was about 25 degrees around 2PM, and the wind was out of the North at about 25 MPH, gusting higher.

There were quite a few ducks in the channel, mostly Long-tailed, though it was rolling like a coaster with breaking whitecaps.

I don't have a scope yet, so I'm looking for this bird using a combination of my Nikon 10x50 binoculars, Canon XTi Rebel with a Sigma 70-300mm lens, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 with the equivalent of 36-432mm zoom, and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10, 21x zoom. I know, sell one of them and buy a scope.

With the binoculars, looking in the reported location, I found what I knew to be the Eider. It was bigger than the other birds, lighter brown than a female Mallard, and the head profile was right.  I don't use this photo as any ID proof, only proof to me where I saw her.

I'm satisfied. Unless I can get a closer, clearer picture. I'll keep looking and trying.

Here's a picture of a female King Eider for reference:
http://www.whatbird.com/Forums/forums/storage/10/281727/P1050241.JPG

Next up: a Loon. I'm pretty sure I saw one or two a couple weeks ago, standing up in the bay off Greig Street.  But not sure enough to be satisfied. I need a picture.