Mallard Duck #15

A male Mallard Duck just lounging in the cold water.

Red-tail Hawk #4

A Red-tail Hawk that I found along the river that was harassing some Buff Ducks that were in the water. I think I took this shot on the tenth of this month, a week and a half ago maybe. The Buff Ducks moved on but the hawk is still hear. Bufflehead Ducks image #1. I just cannot get close enough to these little one to get good shoots for my self. The red-tail definitely got closer to them then I can.

Common Merganser #17 & #18

Tonight I thought that I would share more resent bird shoot that I've taken in the last couple of weeks. This flyby shoot is of a male Common Merganser that was flying over the river maybe two weeks ago on one of my walks. A graceful fast flying bird that loves diving under the water for morsels to eat.

American Robin #60

A young fledgling American Robin.

Flowers #1

This was the first images taken of my flowers archives of last year. These flower will probably be the first of this year as well to go into my archives. "You can cut all the flowers, But you cannot keep spring from coming."    -  Pablo Neruda

3/14/15 Road Trip

u Last Saturday I took a road trip with Maria and my youngest son Daniel. We left from Binghamton around noonish heading for Cayuga Lake coming up through the Owego way in to Ithaca. We made a couple of stops in Ithaca for some snacks and things before stopping at Buttermilk Falls off of Rt 13. The next two images are of the frozen fall of Buttermilk Falls and are typical of all the shoots I took on this trip. The hole day was overcast, gloomy and off and on rain the entire trip. Not to good for photography but I'm sharing them anyway. After Buttermilk Falls, we went to Taughannock  Falls SP that is on the West side of Cayuga Lake about 20 to 25 minutes north of Ithaca. The next group of shoots are from there. The next two images are from the shore line at the park. The beach was littered with small broken up mussels and the occasional crab. Ether work of the birds or the ice, I just don't know. I believe that the building in the distance is the old Malign Station power plant that is on the lower east side of the lake. After leveing Taughannock falls, we traveled up the main rout towards Seneca Falls on the upper end of the lake. On the way we started seeing wineries so we decided to stop at one. The lucky contestant was Bellwether Hard Cider & Wine Cellars. It was a nice little place with very friendly staff on hand. We did their wine tasting venture of I believe 6 or 7 different ones. We decided on purchasing two bottles after our stay that were to our liking. The 2013 Riesling Seven Sisters Vineyard and the 2013 Riesling Tuller Vineyard, both are sweet table wines. The following shoots are of their little place. Are main stop was in Seneca Falls in a place called Sauders, a unique country store that has a lot of home made farmers goods and so much more. We go there for their meats and spices for the most part that we can not find in are area. I believe that they are a Mennonite based old country store and with all the trappings that go with it. It's the main reason we go there other than Montezuma Wildlife Refuge that is just 15 minutes to the east of there location. Sauders, unfortunately I did not think of taking any images of it wall we were there. I'll have to do that the next time I go there. We use to go up there about ones a month a few years ago it seemed to buy there goods and take pictures at Montezuma but this was the first time I think we bean there in over a year. The trip is a long one and takes about 2 1/2 hours one way from our home location. The trip on Saturday took us a good 7 hours or more. I did take some pictures in Montezuma but it was quiet for the most part. It is still frozen over and the main trail that go's around it was closed. On the way coming down the east side of the lake we did see birds in the open areas of water like the first image of the Redhead Ducks flying over the water. We also saw Mallards, Mergansers, Canvasbacks and Whistling Swans. Some images of Cayuga Lake just before I put the camera away on the way back. Well, hope you like the post. Spelling issues and all.

Landscape image 001

A image from last spring of the Susquehanna River in Binghamton NY. It kind looks similar to what I saw today on my walk. The ice is starting to brake up on the river and for the first time this week I saw Robins and Boat-tailed Grackles in our area. Things are starting to come back and looking like spring is on the way one more. I hope tomorrow that I can get out a post about more resent events about a ride that I took last weekend around Cayuga Lake.