Yearly Visit to Sterling Nature Center

 Because of the weather and the quilt show, I got  a late start on my yearly visit to the Sterling Nature Center.  It has been an extremely wet spring here in western Upstate NY and I wasn't sure what I would find as the Nature Center is on Lake Ontario which has been flooding badly and eroding many of its banks.  

It was pretty much the same as usual although not as much action in the Great Blue Heron rookery as the juveniles were pretty big and a couple were even in the water.  

I did see this quite large Northern Leopard Frog on my way to the rookery and couldn't resist taking his picture.

There were the omnipresent Tree Swallows feeding their young in many of the nests along the way.

My first butterfly of the season -- a Pearl Crescent.  It was a beautiful day for a change.

Also saw my first dragonfly and a new one for me -- a Common Whitetail.  I saw several of these.  See those black patches on his wings.

I always seem to see a bird I haven't seen before here each year.  I had about given up but at the end of the trail, I spotted a bird in the tree and took a snapshot not knowing what it was.  Imagine my surprise when I saw it was a Cedar Waxwing.  I have only seen these once before and down in Kure (the year I saw hundreds of them).  I had never seen one up north before.  Too bad he wouldn't turn around.

And then I spotted this very yellow bird way up in  tree!  Aha -- it was a Yellow Warbler, another new  bird up here for me.  Last year or the year before I had seen a Yellow-throated Warbler but never a Yellow!  Quite  a treat even though I couldn't get too close or get a front view!

There are always chipmunks hopping around.  This one kindly posed though!