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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!
I got a cortisone shot the other day in anticipation of my cross-country trip which starts next week with the goal being four days at Yellowstone with many stops both to and fro. I really wanted to get out to Sterling to see the Great Blue Heron rookery which is always a treat. Today was no exception. There were a lot of other birds as well and each year I see different ones. There were lots of Blue Jays. Except for my visit to Janet's last week, I haven't seen many Blue Jays the past few years. They must have had a bumper crop this year!!
The first bird I spotted was a Common Yellowthroat -- a warbler. I have only seen these one other time -- at Payne's Prairie in Florida with my sister.
Going through the woods to the rookery, I spotted this Wood Thrush, another bird I don't see too often.
I counted 13 nests but there may hve been more. These three nests were sitting close together. Three young ones are being fed on the right.
They are all looking up to the adult for more food. Great Blue Herons are usually very solitary birds except during mating and nesting.
I think the young one is ready to fly on his own. They seem older this year than when I usually see them which is a couple of weeks later.
There were several families of Canada Geese and lots of bird poop on the pathway by the pond!!
The place was crawling with cute little chipmunks. This one stopped posed for me a bit!
This Belted Kingfisher was hanging out with the Herons.
I didn't see any ducks at all this year which was unusual but the ponds were a bit drier than usual so that may have been the reason. I saw several beautiful Bluebirds.
At the end of the walk, I sat for a bit in a picnic area and just watched the trees around me. The above Bluebird, this Cardinal and the birds that follow all passed by me there!
Downy Woodpecker. You can tell by his prominent tuft on the beak.
There were a lot of Tree Swallows round but generally they are moving too fast. A couple stopped to pose for me for a bit.
An Eastern Phoebe stopped by to visit.
Almost forgot this beautiful Caspian Tern which flew over the pond.
Last but not least was this Northern Flicker. I used to see these all the time when I lived in Batavia and do see them down in NC.
Just for chuckles, I took a picture of the trees off in the distance which show all the greens of spring here in Western Upstate NY.
I discovered this bird sanctuary a couple of years ago thanks to my neighbor who saw it written up in the local paper and went for a visit. It is on Lake Ontario east of Rochester and has several ponds and a number of well-marked walking trails by the ponds and through the woods. The first pond you come to is out in the sun and I have seen several different kinds of ducks in the past. This year, there was a mama Canada Goose with her brood of 8 or 9 goslings on the far side of the pond.
While I was watching the geese, this critter swam by. It looked like a beaver to me but wasn't sure until I got home and looked closely at the picture and could see the long tail. First time I have seen a beaver in the wild. Not sure what he was building as this pond is already fairly deep with no running water that I could see. I talked to some people later who showed me another of the ponds that the beavers had constructed a dam on this past winter! Will be interesting how the landscape changes next year.
There was also this platform filled with sunning turtles although I don't know what variety there is up here.
I also spotted this dragonfly who managed to stay still long enough for me to snap his picture. It is an immature Blue Corporal -- one that I hadn't seen before. As adults, they are totally blue on the back end. He was a chunky fellow.
Next I wondered along the path to head to the Great Blue Heron rookery which is an area filled with dead trees. I suspect the aforementioned beavers might have been blamed for this pond years ago! If you look closely, you can see the babies down in the nest. I went earlier this year than I had previously (because the weather was perfect) and the young herons were far from fledged and not as active as other years. There are 25 nests this year. This is the only time of year you will see Blue Herons anywhere near each other as they are a very solitary bird.
You can see several nests here with young in them.
I headed to the next pond, part of which had been dammed up by the beavers. There was a pair of Blue-winged Teals dabbling in the shallow part of the pond. This is the male and really the closest I have ever gotten to this species. You can just barely see the blue on his wing that gives him his name.
Just another shot of the male Teal. They were dabbling almost constantly and most of my shots have their heads buried in the water!
This is the female Blue-winged Teal.
A couple I met at the pond told me they had seen Eastern Phoebes over the beaver pond snatching the flies but reported later that they had moved on (I caught up with them on the path). I looked over the pond and did spot one sitting on the branch. This must be my year for Phoebes!
A chipmunk decided to trek across one of the branches crossing the water.
There were as usual lots of Tree Swallows catching flies as well! This one sat for a moment to have his picture taken!
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