Migrating through Central New York

Today Max and I went birding. First to Derby Hill on the far southeast shore of Lake Ontario to see the Hawk migration. Most were too high but we did see a bald eagle, a vulture or two and a couple of hawks. From there we drove to Sterling Nature Center (about 30 miles west along the southern shore of the lake) and I showed Max the great blue heron rookery. There was also a great egret there.

I am so annoyed that I don’t have my new camera yet! I had to settle for using my little Kodak digital and my old Pentax 35mm film camera with a zoom lens. It was so great watching the herons, they are one of my favorite animals – so majestic, especially in flight.

After Sterling we went southwest to the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge. Lots of geese, a couple of great blue herons, carp (orange carp? are orange carp native?), and – the best part – two osprey nests. The first had one osprey, pretty sure she/he was incubating eggs. The second nest was one we had visited a couple weeks ago, at that time there wasn’t much to the nest – just a shallow shell. We were pleased to see that the ospreys had rebuilt the nest and both ma and pa were sitting in it. We also saw what I think were Caspian terns at Montezuma. If so, that’s a lifer for me.