Vacation and Spoonbills

I have been off from work for a couple of days (thus no posts) for a short vacation with my children. Tomorrow though, I leave for Florida with my man to visit my Mom, who is sick. Not the reason I'd prefer to go to Florida, but I will be glad to at least be able to hug her.

I am also hoping this trip will be THE ONE. The one where I finally see the Roseate Spoonbill. I think many birders have a bird, that "elusive something", that they have always wanted to see, but just haven't been able to for one reason or another. The Spoonbill is my elusive something. It's a beautiful pinkish bird with a huge beak shaped like a....well a spoon. It is found in warmer parts of the country and it runs, er, flies, when it sees me coming. OK, maybe I am being paranoid, but every time I go to Florida and I set out to find this bird, I fail. I have tried all kinds of tactics- from the going to the place where EVERYONE sees them (Ding Darling WIldlife Refuge) to the I'm going to Florida and I am not going to even look for them tact (my attempt at using reverse psychology on the birds). Nothing works. And my Mom thinks it's hilarious. So hilarious that she sends me pictures of the birds every chance she gets. Pictures she's clipped from the newspaper with sightings near her, which are apparently numerous. She once wrote that she saw one perched atop a light pole in her neighborhood- true? I don't know. Probably, since I wasn't there at the time. The last pictures she sent were beautiful matted photos some local photographer had taken of the birds. She SAID it would be her last reference to the elusive Spoonbill. I think maybe she is starting to feel sorry for me and there are limits to how much she is willing to see her daughter suffer.

So I am off again, will I see the Spoonbill? Probably not. But the fun is in the chase I guess...?

We Made It!

We made it back in one piece, but not without copious amounts of sweat rolling down our backs and rubbery legs. So I was wrong. Snowshoeing is hard work. But oh my gosh is it fun! Turned out 7 of us hit the trail after the big snow and made it back at various times, due to various states of fitness. Snowshoeing on a newly snowed trail is not for the faint of heart. We locked the Nature Center and did what we consider was a service - we blazed the trail for anyone else who wants to come up and snowshoe (bring your own or we rent them!) Surprisingly today, a very cold day, I have seen a half dozen snowshoers and at least 10 cross-country skiiers head out. Another beautiful day at Tanglewood, still pristine white snow, and abundant tracks of wildlife and humans having fun in the winter.

First Post, First Big Snow

Well, today is my first post to the Nature Blog. My plan is to post various musings, and likely some ramblings about what is going on in the natural world around Elmira. Today I look out my window at a most wonderful sight; 2 feet of snow and endless potential snowshoeing terrain. In a half an hour, 5 of us will trek out onto the yellow trail here at Tanglewood donned in snowpants and snowshoes. I went out eariler in the month when we got a few inches, fun, but not really challenging. Today should be a different story. Someone tall will blaze the trail, that will not be me. OK, so winter in NY- not always fun. Yesterday I had to back my car down Harris Hill because it just stopped going halfway up. My first year without four wheel drive and I'm regretting it. Today, roads are better, the sun's out and we get to have some adult fun in the snow. Sledding is fun, yes and especially for kids, but snowshoeing is much more mature :-) and a great workout. "They" say it burns 1,000 calories an hour under the right conditions. I'm not sure what the right conditions are, probably involves really heavy deep snow and getting lost? Today the snow is deep but light and hopefully we'll find our way back to the Nature Center. If there are no posts beyond this, send out the big horned sheep- to the yellow trail.