finding our bald eagle

The summer "to do" list also had "find a Bald Eagle" on it. So I figured now that they are plentiful the task would not be too hard...I have never seen one n the wild and Grace either so we were excited about the adventure. We headed to Montezuma where I read a woman saw 50 different eagles in one day...I figured she put a bunch of flapping fish on the roof of her car and just sat back and watched them come....

We tried just looking....within seconds of being in the park we spotted a low flying raptor type...it was a falcon....not sure which...maybe a perrigrine.or a northern harrier...cool...he dove into the marsh grasses and yanked out a snake or something...so we kept looking....

We saw Herons, grebes, Bitterns, egrets, pipers...wow ...and maybe a sand hill crane(Grace had the brochure so she was calling them pretty good from the back seat )....we did not see anything for certain on the main road...so we headed to Tschashe Pool....just south of the watch tower I tell Grace to watch the dead tree limbs....within a two seconds she screams "DAD...THERE'S ONE!"..I pull over mainly because of the shrill pain in my ear and head from Grace's casual announcement. I look to the west (into the sun) and I see a huge bird just landing on a limb...I squint but I see a line at the neck and I think she is right...that is a bald eagle....stunning bird but light was bad so I tell her....watch him and I pull the car into the next clearing and get the camera gear out...and then he flew off...see him in the pic?

I would say we met our goal but now we are going back to the same pool next time through...morning would be better light.

If you click and look at this one from Tschache Pool you can see hundrds of birds....the blow up is of an immature male bald eagle we tracked for some time but it could be a large harrier maybe.

so we will be back soon to continue this adventure...certainly on a cooler day....

the return to Blue Mountain

Each summer Grace and I make a list of possible things to do during our summer week. Usually the basics of shopping, sleepovers , golf, etc...with a local "adventure" mixed in. It started with the butterfly conservatory a few years back and last year we had an excellent day in Letchworth....well there has been an idea of hiking and this year I pushed at the climb a mountain thing...I read a blog and some stuff about Blue Mountain in the Adirondacks.

I was here in boyscouts in 1979? after a 50+ mile canoe trek. We talked about climbing but we never did(confirmed by EB)....it stuck...we had to return to Blue Mountain...this time to climb.

I read some stuff that said part of the climb was hard but well marked...I said sure no problem....so we went for it. We arrived at 10am with the lure of a 4 hour round trip and lunch at the summit. 3400 foot summit with a meager 1700 foot accent.

So we go...here' s pics from the trail...

great day for a climb...only 85 on the hill but sticky in the woods....tough climb...for me anyway...thankfully Grace had no problems and powered up this bad boy...she mentally dragged me along. My legs just died on me...I was lucky to make it really. I was able to control arthritis and sugars and other issues....so lucky.

Thanks for a great trip Gracie. Please note the LLBean garb for Grace....sorry hun, Converse are nice but you need some hiking shoes for a mountain.

Then ....finally after two families w/ younger kids passed us (and three dogs)...

We took 4.5 hours....to get to the top somehow....had a quick lunch...chatted w/ the families ...enjoyed the incredible breeze and of course took the great shots from the fire watch tower...the 360 view from the tower has to be one of the Adirondacks best.

So we got down pretty good...about 2.5 hours...Grace was a little slow coming down...long legs are helpul on the way down...the AC'd car was a most welcome sight....long ride home. Grace was asleep before we left the village...what a trooper....7 hours putting up with me...but the hardest I have worked in many years and now as the soarness sets in (post climb -day 2) we have some great memories and funny stories to tell in the future "one time" moments. We called some of the siblings as is now the tradition at summits. I also called EB and JB...opened a beer at the summit with JB on phome saluting our climbs from 20 years ago.

I should remember to really warm up for this next time....will I never learn...

Hopefully the learning in this case is there is time to do everything on the list.

Note to siblings...this is a great climb for the kids...Anna would chew this up...the runners would jog it....and BTW...the gauntlet is thrown....even though I don't know if I would do it with you.

Will you return to Blue Mountain?