Presque Isle is like a finger that sticks out into the lake. The East Pier is at the end where the land turns back in towards the shore – helping create Erie’s protected bay. This watercolor shows the water lilies that grow along the shore by the pier. It is 11 x 14 and available for $225

I don’t like this spelling of pilsener… the origin is the town of Pilsen and therefore the beer should be a pilsener.

I digress; this if my first beer from Erie and, forgive the pun, but it’s left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Glassware – Ikea Pilsener

Appearance – Pale gold in color with visible carbonation and what was initially a 1.5 finger white head that receded in to ring. No cap or anything and no lacing.

Nose – A little funky and not very good. Some earthy hops in there but, unfortunately not enough to cover the sour aroma. There is also very little biscuit hanging in the background.

Taste – Taste is better than the smell and actually pretty good. Nice noble hop taste balanced with a little bit of a fruity background with green apples and pears. The tartness works in an interesting way, though I don’t think it’s usually considered appropriate for the style.

Mouthfeel – Thin body with lots of carbonation, very cleansing and very refreshing.

Overall – Given that there are many better German Pilseners out there, and the fact that I tend to prefer the Czech style I won’t likely by this again. Not really bitter enough and not really appropriate for the style but it is a good beer, in an interesting sort of way.

Winter normally leaves me longing for color. It’s early winter here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and winter can last into April with cold arctic blasts the norm thru January and February. Today I spotted green on the cross country trails at the Blueberry Ridge Pathway (for more on this outing visit Running Marquette).

Then I spotted this vacant duplex out on Presque Isle today. The color of the bark was warm and inviting and quite a contrast to the biting windchill temps. Mike and I were shooting the waves of Lake Superior which I will end up posting over at A Winter Journal. I plan to continue to seek out color all winter. I also promise to learn filters, and actions, to bring unique takes on art in winter.

New York has a giant crystal ball and Maine has a giant sardine and a galvanized star. Frankly, I really like the sardine and the star better.

Here are a couple of links:

Presque Isle to raise star to mark new year

Eastport welcomes new year with sardine drop

The story about the conflict between the Presque Isle city manager and the City Council there had to be a fun, but stressful story for Bangor Daily News staff writer Jen Lynds. (Here’s a link to the story: “Presque Isle tensions end tenure of manager: Friction with City Council spurs decision not to renew.”)

I mean, who doesn’t get a kick out of a about dysfunctional city government in which the City Council and a city official are at odds, especially to the point that one or more of them start wearing a gun to City Council meetings. (Yeah! A gun!)

I suppose it would have been an even better story if that armed city councilman had been the board’s chairman and had used the butt of the gun to call the meeting to order. Now that would have been something!

Tom Stevens, 54, had been the Presque Isle city manager for 17 years and now he is on his way out. (He’s got another government job lined up, so don’t feel too sorry for the guy.) City Council members claim they gave him a list of suggestions on how to bring innovation and jobs to the Aroostook County city. The City Council is ousting Stevens – they claim – because he ignored the mandate to bring in innovation and jobs.

He says he never got the list.

Here are the first two graphs from the story:

When a city councilor began wearing a gun to council meetings, City Manager Tom Stevens knew his problems were more complicated than ever.

Stevens, who is serving out the last weeks of a one-year renewal of what previously were multiyear contracts as city manager of Presque Isle, told the Bangor Daily News recently that his last years in his position were fraught with meetings of questionable legality among councilors, interference by councilors in the manager’s work, and contention about public safety at council meetings prompted by one councilor carrying a firearm.

Here’s a line deep in the story that I love. It’s sort of a “well, duh” moment:

Stevens said his relationship with the council grew worse around the time Councilor (Ron) McPherson began wearing a gun to meetings.

Apparently, Mr. McPherson has a carry permit and there is no law in Maine to prevent him from wearing a gun at meetings or in City Hall. But still …

The story tells of the turmoil over the past couple of years, but it is a bit of a “he said, they said” sort of tale and is missing the voice of someone from outside of government. It would have been a better story had it included some independent local observations and provided more historical perspective.

Frankly, it is small-town government at its dysfunctional best, but it is still very interesting.

I’ve read the story and I am not exactly who is in the right and who is simply crazy. Frankly, there may be too many, um, untruths on all sides for there to be a “right” side to this whole Wild West show in the Deep Dark Woods of Maine. It appears to be a truly dysfunctional situation and I hope that it works out for everyone.

(For my friends “from away,” Presque Isle – which I believe means “part island” or “almost island” – was the “big city” growing up. It is where we went for serious shopping, restaurants and medical care. It was about 45 to 60 minutes to drive there and where the nearest movie theater was located.)

(most of this was originally posted on the Green Racing Project blog)

I spent the weekend in Presque Isle, Maine, a part of the country that most people don’t even realize is part of this country. Its proximity to Canada aside, it was actually pretty great. The Nordic Heritage Center has great trails and an amazing lodge, and it made for great racing at the Eastern Cup openers. What made for less good racing were my repeated problems with things falling off.

Saturday really suprised me as I am usually very bad at sprinting – I mean, not just not good, but actually bad. Luckily, Pepa has helped me grow some fast twitch muscles and I was shocked to see that I qualified in 7th. The real excitement began in my quarterfinal, though, when about two strides out of the start the basket came off my right pole. This was completely due to my own stupidity since I knew it was loose when I left Craftsbury and had just forgotten to find pole glue and fix it. That threw me off and I was in 5th coming up the first steep, awkward hill. Luckily, on the rollers on the next part of the course, I was able to do some really quick V1 and get by a lot of girls, ending up 2nd in my heat and advancing. Every time I planted that pole, though, it sunk into the snow and I was terrified that the bottom was going to just snap off, which would have been a big problem! Before my semifinal, Janice from NENSA was nice enough to find a new basket, some pole glue, and a heat gun, and fixed me up. Thanks Janice! I had never made a semifinal of any sprint before so it was an exciting day. I’m still learning how to ski heats, and I ended up 10th – not as good as I qualified, but, a start for sure.

I entered Sunday’s mass start confident that my poles were all set, and caught a lucky break in the start. I was in the second row, but the girl who was supposed to start in front of me never showed up. In addition, I was on the inside lane for the turn at the top of the hill. So I got a good start. By 2 1/2 kilometers in, I was skiing in a lead pack of 8 girls. Then, somehow, I don’t know whether it was from me skiing up on Rachel Hall’s skis or Olga Golovkina skiing up on mine or some combination of the two, but the binding on my left ski opened. WHEN HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED, IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, TO A SOLOMON PROFIL BINDING???? It was on an uphill, so by the time I noticed that my skiboot was making direct contact with the snow, my ski had already started sliding down the hill. I stopped and frantically turned around to go get it, shouting to the spectators at the bottom of the hill, “Grab my ski! My ski!” and also, perhaps, cursing. I managed to get the ski, put it on, turn back around and ski up the hill again, but the damage was done. Sprint as I might, I couldn’t catch the pack – the closest I ever got was within 8 seconds going by the shooting range, although I did catch Rachel when she dropped off the back. I still had my best Eastern Cup result ever (7th), but it was frustrating because I think if I had been able to stay in that pack instead of wasting my energy trying to sprint up to them for a few kilometers, I could have had a really excellent result. Oh well, at least I have more confidence for next time, because I know I can ski with those girls!

So, here’s to getting equipment malfunctions out of the way early in the season….

Results here.

As I had mentioned earlier in the week, I’ve been doing some traveling.  Got to Erie, Pennsylvania on Sunday, got back to Memphis on Thursday. I don’t mind distance, but taking 4 days worth of stuff anywhere on an airplane is kind of a drag. I’ve got one massive suitcase; one so big, you’d think a small family could live in there. I borrowed something bigger than my usual carryon, but smaller than an “I’m moving there for the rest of my life-size” bag.

Perfect reviews on Urban Spoon... for a reason!

Erie is one of those town that at one time bustled with industry, but, like many places in the Northeast, is navigating its way through tough times after many of those industries moved away or shut down. When you travel for work, you rarely get to pick who you travel with, but I’m pretty lucky in that regard; the guys I’ve gone long distances with are very easy to work with. One turns out to be particularly good at picking out local restaurants. After all, who wants to be stuck with the same chain dining you can get where you live? Will, the same guy who found the Ole Sawmill Cafe in Forrest City, Arkansas a few weeks ago, found “The Breakfast Place” in Erie. Don’t know why a morning-themed restaurant uses a crescent moon in its logo, but the food was pretty good, the service was super fast, and the prices were dirt-cheap. Just don’t order Terry’s Big Breakfast unless you’re really, really hungry.

Ben & Will at Work

Most of my interviewing experience is with news, where you just show up and start asking questions; in the corporate world, things are different because more people and points of view are involved. You have to expect that a corporate client will want input in a video they’re paying for. So we had corporate representatives, people from their ad agency and the people in the local facility to work with. The nice thing on this trip was that the small group of folks in the facility in downtown Erie know each other pretty well and have established a good working routine. And even though we totally disrupted that routine while we were taping over the course of several days, they were incredibly accommodating and a lot of fun.

Getting the job done

The only drawbacks to our visit to the greater Erie area in mid-December was that is was pretty darn cold while we were there and there wasn’t necessarily a lot we could go out and do after spending full days on the shoot. On the morning we left, we did take a quick trip over to Presque Isle State Park, a peninsula that juts into Lake Erie just off Erie. The Tom Ridge Environmental Center is over there (the airport is also named after the former governor and Homeland Security secretary; I guess it helps being a big wheel from a small town).

That IS Erie over there

It was less than 20 degrees outside when we got to the edge of the park facing the city (we were getting skyline shots). We passed a few people braving the cold to get their duck hunting on. One of our group grew up in state and says that cold weather does nothing to stop the process of hunting ducks – so watch out Daffy – they’re coming for you!

Tunnel of Love

We’re changing planes in Detroit; where the airport may actually be one of the nicer parts of town – including the weird Light Tunnel you go through to get to Terminal A (the one with the glass walls that change color… you kinda think Pink Floyd should be playing softly in the background).

After landing in Memphis and going back to the office I’ve got to turn around and go back to the airport to get another rental car while my ride is in the shop. It turns out the “fixed by Christmas” estimate was too rosy. I’m being told New Year’s now.

Taken on Presque Ilse at sunset. Normally a migraine would have sent me to a dark room for relief. But today I was drawn by light, the angle, the tone and hue.

Leave it to Hollywood to use Presque Isle as part of the apocolyptic world for the movie “The Road” based on the Cormac McCarthy novel by the same name.  Erie just can’t get a break.  I’ve read the book (its sad) and I think I’m ready to see the movie…I really just want to see if they filmed on the beach where I like to catch rays

P.S. The link has more pics and a cool  little write up about it!

Marquette offers ample locations for training. Winter will not catch these skiers unprepared. I want to get into Cross Country Skiing but this has been a difficult year for me economically. I was on Presque Isle today to run. I am up to 10K runs and would love to do the 12K Noque this year. But I need to win the lottery, first.

For blogs on my running and trails in Marquette County visit www.runningmarquette.com.

Le Maine a connu au 19e et 20e siècle des vagues d’émigration en provenance du Québec et du Nouveau-Brunswick. C’est pourquoi on y entend encore des noms à consonance française. Par exemple, Bowdoin (Beaudoin) College, Frenchville, St-Agatha (Sainte-Agathe), Presque Isle. Il y a plusieurs villes et villages où le français est parlé par la majorité de la population. (Réf.) Le Maine Memory Network nous permet d’en savoir un peu plus sur la présence francophone au Maine

Le Maine Memory Network est un projet de la Société historique du Maine. Il consiste à mettre en ligne divers documents d’archives (textes, photographies, etc) sur l’histoire de cet état américain. Concernant les francophones, on y retrouve, entre autres, l’exposition virtuelle La St-Jean in Lewiston-Auburn.

L’inscription (gratuite) au site permet de créer et de partager des albums d’items. J’ai donc créé un album Francophones au Maine que je vous invite à regarder en cliquant ici.

http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Features?f=lb;album_id=12245;supst=Album

J’ai commenté certaines photos, mais notez que si vous cliquez sur info, en dessous de l’image, vous pourrez lire d’autres informations intéressantes (en anglais) comme par exemple le noms des personnes photographiées. Chaque image peut être agrandie et envoyée comme carte virtuelle. Les images retenues dans cet album montrent un aperçu de la vie quotidienne des franco américains au début du 20e siècle (culture, éducation, religion, agriculture).

Billets reliés (Abonnés par courriel cliquez sur le titre de ce courriel pour avoir accès aux hyperliens de cette section):

• Les Canadiens français de Lowell, Massachusetts
• Retracez vos ancêtres
• Les archives franco américaines
• Votre nom et son histoire: les noms de famille au Québec

Ladybugs are all over the shores of Presque Isle or at least they were when I was up there a few weeks ago.

I’m not sure if you have seen lots of ladybugs lately but I have.  How was everyone’s Halloween weekend?

Don’t forget I’m on Twitter…

Day 3 – Visited my aunt, uncle and cousins in the morning (didn’t get any pics), had lunch at Imperial China Buffet, went shopping (tax free clothes baby!), Ginger and I played with a pug puppy at the mall, went to dinner at the home of Jason’s bro Steve and wife Char, and finally met their almost-1-year-old little dude Aiden, then we all fell in love with him and his goofy laugh

Day 4 - I had the smile breakfast at Eat’n Park were Jason used worked as a cook and my friends hung out every Friday night for a year in high school; took advantage of the sunshine and when down to the peninsula for a walk—my favorite location in Erie; reminisced about one of our first dates when we watched the sunset and talked about the wonders of God; walked toward the place Jason proposed to me 7.5 years ago; went to Aiden’s 1st birthday party; watched him get overwhelmed with gifts and confused by the singing followed by giant cake; had dinner at O’Charley’s (yes, a Nashville-based chain) with Dave and Emily; played Mexican Train for a couple of house and then fell asleep watching The Office

Day 5 – Breakfast at Tim Horton’s (a first for all of us Nashvillians) and then napped on-and-off thru a 10 hour drive home (including 4 stops)

Yes, there is no sign of winter in this photo but I know that lots of people are beginning to dock their boats in for the winter because it is getting closer to the day we of course all look forward to…..when winter truly begins.

I took this photo at Presque Isle.  It was a beautiful day and I was very happy to have the opportunity to shoot there that day.

Can’t wait to get a nice sunny day to start shoot fall leaves. Don’t forget about me on Twitter.

Photo by Toni

As I watched the sun come up from my dining room window blue skies began to appear crystal clear and not one cloud to mar its beauty. I could hear Presque Isle beckon me to its shore. I called Michele and made arrangements to catch up with her later mid morning at the park.

What a glorious day as PI state park is just starting to really paint her colors of fall. As I was heading to Fry Landing I saw Brian and pulled off to hook up with him a bit and he joined me on the trail. We entered the trail near the banding station and soon found several Gold Crown Kinglets.

Gold Crown Kinglet by Brian

They flutter so fast between the brush it is hard to get a photo but we persevered and they finally came out into the open. The trail takes you out to the beach 11 parking lot and several pine trees where the Kinglets were easily seen feeding.

Gold Crown feeding by Toni

Gold Crown by Brian

Brian and I then split up and I finally caught up with Michele on the trail and we went to Canoe Portage Trail and Duck Pond Trail. Several Robins gathered in the canopy above as we entered Canoe Portage Trail. This is where I usually find Robins during the winter months. We also saw Swainson Thrushes, Chickadees, and more Kinglets. Michele picked up the call of a Towhee. Bird calls still elude me but I’m slowly improving.

Swainson Thrush by Toni. Not the best photo.

Our last stop was on Duck Pond Trail. At first nothing was showing but you could hear more Kinglets in the brush then finally a Ruby Crown Kinglet was bouncing along the path feeding, stopping long enough for photo opportunities.   Perfect way to end the early afternoon with good friends and birds. And for you more photos. Enjoy!

Ruby Crown by Toni

Ruby Crown Kinglet by Toni

Ruby Crown Kinglet by Michele

Bluejay by Brian

Junco by Brian. Migration is nearly done when you start to see Juncos

Yellow-rump Warbler by Brian. Isn't that a cute butt

White-throated Sparrow by Brian

The End!

If you’ve ever been to this part of Presque Isle you know exactly what this photo is of.

If you haven’t, then look closely….little bit closer…. Yep!  There they are.  Tons of turtles.  It is so amazing how they all join together on the same log day after day.

I hope the weather improves for some great shots of the fall leaves!  Find me on Flickr and enjoy more photos!

White-throated sparrow

Hmmm, white throats and yellow rumps, almost sounds like an affliction.  Much to my dismay, I haven’t had the opportunity to get to the park much this month.  People have been reporting that it’s pretty slow as far as fall migration this year compared to most, including the banders and that was my experience when I was down there on Tuesday, at least initially.  I walked one of my favorite trails, Duck Pond Trail, and while I heard lots of robins and a few chickadees it was otherwise quiet.  That is, until I headed back towards my car.  Coming back down the trail, not 10 minutes after I had walked up, I heard some calls that sounded to me like a common yellow throat chip note and the very distinct song of the white-throated sparrow.  The light was starting to fade but I was able to enjoy a nice show of yellow-rumped warblers and white-throated sparrows as they fed and dashed about in a small tree growing in a marshy area right at the edge of the trail.  I also watched a group of robins splish-splashing in the heavily shaded pool under the tree.  They would take turns jumping into the water and then jumping out to dry off and preen.  Unfortunately, it was too dark to get any shots of the bathing robins so I can only share by telling you that it was an enjoyable show.  I did, however,  get a few shots of the sparrows and warblers to share with you.

This guy's got a nice white-throat and prominent yellow lores.

Yellow-rumped warbler, non-breeding plumage

Well,  I’m heading out to do some more shooting now.  I just read a book on close up/macro photography by Bryan Peterson, Understanding Close Up Photography, so I have to go try out some new techniques:)    I have several of Bryan Peterson’s books and highly recommend them for anyone wanting to learn more about photography in an entertaining yet educational and easy to follow format.

Presque Isle in the fall can be a site to see.  I picked a windy day and the waves were wild.  I took many shots that can be found on my Flickr page.

How is everyone’s October going so far?  Halloween is right around the corner.

It’s far too often I have an idea for a blog entry and never get around to actually writing it.  I think I need to shift gears and focus on shorter, more frequent posts, instead of trying to write major essays.  I’ll do so in the hope that it adds up to an as-yet-unseen whole.  I read a wonderful intervew of Lydia Peelle by Gillian Welch in the recent issue of Bomb.  In it, Peelle talks about sequencing a collection of stories and making choices about what to include while trying to have a sense of the whole.  Welch says the same goes for her when making an album’s worth of songs.  Oddly, even though my home is overflowing with albums, I’ve never though of one in that way – like a photo album, a collection of things carefully and intentionally assembled.  I’ve now read three of Peelle’s stories and listened to her read one on line.  I’m very excited about reading the rest of her book, Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing. 

Speaking of albums, I have yet to organize the pictures from the summer road trips, but I want to return to the original concept for this post.  Over Labor Day weekend, we continued our exploration of America with stops in 4 previously unknown (to us) corners of this great land:

1- Union City, PA.  We were there for a wedding of a former nanny for our boys, held on her family’s farm.  On a beautiful late summer day on a hilltop looking over the little valley that holds her childhood home, a bluegrass band played while a horse-drawn wagon arrived with the wedding party.  We shared a harvest meal in a giant tent while the kids played in the barn, watched the horses (a brother and sister), and counted the endless stars in the country sky.

2- Presque Isle, PA.  This dozen or so mile long peninsula juts out into Lake Erie right next to the city of Erie.  Little did we know we’d find a monument to Commodore Perry and the war of 1812, endless pathways for bikes and roller bladers, and pristine beaches.  On one we found a collection of kite enthusiasts who gather there to take advantage of being out in the lake, open to strong winds and few beach  bathers.

3- The Geauga County Fair in Northeastern Ohio.  For a while we were worried that we would be the only ones there as we drove along winding roads infrequently dotted with little houses and farms.  Until we hit the traffic – miles of it waiting to get into the fair.  Geauga County knows how to have a fair – it rivaled the Wisconsin State Fair in number of rides, food booths, and bad tattoos.  We took the boys to their first truck and tractor pull and witnessed first hand the bitter Ford vs. Chevy rivalry.  We were there for the first hour of an event that would go until midnight, but heard plenty of loud engines struggling through the dirt to pull the load before the weight transfer machine ground to a halt and the John Deere tractors re-groomed the surface for the next driver.

4- Shipshewana, IN.  Giant signs advertising a Pat Boone concert outside of the enormous Blue Gate Restaurant were just the start of our adventures.  For the boys it was their first look at the Amish, and they were excited to see a horse and buggy pull up next to us at the gas station.  The food was fantastic – I think apple butter will now be a staple in our home as well.  We didn’t buy any furniture but we did talk about the way the Amish live as we drove around, seeing people enjoying a simpler life.  We were a bit confused by the Amish kids we saw sending text messages at the truck and tractor pull the day before, but we’ll save that for another day.  See photo below (coming tomorrow).

Kind of Blue as I head off to bed, completing the pun of this post’s title 

We’re back from our vacation to Presque Isle, Michigan. One of the highlights for me was to watch the sunrise each morning. So peaceful and no two sunrises are the same.

For those of you who like to see my vacation pictures, just click the title of this blog entry and it will take you to the newest installment in my Travelogue.

If you would like to leave a comment and you find that the commenting feature is inoperable, just email me.

Really, she did!  Of course,  she said it when I was being a particularly pesty child (although I prefer to think of it as “inquisitive”).   I called her today to see where the term came from (its etymology,  not to be confused with  entomology) and she told me that she wasn’t sure, but, that her mother used to call her and her siblings bug artists when they were “bugging” her.  So apparently the term has been handed down through a generation of notorious “bug artists”.  Has anyone else ever heard this term?  Surely, none of you were pesty children.  So, where was I going with this…Oh, yeah, today’s post is about all the “bugs” we came across during our birding class on Saturday.  It was a relatively slow birding day so we had ample opportunity to look down and find some pretty cool creepy crawlies.  Toni will be posting about our birding class soon (or may already have) so stay tuned folks.  Here are a few shots taken by Toni and myself.  I’ll start with the “pretty” ones and work my way down, although I think they are all pretty in their own way (except for maybe the last one:)

A monarch butterfly "puddling" as captured by the monarch queen, Toni!

An eastern American Copper butterfly sunning himself.

A beautiful meadowhawk dragonfly.

A transverse hover fly, a.k.a. Syrphid, enjoys some golden rod nectar.

Toni found this very cool banded garden spider (argiope trifasciata) feasting.

This crane fly is not too bad from a distance.

But up close it's a face only a mother could love;)

Hope I haven’t been too much of a bug artist and you’ve enjoyed the creepier crawlier side of Presque Isle.  We encourage you to come on down to the park and check things out for yourself.  You know we’re gonna bug you until you do!!

… now why in the world would you need to entertain yourself when you are out looking for migrating birds. The morning started out great as I met two new birding friends, Jim and Terry. Little did they know that Julie, Michele and myself look for just about anything that comes across our path and we are fortunate to have Jerry as our instructor. Not only is he knowledgeable about birds he can name every bug we come across. So Michele will be bringing you the world of bugs soon. But I am getting away from the topic at hand here. Our first stop was the banding station.

Our class.... Photo by Toni

Here we chatted with Andrea, Linnea and Don as they were just finishing banding a Swainson’s Thrush.

Swainson's Thrush having a bad hair day. Photo by Toni

While Terry and Jim were learning more about banding birds I started to photograph Michele and Jerry our instructor.

And naturally Michele had to photograph me! Hey I now have a new profile photo for facebook. Thanks Michele

Before we left the banding station one more round of checking the nets brought us a Hairy Woodpecker.

Linnea extracting the Hairy Woodpecker. Photo by Michele

Linnea getting ready to band the Hairy Woodpecker. Photo by Toni

After about an hour at the station we headed for the trails. It was cloudy with a little bit of a breeze which made for a comfortable walk but unfortunately very little action when it came to the birds. We noted several Turkey Buzzards flying overhead and Jerry remarked that it was late in the season for them to still be here. We also watched on Pine Tree trail a Cooper’s Hawk gracefully swooping around a tree in the distance as it appeared to be trying to flush out his prey from the tree.

Along Beach 11 we scouted for waterfowl and found a raccoon caught in one of the Game Commissions traps they use to catch waterfowl for banding. Then we entered Fry’s Landing and the only thing we managed to photograph was a Downy Woodpecker. Remember I said we do like to entertain… Well Joao just could not help himself getting a better look at what that Downy was pecking at.

Hey Joao did you find some bugs also? Photo by Michele

And Julie came across this little creature. Yes it is natural for her to be picking up dead things and has a whole stash of bones, nests, broken eggs, and such. Jim became quite amused with us finding bugs and dead creatures.

Photo by Toni

Our last stop was Longpond Trail were we caught a glimpse of the ship Niagara sailing around the bay befor we entered the trail.

Flagship Niagara photo by Toni

I’ll leave you with a few more photos to enjoy and remember to stop back for those bugs.

Downy without Joao Photo by Michele

photo by Michele

photo by Michele

Our list of birds we saw recorded by our instructor Jerry.

We record the following 34 species of birds on Saturday, September 12:

Canada Goose–many off beach 11 and in Misery Bay
Mute Swan–4 off beach 11
Wood Duck–5 over Long Pond
Mallard–a few at several sites
Blue-winged Teal–7 off beach 11
Ring-necked Duck–2 off beach 11
Great Blue Heron–2 at Long Pond
Green Heron–1 at Lily Pond as we drove past
Turkey Vulture–10  overhead
Cooper’s Hawk–1 south of Pine Tree Trail
Ring-billed Gull–many along beach 11
Herring Gull–several overhead and a few along and off beach 11
Caspian Tern–1 off beach 11
Mourning Dove–a couple on Pine Tree Trail
Downy Woodpecker–1 or 2 along Pine Tree Trail and Fry’s landing
Hairy Woodpecker–1 banded at Niagara boat launch
Northern Flicker–a couple along Pine Tree Trail
Eastern Wood-Pewee–1 probably of this species along Long Pond Trail
Eastern Phoebe–1 along Pine Tree Trail
Blue Jay–a few along Pine Tree Trail and Fry’s landing
Black-capped Chickadee–a few along Pine Tree Trail and Fry’s landing
Red-breasted Nuthatch–1 along Pine Tree Trail
White-breasted Nuthatch–1 on Pine Tree Trail and 1 on Long Pond Trail
Swainson’s Thrush–1 banded at Niagara boat launch
American Robin– a few over Pine Tree Trail and beach 11 parking lot
Gray Catbird–some heard only
European Starling–a couple of flocks flying overhead
Cedar Waxing–several heard at Fry’s landing and Dead Pond Trail
Magnolia Warbler–1 on Pine Tree Trail and 1 at Fry’s landing
Black-throated Blue Warbler–2 on Pine Tree Trail
American Redstart–1 seen briefly on Pine Tree Trail
Wilson’s Warbler–1 at Fry’s landing
Red-winged Blackbird–2 at Long Pond
American Goldfinch–some heard at Pine Tree Trail and several along Long Pond Trail