That Morning Sky (Birding at Allegany State Park)

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A speckled morning sky, lots of waffle like clouds, a calm lake as the sun peaks in and out.  It's 42º and we should have some sun today before a rainy Easter weekend here at the lake.  Well, it's just after 9:00 and I have been out kayaking down to Whitney Bay and back, a great way to start my day.

Kayaking To Whitney Bay

The Beauty Of Kayak Morning

Yesterday was different because we were planning on going birding at dusk, hoping to see the elusive woodcock with a group at the Allegany State Park.

What A Woodcock Looks Like

So we planned our day around it.  For me, it meant doing little most of the day other than ordering 15 yards of stone to be delivered sometime next week, to cover our road. When I got home, the sky was overcast but the lake was smooth, perfect weather for putting in my purple martin house.  So I got it out, put in the doors and the owl guard, then put on my waders.  First, I have to pound an aluminum tube into the muddy lake bottom, about 15 yards from shore.  Once that's in, firm and straight, I  put the house on a pole, walk it out and slip the end of the pole into the aluminum tube.  Then I raise the house, pound the aluminum tube a  few times to make sure it's straight and I have my bird house up for another year.  Other than that, I cannot think of a thing I did of consequence, no walks, hikes or kayaking, just a lunch, a nap, and more TV watching than usual as I started a French series from 2005 on Netflix called Spiral.  So far, it's seems worth watching, at least I watched two episodes yesterday to waste the afternoon.

Purple Martin House at 8:00

While I acted like a sloth, Evie spent part of the morning raking and weeding our garden beds, a good start before the rains begin.  And the rest of the day, she was bent on putting together a Shutterfly book from last summer.  She puts one together each year and they are worth the effort although the process can be onerous, as yesterday proved.  It involves going through literally thousands of photographs from last year, picking out the best, making sure they are cropped, then sending them to the Shutterfly website.  There she has to then arrange them in some way that makes sense and pick out appropriate template for each page.  And each year it's a process of relearning how to move the photos around the website, how to change their order or size.  Thus, it can often be frustrating.  And for Evie, she becomes obsessed, so that she cannot let it go but has to keep at it unlike me who would easily put it off till the next day.  Anyways, that's how Evie spent the day.

Birders At Allegany State Park

Around 6:45, we headed to Allegany State Park, forty five minutes away, and parked our car just off the Redhouse maintenance road.  Last summer, they built an amazing boardwalk over a marsh. We were then able to walk out on the boardwalk and with a group of 12, enjoy the setting sun, some wildlife like muskrats and wood ducks but we never got to see the woodcock, alas.

New Boardwalk

And just as the sun disappeared, the peppers came out in full force, literally drowning us in their croaks, amazing.  We stayed for an hour, got to know some of the people and really enjoyed talking to Tom, a registered bird bander and employee of the park.  We then headed to the Horseshoe Inn, about 15 minutes away, just above the Allegany Reservoir.  Its kitchen was still open when we got there at 9:00, so Evie ordered her favorite, a double order of hand cut fries and I had the special, chicken and biscuits, not a typical late night bar snack but good.  When we got there, there were only three or four people in the restaurant, one at the bar and we closed it down at 9:40.  We took our time driving home, strange to be on highway at night and got home around 10:30, happy but tired from our evening.  We will sure to go back.

To listen to the Peepers, Click on video below: