Welcome to Ithaca, New York

At the end of our big move, we found ourselves in central New York. More specifically, Ithaca. And here's how I feel about this new location: !!!!

Honestly, of all the places for Paul and I to land, this has got to be one of the locations most suited for us. I grew up in rural western New York, and the environment, the wild plants and animals, the woods and ponds and streams, are all rooted deep in my heart. Ithaca has those familiar things, but it also has -- magically, it seems to me -- robust centers for higher education and research, diversity in its people, thriving food culture, AND extraordinary natural features. Plus, we're only a few hours drive from our respective families. It's a wonderful combination of the familiar and comforting together with the new and exciting.

Speaking of Ithaca nature, here's a taste of the area from our first days here. Yes:

Yes again:

More yes!

Those last two pictures are from Fall Creek, right near the center of town. My goodness. As they say, "Ithaca is gorges." And there's much more like this still out there to see!

The picture at the top of this post is from Six Mile Creek and the Mulholland Wildflower Preserve, where we walked on a hot afternoon earlier this week. Lots of people were swimming in the creek, a Louisiana Waterthrush foraged along the water's edge, and Eastern Chipmunks were all over the place. It's so nice to be around Eastern Chipmunks again. This little fellow had a mossy perch near the path:
 

And this chipmunk found the perfect spire from which to watch over his/her territory:
 

A small log floating in the creek seemed to be covered with some protruding material, like nails stuck into its surface:
 

On closer inspection, this turned out to be the highest concentration of damselflies I've ever seen. The females were depositing eggs in the water (or possibly on the submerged portion of the log?) while the males stuck straight up into the air, balanced on the ends of their abdomens, which were attached to the females' heads:
 

Wow, what a weird sight. Incidentally, I didn't see these damselflies on any other surface in the creek. There must have been something special about this one floating log.

And of course, I can't give an introduction to Ithaca without mentioning this place:
 

It is so strange to see in real life an entity I encounter daily on my phone and computer. (All About Birds is my go-to bird ID and information resource, and I use eBird almost all the time.) We walked briefly in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Sapsucker Woods, and the place was just as fantastic as I expected: very pristine, calm, and welcoming. A Green Fringed Orchid (Platanthera lacera) displayed its incredible blossoms near a boardwalk through swampy woods. Seeing a new wild orchid is just about the best welcome to Ithaca I could have!
 

The pond near the lab's main building was beautiful and so active with bird life:
 

And right above the visitor center's entrance, a Mourning Dove was calling from her nest:
 

I've never seen a Mourning Dove nest before, nor a Mourning Dove chick. What a cute little ball of fluff:
 

So yes, I am very happy with this new location, and so excited to explore more. The best part of all this is: we're here long term. House-buying is even somewhere on the horizon, with the tantalizing prospect of having a bit of woods (and meadow, and pond, and garden, and...) all our own. But that will come later. In the meantime, let the Ithaca adventure begin!

Two Final Visits to the Connecticut Shore

Well, it's happening. In one week, I will be moving to northern Ohio and leaving Connecticut behind, probably forever. I was in Connecticut because of graduate school, and now that's done, and it's on to new professional endeavors in new places. Ohio is in fact a temporary location for us -- my job there is just a one-year position -- but the change is a good one. I'm very, very excited about all the new things we'll see, the place where we'll be living (much more on that later), and the job. But, of course, I'll miss many things about Connecticut, which has been my home for the past six years.

I'll be doing a few wrapping-up posts over the next week to properly say goodbye to Connecticut. (Don't worry, the blog is coming with me to Ohio.) One part of Connecticut that I will definitely miss is the shore. So during my final visits to Silver Sands State Park this morning and last Thursday, I was sure to thoroughly appreciate the creatures that I'm not likely to see again for quite a while.

It always feels special to see Clapper Rails in these marshes, and I was very happy to see one preening itself out in the open this morning. I don't know if I will ever again be in a place with Clapper Rails as bold and readily visible as those at Silver Sands State Park, and I will miss these birds for sure:

Snowy Egrets are very common here, and I took the time to admire these gorgeous birds this morning:

As a special shorebird bonus, a couple of American Oystercatchers lit up the shoreline this morning with their flamboyant beaks:

And a lovely Spotted Sandpiper scrambled over rocks at the water's edge last week:

The Piping Plover family has dispersed from their nesting area by now, and I was lucky enough to come across one of the juveniles in this park last week. I know it's one of the fledglings from the nest I was monitoring because of that distinctive injured leg:

This bird was moving and foraging well on just the one leg, and it flew away just fine. I have no idea what happened to this bird when it was a baby, but I'm heartened to know that it's made it this far. The more Piping Plovers surviving out there, the better. Fare well, lovely little bird, and best of luck!

A couple of Killdeer were running around on the beach this morning. I thought these birds might have also been this season's grown hatchlings, withthose brownish (rather than pristine white) bands on their breasts, but I don't know for sure:

A plump Groundhog was munching away in the flower-filled grass last week:

And this marvelous Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) posed for a picture:

This morning's insect highlight was a supremely blue damselfly (I'm not certain of the species):

I couldn't have asked for better sights on my final visits to the Connecticut shore!

Cozy Raccoon and Company

I'd almost forgotten how lovely Southford Falls State Park is. Good thing I visited this morning to remind myself!

I wasn't the only one enjoying these shady woods. Hey, is that a furry creature up in that tree?

The ball of fur dozed for a while, but then shifted around to show a ringed tail:

And little paw-hands and a masked face:

What a perfect perch for a sleepy Raccoon! The creature shifted a bit more to find the most comfortable position:

The most comfortable position, of course, would be one that doesn't involve a person pointing and clicking a camera at you, even from a distance. OK, no need to glare, I'm leaving:

Wow, what a beautiful reddish color on this creature's shoulders. Thank you for hanging out here, handsome/adorable Raccoon. (So cool!)

An Eastern Garter Snake was also out and about in the woods:

Garter snakes are always pretty, but I especially like the dark spots behind this individual's head:

Yay, little snake:

Familiar late-spring wildflowers were brightening up the woodland floor, including big patches of Canada Mayflower (Maianthemum canadense):

Feathery plumes of False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum):

And pale floating Spotted Geranium (Geranium maculatum):

Near the park's pond, Eastern Kingbirds chased each other and hunted from high perches:

And dozens of the palest, wispiest damselflies (perhaps newly emerged) fluttered around:

A lovely woods walk indeed!

Exploring Bent of the River

This morning I decided to go on an adventure in a brand new woods (new to me, that is). Off I went to the Bent of the River Audubon sanctuary!

This place turned out to be basically wonderful. It had deep woods with delightful streams and pools, and wide meadows dotted with huge trees:

And a long trail following the river that gives the sanctuary its name:

The most amazing thing to me, though, was how obviously well cared-for this place is. I saw no trash at all on the whole 2+ miles of trails I walked. None. Every other park I go to around here always has at least the occasional (sometimes more than that) beer can, fishing line, cigarette butt, etc., so this seemed pretty crazy by comparison. I also didn't see any other people on the trails. I'm sure the fact that Bent of the River doesn't allow dogs, bikes, or fishing is related to all this. In any case, I loved it. Except for the well-groomed trails and occasional nesting box, this place really felt like it was more about nature than it was about people. I felt totally comfortable ambling along these trails (and not at all dorky with my binoculars and camera), and I was happy to pay the suggested $5 trail fee to get to hang out here.

And as for my actual woods walk, there was plenty to see! Now that the canopy has entirely leafed out, I heard a lot more birds than I saw, but that just meant I got to work on identifying by ear. (Normally I take pictures of things I don't recognize to figure out IDs later, and today I was doing a lot of sound recording for the same reason.)

Although the birds stayed out of camera range, several other creatures did come close. A few Little Wood Satyr butterflies were chasing each other through the woods and fields, and one let me creep up on it for a picture:

(I love those orange antennae.)

A dark fishfly (genus Nigronia) fluttered around on oversized wings:

And this Ebony Jewelwing damselfly was definitely jewel-like in the light-dappled forest:

At one point, I turned around to face where I had just been walking, and I was surprised to find that an Eastern Garter Snake had suddenly appeared a few feet away from me and directly in my path:

Sneaky snake! Oo, look at your pretty red and black tongue:

I looked away to check my camera's settings, and when I looked back up the snake had completely disappeared again. I think this snake might have some ninja skills.

I had been hoping to see Pink Lady's Slippers in bloom in these woods, but all I managed to find were several large flower-less plants:

Oh well, maybe these plants will have flowers next year.

The Mountain Laurel was just opening its fancy flowers:

These flowers are gorgeous, but I also really like the way these buds look before they open, like little shooting stars lighting up the woods:

Continuing the lighting theme, these (I think) Varnish Shelf Fungi (Ganoderma tsugae) were like weirdly-shaped lanterns:

In the fields, huge Cow Parsnip plants were opening their big flower-umbrellas a few feet above the ground:

It was definitely a good morning, and if I lived closer to this place it would become one of my frequent haunts. And really, any nature walk gets bonus awesome points when it ends with a field of horses:

:)

Garden Bugs Up Close

Well, the garden's up and thriving, which means that there will (hopefully) be yummy food in our future. It also means that there's a whole jungle of amazing tiny creatures right outside our door! I've been taking my macro lens out into the garden for the past few days to put it through its paces (and try to learn how to really use it), and I've seen some very cool bugs in the process. Here's a sampling!

Long-legged Flies (family Dolichopodidae) are very common in our garden -- small hunters zooming around and sporting iridescent costumes in green or orange. The hunting must be good here, because so many of these creatures were munching on smaller bugs when I saw them, including this one:

This next Long-legged Fly seems to me to be striking a heroic pose -- off on an adventure, are we? (I admit that I'm probably crazy for thinking this.)

Another winged hunter, this larger Robber Fly (family Asilidae) paused on a sunny rock between flights:

And a small pretty beetle (species unknown) watched me from its mint-leaf platform:

Do you want to see an aphid up close?

We have Flea Beetles on our potato plants, but thankfully not enough to do any serious damage -- they just leave a few tiny pin holes in the leaves and pose for dramatic pictures:

This little Potter Wasp (possibly Parancistrocerus perennis) was inspecting the area:

And a leafhopper (family Cicadellidae) tried to hide behind a stem:

Speaking of leafhoppers, this Red-banded Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea) was absolutely the fanciest thing around:
 

I love that we have these gorgeous little creatures here -- they look like they should be somewhere tropical, not in my back yard:
 

This individual was very patient with me, and eventually I left it in peace in its nice hiding spot beneath the potato buds (where it seemed to practically glow in the shade):
 

I had to go back to a regular lens to take a picture of this last creature -- a lovely big Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), a type of damselfly, and identifiable as a female because of those white spots on her wings:

I've been seeing one of these creatures in the garden for several days in a row now -- could it be the same individual? Perhaps she's also finding the garden to be a good place to hunt. Such a pretty girl:
 

I have one more garden bug (well, spider) to share, but she's just too cool and so will need her own post. Stay tuned!