18 May 2024 Allegany State Park... ASP Geobash

We spent the day with a few friends and a lot of nature.

Beaver work zone...

Low-cost osprey nesting platform

It was a prefect woodland spring day for early wildflowers.

Finding ammo cans and other geocaches in the woods is a fun, enduring activity, but being in the outdoors is the true moment of joy.

One last view of a beautiful park on a perfect spring day.

5 April 2024 Mergansers at Allegany State Park

I was returning from business in the Niagara Falls area and stopped at Allegany State Park. It was a grey day with snow flakes dotting the air, but the mergansers were worth braving the cold.

They looked as though they were racing.

A brief stop to enjoy the flowing waters...

23 October 2022 Allegany State Park

We had a day to spend on the trails at the park with the dogs.  The colors were perfect and the weather was comfortable. 

Phineas went full bay early  on the trail.

Lizzie just wanted to be on the trail.

21 May 2022 Allegany State Park

It was time for our annual visit to Allegany State Parks to visit friends and enjoy a long day at the park.  Before we headed out, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise off the deck.

 

Nesting swallows joined us for the reviewer session outdoors.

The crowd was still light as COVID was still in people's minds.

Our home is loaded with fringed polygala, but it is always a treat to spot it in the wild.

Check out those yellow toes!

Wild Geranium

Capturing an image of a red-eyed vireo was a first for me.

We spotted multiples of these beautiful birds.

Bluets along the edge of a stream

White trilliums are always plentiful and always enjoyed.

6 May 2022 New York to Pennsylvania

I was headed home to Pennsylvania after aa work trip to New York. The weather was perfect for a stop at Allegany State Park. My first spot was at Red House Lake where a cormorant. There were also a few mergansers on the water.

I moved on to the eastern end of Quaker Lake hoping to spot an osprey. I was lucky and not only spotted one guarding the nest. The mate was on nest.

After watching the osprey for a bit, I moved on to a spot at the edge of the park. We had stopped here the last year to look for a cache, but passed by the hunt when we couldn't find a place to park. The area was crowded with an essentially single-lane road back. Today there was no one at this scenic area.

I found the cache quickly and was very happy to spend time enjoying the spring wildflowers.

After a pleasant stop at ASP I headed for Pennsylvania and home. My bird watching was not done for the day as I spotted a turkey at the house.

16 April 2022 Spring in ASP

We were happy to be visiting ASP again with the dogs. We were hoping for birds and were rewarded with a pair of mergansers and a nesting osprey.

We returned to visit a section of the North Country Trail running along the reservoir. Spring was in its glory here as we walked the Phin and Lizzie.

Back at home, Phineas agreed to wear the easter bunny ears.

6 March 2022 Visiting Allegany State Park

We had spring fever. The dogs had spring fever. ASP seemed a great choice for medicating the fever. The skies were blue and most of the water was free of ice as we hunted for a number of caches in the park.

The trails were icy so the going was really slow at times to avoid a fall. It seemed we weren't tho only people with spring fever as the park was quite busy.

A rare moment of quiet on the covered bridge...

Our visit was a wonderful sneak preview of the spring weather just a few weeks away. After a snowy winter, it was a welcome day out.