I saw these when I went on a walk. They were very far away. I took these with a zoom lens and the images were heavily cropped. They are not sharp, but most likely the best I will get as I never see these owls up as close as I have seen snowies or barred owls. Maybe someday I will get lucky.
Get out an enjoy nature. There is a lot to see out there.
There are two lakes you can access from the town of Lake Placid in New York. From the main business street in the village you can see Mirror Lake. If go on west towards Saranac Lake on the outskirts of the town the much larger lake is Lake Placid. Lake Placid , the lake, has a few hotels along it, private land with mostly summer residences, and some land that falls under wilderness or forest preserve.
These were all from an end of September trip to the Adirondacks. I took one long trip on the lake, and a couple of short trips. I started out from the Paradox Bay area of the lake on the southern end. This area of the bay has shallow areas and attracts wildlife. Basically most of the wildlife I saw along the lake was in that section.
There is a boat launch with ample parking outside the bay on the lake.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that is Whiteface Mountain in the background. The issue with large lakes in the Adirondacks is many times when you get away from shore it can be quite windy. On my long trip the first day I was there I did fine hugging the island on the way towards Whiteface landing, but on the return when I crossed the lake to the east side is was a struggle to head south hugging the shore. The wind was pretty strong. I did see a few other kayakers out there. I think one whom I talked to briefly ended up getting a ride on a boat. I was too busy trying to paddle to get any decent pictures on the return.
There are a lot of summer homes along the lake. Some are only accessible by boat.
In summer this lake is very busy with a lot of motorboat traffic. I shy away from paddling this lake during the summer months. In September after Labor Day many of the summer people have left and there are more kayakers and canoeists than motor boaters. I highly recommend going before or after summer and staying close to the shore of the lake.
I did hear and briefly see a kingfisher several times. At some lakes they will pause long enough for you to get a snap of them, at this lake they don’t. I saw two adult kingfishers on the bay.
I recommend visiting this lake to canoe or kayak before or after summer. Always be prepared and dress appropriately. Be familiar with the conditions. It is a beautiful lake!
What do you do on an unseasonably warm November day? I returned to the same spot I went to last week, a park on the Hudson River. I forgot to bring bird seed, but someone had already put out bird seed. The majority of the birds visiting were titmouse, but I also got to see male and female cardinals and some bluejays.
This was the closest I have been to cardinals. The ones who visited my feeder came quickly and left. I sat on a big rock to take these photos and I have a zoom.
I plan to return to this park again a few times before it snows hopefully. This time the titmouse were flying right at me and buzzed over my head as I sat taking photos. They were too fast for me to capture. Get out and enjoy those sunny autumn days before the snow arrives.
Can a bird be this friendly? I came across this friendly bird on the start of a hiking trail on the Hudson River. It flew to a tree near where I was standing, quite close actually. It took me back.
I suspected someone was feeding the birds. A friend confirmed to me that was the case. She said they will land on someone’s hand if you have seed in it at this location.
I did not see many birds on my short kayak trip on the Hudson, but was surprised to see this bird so up close on the trail next to river. I guess the moral is explore many spots, you will experience something new.
“The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting”
― Andy Warhol
This great blue heron seems to embody this quote. This was taken right before sunset this summer. I did not see him catch anything because I needed to get my kayak out of the water before dark.
In this society of get everything now, be the great blue heron: wait in anticipation.
Do animals need bibs when they eat? This eagle looks like he has a fish chunk on his head. Not sure how he got this off.
I came across this eagle on two separate occasions on the same tree that jutted out over a creek in New York. I kayaked within good view of him in a very shady area. Eagles move between bodies of water. There was no nest visible along this creek from one waterfall to another. I will investigate when the leaves fall off to see if I missed something.
What do you think? Are animals messy eaters?
Can you name this bird? I saw two birds like this hanging with Canadian geese for one day on Lake Placid. I did not see them after that.
It is mostly white with a black or dark grey bill. It has a stripe going from the bill to the back of it’s head that starts out dark grey then fades to a lighter grey. It has light grey on back feathers.
I have had a few suggestions: young snow geese, white morph Ross’s goose, and a hybrid. What do you think?
This green heron I was lucky enough to see kayaking a lake after work. At times you can see multiple green herons. I took these pictures before sunset. It almost looks like the heron is playing with its food, but it takes time to manoeuvre the fish from spearing it to getting it in its mouth.
Don’t discount the time before sunset. These pictures were taken at 12800 ISO. I expected these to end up grainier than they were. Get out and enjoy the sunny days. Colder days are on the way.
Remember the old game you played in Kindergarten, Duck, Duck, Goose? While paddling a kayak around sunset on Lake Flower this summer, this is what I thought of.
Lake Flower can be accessed from the boat launch in the village of Saranac Lake, New York. I made this trip during the summer.
The ducks hung out with the geese. I am guessing they felt protected from the eagles by doing so. Maybe in their minds an eagle would go after a goose instead.
All of these were taken with a zoom lens and heavily cropped. Enjoy what’s left of summer.
Late afternoon into the early evening can be great light if things work out for photographing wildlife. A fellow photographer joined me on this trip. She joined me in kayaking this body of water.
First, I saw this green heron catch a dragonfly to eat. There are lots of dragonflies at this location. One even landed on my zoom lens and parked for a little while.
These may not be all the same fish. I actually watched him catch a few fish in not a long time period.
I can’t believe such a small bird was eating all these fish in a small time frame.
It is amazing what you can see if you get outside and go slow. My friend heard him before we saw him. If you go fast, or have on earphones etc. you may miss a lot. Slow down and enjoy nature!
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