16.3 Miles Along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
That's a lot of bunnies... otherwise known as Eastern Cottontails. After doing my best not to melt and/or drip all over the keyboard during this beastly hot and humid day, I finally found enough motivation in the (relative) cool of the evening to get out on my bike. And as the title of this post indicates, I saw many, many bunnies out munching their dinners along the sides of the path. (Of course, the actual number was probably about half that... since I rode out and back in two directions, I'm sure I saw some of them twice.)
Ann and I noticed while riding along the Auburn Trail Saturday evening that most often the rabbits we startled darted across to the opposite side of the path to seek cover... despite being only a foot or so from cover where they were. I noticed the same thing tonight, though not as frequently - more often than not the bunnies tonight simply ducked into the taller grass or bushes closest to them.
Also saw three herons (including one not more than 10 feet from where I rode by) and numerous goldfinches flitting back and forth across the path to the west of GE R&D. But one of the neatest moments was toward the end of my ride, when the fireflies started to come out, and riding down the path was like moving through a tunnel of tiny stars...
JMH
