5.7 Mile Run at Schodack Island State Park
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Got to Schodack Island a couple of hours earlier than I'd planned, thanks to school being cancelled today due to freezing rain making the roads treacherous this morning. When I got there it was still raining on and off, and there was a surprising amount of ice in some places on the trails... not big thick patches but just a slick layer on top of the frozen dirt. Fortunately not enough to make my run risky, especially at the speed (or lack thereof) that I move at.
There are two new birding blinds, one not far from the parking lot overlooking what will be a small marshy pond in warmer weather, and the other looking out across Schodack Creek toward the east. At the latter spot I noticed a lot of large birds in the trees across the way - several were definitely eagles, one might have been an osprey, and several others were either eagles or hawks. It was tough to tell, between the grey rainy weather and my only having my smaller camera with me. I'd be surprised if it was an osprey - to the best of my knowledge they migrate south in the winter, since it's tough to fish with things frozen over - but that's really what the somewhat fuzzy picture I have looks like.
When I got back to the parking lot I followed the stone dust path around and down to the boat launch, both to get in a few more tenths of a mile and to get a few more pictures along the river, and while I was down there a mature bald eagle flew right along the shore line before veering across the river, possibly because of my standing there. I don't know that I've ever had one fly by that close to me before.
I don't go down to Schodack Island very often, because the trails can be somewhat boring - but clearly heading down there today was the right thing to do.
JMH
