the Way of the Turtle

WALKING AFTER THE STORMS
1.4 Mile Walk Along the Genesee Riverway Trail
1 Mile Walk at Ontario Beach Park
Sunday, August 9, 2009

Ann and I wanted to get outdoors for a bit, so we headed up toward the lake to do a bit of walking. We started out at Turning Point Park along the Genesee Riverway Trail. We were a bit surprised to see how many other people were there, given the storms that had swept through during the early afternoon, but I guess there's no dissuading someone who really wants to fish... they're kind of like runners that way...

After a fairly boring walk along the path at the top of the bluff and then a slow crawl down the very steep hill to the river's edge (my knee and right calf were both pretty sore from this morning's race) we made our way out onto the boardwalk bridge across Turning Point Basin. The water was the highest I've ever seen it this time of year. As we walked across the bridge, we spotted several blue herons and, it turns out, a green heron as well (I didn't realize that until I looked at my photos later.) Someone has apparently been feeding the ducks... as soon as we stopped on the bridge, a large group of them made a beeline toward us, then when we didn't have any food crossed under the bridge and seemed to have a good time feeding in the shallows.

Lots of fish in evidence, including a couple of good-sized orange carp... we also saw a number of turtles, including two little guys who were about the size of a silver dollar. The only swans in evidence were two adults... no little ones this year. But given how the swan population around Rochester seems to be increasing, maybe that's a good thing (though the fuzzy little guys are awfully cute.) The biggest surprise was a kingfisher that not only landed on the boardwalk railing ahead of us, but actually stuck around long enough for me to get some decent pictures of him.

After that we drove out to Ontario Beach Park and walked out on the concrete pier. Lots of gulls and ducks around. There was a large group of what looked like gulls over on the opposite pier, but it turned out that many of them were actually terns. We were both getting pretty tired by that point, so we only walked part of the way out to the light, then headed back to the car to pick up something for dinner and head home... a pleasant end to a mildly strenuous day.

JMH