the Way of the Turtle

A (COLD!) Bit O' Walking at Ontario Beach Park & Durand Beach
Monday, December 21, 2009

Wanted to get outside for a bit before heading back to Albany, so Ann and I headed up to Ontario Beach Park, expecting it to be more than a bit cold - and we were right! We didn't walk far - out on the pier to look at the icicles and the waves - before we got too cold to keep going to headed back to the car.

From there we popped over to Durand to see if the swans were around... all in all, not much to see, unfortunately, though if we'd stuck around we might have gotten to watch the Coast Guard practicing water rescue techniques. As it was, we walked aorund briefly before heading home.

Probably the coolest part of the whole time was right after we arrived at Ontario Beach... as usual there was a large flock of gulls in the parking lot, so I grabbed a couple of old bagels I had in the back of the car and headed over to start a gull riot. No quite surprise they very quickly surrounded me on the ground, but there were also a number that hovered in front of me in the air, so much so that I spent a lot of the time tossing chunks of bagel into the air rather than on the ground. All I can say is, if you've never had a gull hovering six or seven feet in front of your face - it's very, very cool to see. Ann took my camera and snapped a few photos of me surrounded by my feathered entourage, and I tried to get a few shots of the ones in the air as well. Definitely a memorable moment!

JMH