7 Mile Run on the Mohawk Hudson Bike Path
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Didn't get my butt in gear until it was almost dark, but that's OK for running on the bike path... I started out on the Gerbil Wheel, ran over to Lock 7 and back. I tried heading in the opposite direction, but the snow was too difficult to run in, so I gave up fairly quickly and debated calling it a night... fortunately, I decided to go out to the Ferry Road bridge and back one more time, because while I was out there checking out the construction work next to the bridge (they've cut down a swathe of trees and bushes on both sides of the bridge and essentially built a road through the water from Rosendale Road over to Niska Isle, with pipes so that the water can flow from the Lisha Kill outlet into the river - I'll have to check it out later in daylight but it looks like they're either working on or replacing the Ferry Road bridge) I noticed something swimming in the water. It was too big to be a muskrat, so I thought it might be a beaver... but when I shined my light on it the tail was wrong. It took me a minute but I finally figured out it was a river otter! How cool is that?
I watched him swim for a bit, then lost him... thought I found him a bit later but that turned out to be a muskrat. Still, this makes the 2nd time I've seen otters in the wild - very exciting, and well worth the run back out to the bridge and back.
An otter I photographed at the Barkhamsted Reservoir in CT last August... I wish I could have gotten a picture of the one I saw tonight!
JMH
