the Way of the Turtle

LOTS O' WATERFOWL & A FEW BIRDS O' PREY
2 Mile Walk at Turning Point Park & the Genesee Riverway Trail
A Brief Visit to Ontario Beach Park
0.4 Mile Walk at Braddock Bay Park
Thursday, March 17, 2011

Another warm, gorgeous March day, so Ann and I headed out to some local trails to enjoy the sunshine, fresh air, and critters galore...

Turning Point Park & the Genesee Riverway Trail

Our first stop was Turning Point Park and the boardwalk across Turning Point Basin on the Genesee River. Initially it looked like we were only going to see the usual suspects - lots of gulls and a pair of swans that have clearly gotten used to mooching for food (we gave them some bread and they ended up following us to every spot along the boardwalk where we stopped.) Then Ann spotted some small birds swimming and diving off in the distance... from the pictures I suspect they were white-winged scoters, but they kept far enough away that it was really tough to get a good ID. Several groups of mergansers flew through while we were walking, and one even stuck around a little later. As we neared the far side of the basin, a pair of mallards swam over and we spent a while trying to feed them bread while also sharing some with a group of gulls that wanted an easy meal... I suppose we were lucky only a half dozen gulls flew over instead of the hundred or so that were out squawking and shrieking on the mud bar. While we were there we also saw a pair of black ducks and a lone eared grebe. The latter initially spent a while paddling around but as we were getting ready to leave upped his game and started diving repeatedly, resurfacing a fairly impressive distance away.

Ontario Beach Park

The pier is stilled fenced off for repair and renovation (perhaps the county successfully sued the company that did an incredibly shoddy job repairing the pier several years ago?) so we briefly watched some folks feeding the ducks and gulls (one of them lit up a cigarette - gack - so we didn't stick around) then walked out to the edge of the water before heading back to the car to drive east to Braddock Bay. Not much to see... but it was nice to be there and not have the park crawling with people.

Braddock Bay Park

Braddock Bay Park, on the other hand, was surprisingly busy, especially the Hawkwatch platform... crowded with folks with binoculars and spotting scopes. We walked down to the end of the boardwalk and checked out the birds out on the water. Spotted gulls, Canada geese, swans... and a large group of American Coots. We might have stayed longer but there were two guys hanging out at the end of the boardwalk talking non-stop... so instead we took some pictures and then decided to head over to the Braddock Bay Raptor Research Center trails on the off-chance that we might see some snoozing owls.

JMH