the Way of the Turtle

HEADING SOUTH ALONG THE HUDSON
1 Mile Walk at the Hannacroix Creek Preserve
Saturday, March 10, 2011

Had a tough time summoning motivation to run today, so instead I decided to stop at several sites along the western shore of the Hudson River and see what I could see. It's a bit early for the usual migrating birds - but the unusually warm weather seems to have a few moving through the area early, so it was worth a look. (Special thanks go to the Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club and their excellent guide, Birding New York's Hudson-Mohawk Region, for suggesting an absolutely incredible number of places between Albany and Catskill to stop and look for birds.)

My first stop was at the Hannacroix Creek Preserve in Coeymans. Given that Schodack Island is across the river, there's always the possibility of spotting an eagle - in fact, the first time I stopped there, one took off from a tree right over my head. Guess I used up the eagle whammy, because all I saw today were a couple of gulls and the usual woodpeckers and chickadees. There weren't even any ducks in the tidal pool - of course, it was low tide, so there wasn't much water in the tidal pool, either.

I briefly considered hiking out to the waterfall, but I'd gotten a late start today and wanted to have time to walk the trails at the RamsHorn Livingston Sanctuary before dark... so once I got back to the parking lot it was time to keep heading south.

JMH