The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

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Tag: Wildlife

Other creatures in our world

Hudson River Eagle Sightings

A pocket camera can’t do justice to the Bald Eagles, just before dusk and halfway across the Hudson River from our river cruise yacht:

Bald Eagles at dusk – Hudson River near Hudson NY

We got a closer look at the pair of eagles who once graced the original Grand Central Station and are now standing guard at St Basil Academy in Garrison.

This one glanced away from the entrance, perhaps to keep an eye on us:

Eagle at St Basils Academy – entrance

Another watches over an interior road:

Eagle at St Basils Academy – cliff

They’re two tons of cast iron apiece and, should any of you want a restoration project, I’m sure the good folks at St Basil’s could work something out.

We saw those during the Cycling the Hudson Valley tour: riding during the day, camping and touristing in the evening.

Several years ago we encountered a Penn Station eagle at the Washington Zoo:

Karen on Penn Station eagle

Fly away, young Valkyrie, fly away …

2014-09-07
Dutchess Rail Trail: Bee Crossing

It had to happen:

DCRT – Bee Crossing

Given that the Sony HDR-AS30V has a 170° FOV (probably diagonally corner-to-corner), the honeybee must be an inch or two from the lens. Subsequent frames show it circling around in front of the fairing and continuing about its business.

2014-09-06
Milkweed Tussock Moth

Although we no longer see Monarch butterflies, our milkweed patch attracts Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars:

Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar

This one apparently died on the patio step, half the house away from the milkweed patch, and the rear spines (on the right) have begun falling out. During the next week, I teleported two more from that step to the patch, under the assumption they’d be happier on a tasty leaf than on a slate slab.

They were all early instars, very short and quite fuzzy. Later instars will be much longer, with more distinct tussocks.

I wonder if you could shear them and use the “fur” for decoration? It wouldn’t spin into thread like wool, but someone, somewhere, has surely performed art with Tussock Caterpillar spines…

2014-08-31
Clymene Moth

The first Clymene Moth we ever saw:

Clymene Moth

It’s a poor picture, but the moth was up and away after that; as always, the poor picture you get is better than the great picture you might have gotten.

A few days later, we spotted two of them on a brick wall, so there must be a bunch more out there.

2014-08-17
Turtle Tragedy: Raymond Avenue

Verily, ’tis the season for turtles on the move. This one clunked over the curb on Raymond Avenue at Vassar Lake, couldn’t find an escape route, and got smashed:

Smashed turtle – Raymond Ave at Vassar Lake – 2014-07-06

Turtle armor works pretty well against their usual predators, but can’t handle automobile tire impacts.

That’s a tight crop from the helmet camera, with terrible compression artifacts smearing the spalled concrete sidewalk.

For whatever reason, NYSDOT can’t do concrete sidewalks; the entire length of Raymond Avenue has lousy concrete. The fact that Vassar College B&G uses the sidewalks as their private golf-cart highway may have something to do with it, but that’s not the primary problem, because the concrete on DOT’s showcase Rt 55 between Burnett Blvd and Titusville Rd looks the same way.

2014-08-02
Turtle Teleportation: Love Road

We spotted another turtle while on a grocery ride:

Turtle on Love Rd – as spotted – 2014-07-02

Although this is certainly meddling in the turtle’s affairs, it seemed reasonable on a torrid day with plenty of hot asphalt to cross:

Turtle on Love Rd – pickup – 2014-07-02

I made the (possibly unwarranted) assumption that the turtle wanted to cross the road; I’ve been wrong before.

In any event, this must be what teleportation feels like:

Turtle on Love Rd – delivery – 2014-07-02

There’s not really much on that side of the road, other than an inactive oil spill site left over from when Love Oil ran a tank farm. That’s why it’s called Love Rd, of course.

Perhaps someone else will help the turtle cross the road in the other direction…

2014-07-26
A Pleasant Ride, With Turtle

It was not, however, a pleasant turtle:

Snapping Turtle on DCRT – 2014-06-04

That’s a fairly large snapping turtle in the middle of the Dutchess Rail Trail, between Morgan Lake and the Violet Avenue tunnel.

Snappers can move just under the speed of light for about a foot in order to latch onto you, but they’re not quite as fast while turning around: always pass to their rear. You do not attempt to save them from their folly at being in the middle of the road / trail / driveway: they have absolutely no patience with meddlers.

Turtles lay eggs around this time of year, which means they’re on the move, which means they cross roads, which means they get mashed. We’ve seen maybe half a dozen smashed turtles on our usual routes.

Quite some years ago, we found one of its relations in the flower garden beside our house, where it climbed at least 18 inches of vertical concrete block to see what was inside. It was about two feet long, jaws to tail, and obviously a survivor:

Snapping Turtle on wall

Those missing plates probably didn’t help its attitude in the least.

It eventually klonked down to the driveway without our assistance:

Snapping Turtle on driveway

After a pause for gimbal unlocking and compass recalibration, it ambled off toward the Mighty Wappingers Creek. The wall gets much shorter to the right, which is likely where it climbed up.

We wished it good hunting …

Neither turtle was radio-active.

2014-06-22