Today I drove my husband up to work and had a doctor's appointment myself, up in Westchester. Good news, hearing in my left ear is continuing to improve (I had some significant hearing loss due to my bicycle accident last year, and knocked an ear bone out of place!) and should still improve a bit more. So in driving up, i decided to make a day of it, cross over to Rockland, hawk watch at the Hook and if there was time (there was 30 minutes), a walk over at Rockland Lake, before picking Tim up and heading back to Brooklyn.
The raptors were far today, but in binoculars we had lots of red tails, a few sharp shinned hawks, a handful of Cooper's hawks, 2 Northern harriers, a few bald eagles, both mature and juvenile. a peregrine falcon, a handsome kestrel, and 2 golden eagles. I did not get photos of the far off...
My 30 minutes at dockland lake rewarded me with a photogenic killdeer, lots of creepers (the only kind I want near me when I'm in the park on my own), Northern shovelers, and beautiful foliage.
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| The scenery going up Hook Mountain. |
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| A red tail hawk eyeing the decoy owl that is propped up on the top of Hook Mtn. |
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| A Turkey Vulture with the Tappan Zee behind it's left wing and Piermont Pier above them both. |
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| A worn out looking American lady takes the sun next to a shard of green glass. These butterflies tend to be brighter in the spring, and individuals that were hatched and pupated up here and are present now as they migrate to the Southern states are paler than those you would spot in the spring/summer. |
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| Rockland Lake |
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| This killdeer flew in so noisily, made a few lower-in-volume calls, and waded around this little area of shore line. I knew it was a killdeer before I saw it because of it KILLDEER-KILLDEER-KILLDEER call (listen to them all here). |
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| Part of the plover family, a type of shore bird, you are just as likely to find this species in the middle of grassy fields where they nest, raise their young, and feed. |
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