Onondaga Lake Park - West Shore Trail

After completing an errand for Bradley decided to visit Onondaga Lake Park to try out the new camera, Olympus SP-800UZ.

14MP Digital Camera with 30x Wide Angle
Dual Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0 inch LCD

Pulled into the parking lot just west of the "one lane bridge" across from Longbranch Park. Strolled down the West Shore Trail.

Came to a bench facing south onto the the lake. City of Syracuse is in the background.



Using the bench back as a tripod took some photos. Even on this hazy day you can see what this camera is capable of doing.

Normal shot


Zoom Shot


Super zoom shot - shaky due to no tripod


A passerby said that there was a snake further up the path sunning itself. This is where the zoom makes you brave. Indy eat your heart out.



Before returning to the car stopped under the New York State Thruway bridge to shot some more photos.

Looking back toward the City of Syracuse.


Fisherman in the Onondaga Lake outlet. Three photos - each one zooming in more






Kids on the pier.


Fisherman and two friends under the one-lane bridge.


Continuing on home stopped to visit with Michael at his work. While showing Ron the new camera, he pointed out a couple of the camera features.

All in all a successful road trip.

Teaser Tuesday (April 20)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading .






page 69 - And he recalled the day before, when he’d first encountered the brothers. When he’d inadvertently set this ghost train in motion...

Week Sixteen - 36 to Go

2009 marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Twilight Zone, arguably one of the most popular television shows ever. Drawing on photographs and personal remembrances, Rod Serling's widow, Carol, gives commentary on some of the series' most memorable episodes. Veteran film historian Douglas Brode gives in-depth descriptions of these episodes and why they were so resonant with viewers.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Wednesday Causal Photographers

Observation Deck Trail

Today the Montezuma Audubon Center (MAC) scheduled this get-together for photographers. Advertised as a program intended to a help document the plants, animals and habitats around the MAC. Photographic-naturalist Dave Spier is the leader for the event.

This was the second meeting for this series.

Entering the MAC driveway passed two DEC workers mowing the grass.

At 9AM met Dave inside the MAC center. Evidently we were to be a corporal's guard for the day. After waiting several minutes for any others to join us Dave and I walked from the parking lot west on the lane and into the walnut grove.

Once in the wood Dave suggested shooting the trees which were backlit by the early morning sun.

Walnut Grove

Passing by the observation deck we took the Warbler Trail. There Dave noted a branch with new growth that might make for an interesting photo using depth of field.



Further down the trail we came upon a cluster of mayapple.

mayapple

Podophyllum peltatum

Note double umbrella leaves

mayapple leaf

Further up the trail we spotted some Red trillium.

Dave demonstrated a technique that he referred to as gardening - removing several dead leaves and light-colored sticks and stones from around the flowers. This Dave pointed out would remove bright areas that might detract from the photo.

Red trillium

Trillium erectum

Dave stated that the common red trillium can give off an unpleasant odor and is sometimes called “Stinking Benjamin”.

Just beyond the wolf tree there on the left of the trail was a sea of Eastern Skunk Cabbage. Last month these plants were just emerging but now they had leafed out.

Eastern Skunk Cabbage

Symplocarpus foetidus

Dave suggested shooting the Skunk Cabbage from an angle that would show its spiral growth pattern.

Eastern Skunk Cabbage

spiral

Attempt to capture leaf pattern

Attempt to capture reflection

Returning to MAC center we stopped at the observation platform to watch a fisherman and his dog on the west rim of the Merganser Marsh.

Fisherman & his dog

After washing my hands to ward off any poison ivy that I may have encountered and thanking Dave for his instruction made my way to Knox-Marsellus Marsh before heading home. Here I was entertained by several Tree Swallows.

Tree Swallow

Pair of Tree Swallows

Tree Swallows on a Wire

Continuing homeward bound paused to view the Osprey on Rt. 89 near the Eire Canal lock.

Osprey - nest building

Two Osprey - across the Eire Canal in scrub trees

"Spring, nature wakes up
Flowers and trees are blooming
Animals are coming out!" ~ Jibin

Col. Edwin D. Metcalf Home

This home at 86 South Street was built by the Abraham C. Groot family. But it is most remembered as the home of Col Edwin. D. Metcalf.

Colonel Metcalf was to temporarily manage an old industry, create a new one, and tranform the appearance of downtown Auburn, NY.



Colonel Metcalf wa a successful businessman and politican in Springfield, MA. The Colonel's first introduction to Auburn was when he purchased Josiah Barber & co. at an auction. In 1890, Colonel Metcalf came to Auburn to take temporary charge of the D>M> Osborne Co. In 1903, Colonel Metcalf found the Columbian Rope Co. Colonel Metcalf purchased some of the run-down buildings in downtown Auburn and erected the Metcalf and Flint buildings and refurbished the Columbian and Bon-Ton buildings. Moist of these buildings were demolished for the Loop Road construction during the 1970s.

1904 Litho Image Of The Columbian Rope Company

The Logan School, a private primary school was formed in 1927. In 1939 the Logan school moved into the Metcalf home. The school, under the leadership of Mrs. Chauncey Hoskins, offered French in the second grade, drama, art, music and special tutoring in the afternoons for students applying to prep schools. Eventually Logan School owned the property and continued operating until the association was dissolved in 1951.


Today, 86 South Street housed eight apartments.

Teaser Tuesday (April 13)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading .


page 95 - "I got corn fritters in my mouth? It means what I said." "Are you saying even after her Supreme Court appeal, you're going to continue the stay, or do you plan to see her executed? It's not a complicated question, sir" another reporter, a man in a bow tie, said, smiling to make the insult acceptable.

Week Fifteen - 37 to Go

Skip Langdon is one tough New Orleans cop who does not let a heater case slow her resolve.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Bird Touring

Montezuma Audubon CenterSandpiper Shallows

Today the Montezuma Audubon Center (MAC) scheduled this event. Advertised as a visit to the Wetlands Complex birding "hotspot(s)" with Naturalist Dave Spier, this program did not disappoint.

At 8AM Dave drove the MAC van up to the center's front door and our group (Sheila from Wolcott, Susan from Seneca Falls, and Barbara from Butler and myself) got in.

Headed South toward Savannah and continued on Rt. 89 turning onto Armitage Road.

Armitage Road (Rt. 89)

Just west of the East Road juncture, Sheila notice a large bird landing in a tree near a pond on the north side of Armitage Road (Rt. 89). Dave stopped the van. Upon observation the bird was identified as a Bald Eagle. This immature was being harassed by an American Crow. Within minutes an adult Bald Eagle swooped into the tree. Immediately both birds seem to tumble to the ground. The immature took flight to the East followed by the adult. What an exciting way to begin our day.

Dave turned the van around and then drove over East Road to the Knox-Marsellus Marsh.

Knox-Marsellus Marsh

Here we observed 13 species, including Green-winged Teal (4), Hooded Merganser (4), Double-crested Cormorant (37), Great Blue Heron (1), Killdeer, Tree Swallow (6), Canada Geese (6 - one nesting on a muskrat mound).

Dave recording - Group looking

Tree Swallow & Baby at nest box

Great Blue Heron

Muskrat Mounds - Canada Goose seated on second from left

Back in the van continued south on Rt. 89. Dave pulled off to the side of the road and jumped out of the van. Dave had noticed two Painted Turtles on the highway. Dave carried the pair safely cross the road.

Our next stop was on Rt. 89 just north of the Erie Canal lock at May's Point. There in a power line tower were two Osprey building a nest.

We then drove down the May's Point Road stopping at a deadwood swamp between the Clyde River and the parking area for the May's Point platform. There in two different dead trees were two woodpecker, one Downy and one Hairy. Also three Red-winged Blackbirds were flitting around.

Parked on the north side of May's Point Road across from the observation platform. There flying overhead were three Bald Eagles and an Osprey. A Song Sparrow could be heard singing fairly close by.

Walking across the road we viewed the May's Point Pool from the observation deck.


There were sixteen Canada Geese, four Redheads, and three Ring-necked Ducks using the pool.

Drove on Tschache Pool to view birds from the parking lot. Fellow birder Jack drove into the parking lot just after our arrival.

Tschache Pool - parking lot

Here Susan pointed on a large bird that was on the ground on the northwest edge of the pool. It was an immature Bald Eagle. In and around the pool were 3 Canada Geese, 10+ Gadwalls, 2 Blue-winged Teal, a Ring-billed Gull, and hundreds of American Wigeons. In the sky over the pool were 3 Great Blue Heron flying south, a gliding Turkey Vulture, a Northern Flicker, and a soaring Bald Eagle.

Country Biker passing Tschache Pool

Our last birding stop was at a channel opposite the Tschache Pool parking area just south of May's Point Pool. We were looking for a grebe that Jack had seen earlier. In the channel we observed 2 Buffleheads, 8 American Coots and 2 Great Heron flying overhead but no grebe.


Looking for the elusive grebe

Returning to the MAC parking lot we were welcomed by two killdeer who were skirting the driveway.

Cattails

Although the morning was cloudy, a warm breeze made for a pleasant visit to several birding "hotspots".

Teaser Tuesday (April 6)

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading .



page 136 - “Winning can be addictive,” Mira agreed. “So can murder.”

Week Fourteen - 38 to Go

A locked-room murder involving plenty of cutting-edge twenty-first-century technology. A solid entry into this long-lived series.

Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks in 2010

Westminster Presbyterian Church - Auburn NY

Westminster Presbyterian Church

On October 21, 1861, Second Presbyterian Church dismissed the pastor, Rev. Henry Fowler, for his abolitionist activities, which included praying for the soul of John Brown.


Stained Glass WindowBehind altar - west side of sanctuary

After several months of soul-searching, abolitionist supporters of Rev. Fowler organized the Central Presbyterian Church of Auburn. These dissidents began the construction of a church on the corner of William and Genesee called the Basement Chapel.

Section of Stained Glass Window

Unable to purchase an adjacent lot, the church members bought the present church site on William Street from William Henry Seward, Sr.. The church building was dedicated in 1870. The facade of the church was designed by Julius A. Schweinfurth, a local architect.

Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center

(Years later Schweinfurth would donate the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center to the City of Auburn.)



Westminster Presbyterian Church reflects three congregations from the past. The original congregation of Central Presbyterian reunited with Second Presbyterian Church in 1921. Second Presbyterian congregation gave up their church building, which stood where the Auburn Schine Theater is today, and the new congregation became Second Presbyterian Church. The Skinner organ was installed in 1926.

In 1932 a three-story education building was constructed next to the church.

In 1952 the women of the church organized the Weekday Nursery School in this building. The school still operates today and is Auburn's oldest preschool program.

In 1968, the final merger occurred. Second Presbyterian and Westminster Presbyterian merged and the congregation became Westminster.