While the Sandhill Cranes begin to return here in Albuquerque, Kevin McGowan's Meta post of hillside Tompkins County scenery and Dave's lyrical story of the limpkin a bit to the south have done a nice job of massaging my upstate roots which saw me afield there for so many wonderful years.
Thanks fellas! Asher On Mon, Oct 23, 2023, 10:00 AM Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@mac.com> wrote: > Clouds poured overhead, propelled by a relentless northwest wind. Ann and I > wandered > the abandoned land below the levee alongside the Chemung River. We thought > we were prepared for this quest, yet our equipment was now heavy and > awkward, and the chill air sapped our heat. One of my boots seemed to be > leaking. > > Somewhere very near here, Elmira Limpkin had been reported again. The > first time, over a week ago, she was said to be walking a forest trail, and > that’s certainly what the photos appeared to show. But the observer had > been confused, seeing something so improbable and beyond her experience. > The next day over a dozen searchers scoured the area. They came up with > nothing. This morning Elmira Limpkin had been standing on a shingle beach. > I saw this new photograph. Could it be true? We had to see for ourselves. > > All around, trees creaked and moaned. Dead leaves carpeted the mud. Our > vision was blocked repeatedly by thickets of invasive Japanese Knotweed. > Ann and I did not even know Jeremy was here, but suddenly he was signaling > us to the edge of the floodplain. Adam had passed us earlier on a footpath, > and he emerged from the forest along with Michael, to join us. Jeremy > gestured at a curtain of head-high weeds. Beyond, at the far side of a > clearing, a huge, strange bird gazed at us from the shadows. It stood on > tall, dark, thick, stork-like legs. Its long bill was dull brown with > yellowish tones around the mouth. The beak curved, but lacked the slender > tapering grace of the bill of an ibis. This was a heavier weapon that hung > down over the bird’s long folded neck. Its face was dusty gray with > feathers that turned to stubby spikes on the back of its head. The rest of > its plumage would have been dark chocolate but for the white flecks on its > neck which became arrows down its breast then daggers on its wing coverts. > We stared. This tropical creature did not belong here in Upstate New York. > Long ago I had seen such a mollusk-eating bird and heard its wild screams > in the darkness of a baldcypress swamp in Florida. > > As we tried to take pictures, the bird began walking... slowly... > silently... toward us... becoming even harder to see. Now we knew it was > only a few feet away, but it was hard to tell just how close. Our cameras > quit working, showing only shadows and blurry forms. We dared not move. > What was it doing? We wondered and whispered. Minutes seem to pass before > we saw that the bird had turned aside. It kept a brown eye on us while > strolling behind tree trunks and among rotten logs, heading toward the > river. As it crossed the final opening I could see its lengthy webless toes > with every step. > > Then it stopped and stood alongside the final patch of Knotweed atop the > riverbank. We had been following at distance but we stopped, too. We > finally got some sharp - and we hoped indisputable - photographs. > > Jeremy hurried away first, needing to get some sleep before working a > hospital shift. Adam joined Ann & me as we climbed the levee toward the > normal world, but Michael went back into the woods, wondering why his > friend Phil never came out. > > From the top of the levee Adam turned toward the dead end of a street > where he left his car, while Ann & I hiked to the end of the levee. Noisy > kids on a playground ignored us, but a guy at a fire station stared at our > telescopes and binoculars and cameras. Maybe he knew what it’s like beyond > the levee by the river. > > - - Dave Nutter > > On Oct 23, 2023, at 7:09 AM, Robin Cisne <rfci...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Wasn't she the villain in an early 20th c. novel? > > > > > On Sun, Oct 22, 2023 at 10:18 PM Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: > >> On 12 October Barb Borelli found and photographed a Limpkin along the >> Chemung River in Elmira and reported it to eBird. This morning (22 October) >> Martin Cain refound & photographed it, also along the edge of the river. >> This afternoon Ann Mitchell & I went to look for it, and we were close by, >> as were Adam Farid & Mike Gullo, when Jeremy Collison discovered the >> Limpkin a hundred yards from the river standing and resting in the >> dead-leaf-strewn floodplain forest immediately southeast of Pirozzolo Park >> in an area which seemed to be associated with a culvert below the corner of >> the levee. The bird was standing almost under the Japanese Knotweed which >> covered the embankment above. We were surprised when it walked toward us, >> coming within a few yards behind a narrow screen of knotweed, then it >> turned and strolled toward the river, sometimes out in the open, and rested >> again at the top of the riverbank for several minutes, remaining there when >> we left at 4pm. During the 40 minutes we watched it, it was silent and >> neither flew nor fed but seemed relaxed & healthy. Later observers saw it >> catching worms in the leaf litter. If you seek this bird, don’t just look >> at the edge of the river, look in the woods, too. Pirozzolo Park is near >> the West Elmira fire station on Water Street. >> This is the second NYS record for this species. The first record was just >> last autumn along the Niagara River. That bird was captured just before the >> deadly blizzard hit Buffalo, and I believe it was released in South >> Carolina. >> >> - - Dave Nutter >> -- >> *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* >> Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> >> Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> >> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave >> <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> >> *Archives:* >> The Mail Archive >> <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> >> Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> >> BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> >> *Please submit your observations to eBird >> <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* >> -- >> > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
