My Excellent Adventure in Ithaca, NY
This weekend I traveled back to Ithaca, NY to visit friends from my days at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which ended just yesterday eight years ago. Going back is always fun because of the quality of my friendships, the interesting work they do, and because I get to pull the Finger Lakes experience–its rolling hills and rugged landscape–around me like a warm winter coat.
The weekend involved meetings, Thai food, an impromptu Tweetup, happy hour, a Hawaiian luau, and vanilla ice cream drizzled in butternut scotch. It involved discussions of family, love, writing, photography, travel, African elephants, conservation, education, blogs, and social media. It involved Great Horned Owls, Eurasian Wigeons, Common and Hooded Mergansers, Belted Kingfishers, howling coyotes, scurrying mice, and at least six mobbing crows. It involved a group photography session with two great photographers, Marie Read and Lang Elliott, a satisfying lunch at Ithaca Bakery, and a stroll through Lyndsey Parsons Biodiversity Preserve, followed by a lovely cookout on a mountainside home in the town of Virgil.
Here are some photo highlights:
Entrance to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Lab is a fantastic piece of architecture that blends into its surroundings in Sapsucker Woods (Ithaca, NY). It's definitely worth a visit someday. Tour the bird observatory then wind through trails looking for nesting Great Blue Herons or a resident Red-tailed Hawk. Browse the collection of Louis Agassiz Fuertes art that adorns the interior walls.
A boardwalk leads hikers from Sapsucker Woods to the bird observatory which is outfitted with Swarovski scopes and bins. Browse a good selection of bins and other items at the Wild Birds Unlimited store inside the visitor center.
Marie Read is a well-known wildlife photographer with credits, well, everywhere. Check out her latest in Nat Geo and her six-page spread in Life in The Finger Lakes magazine, as well as her book: Secret Lives of Common Birds: Enjoying Bird Behavior Through The Seasons. Marie's also a spunky old broad whose dander I love to raise. On the web at www.marieread.com
Tina Phillips and Mike Powers are conservationists from Cornell who are also keen birders and amateur photographers. Our lenses were a WEE bit smaller than Marie's and Lang's, at least in length and girth! How crushing to stand next to a gargantuan 500 mm lens equipped with teleconverters! Is there a pill for that? Mike is on the web at featherflower.blogspot.com
Lang Elliott is an expert nature sound recordist who's amassed a fascinating collection of sound, video, and images of nature. He's the author of Music of the Birds: A Celebration of Song, A Guide to Night Sounds, and, with Marie Read, Common Birds and Their Songs. On the web at www.naturesound.com
How lucky was I to get my two favorite raven-haired Italian friends together in the same spot. Talk about SPUNK! Here's my Ohio friend Krissie tipping a brewski with Tina Phillips back at Tina's woodland home.
An impromptu meeting with two Twitter folk from CLO (Hugh, above, and Charles) inspired an new-fashioned Mexican showdown with our Tweeting iPhones. Who won the draw? Everybody won with a round of Tweets complete with Twitpics. (Huh, what?) Follow Lab goings on with Tweets by @Lab_of_O and @sapsuckerwoods.
The star of the show. Imagine this: five bird photographers (well, two "real" ones and three wanna-bes) on a morning walk encounter a Great-horned Owl being mobbed by six crows. Now picture all the glass pointed at this thing. More on that later.
I was blessed to have a half dozen of my favorite people in one place and to visit with several other fascinating characters. I return home with a full tank and ready to take on the world again.
What a wonderful time you must have had! I look forward to more details and images on follow-up posts!
I love seeing my beautiful daughter being with you in Ithaca, NY.
Mattie
@Zen. I hope to follow up soon with the Great Horned Owl shots.
@Mrs. Ali. Your daughter is an incredible woman and I’m so happy she’s in my life. She speaks of you highly and often. : )
Just visited Lab of O & Sapsucker Woods for the first time this past weekend. Up from NYC. So impressed with the welcoming atmosphere at the Lab, and the beauty of the woods. Saw my first Pileated Woodpecker (a thrill), and loved watching the Great blue heron just standing on his nest surveying the pond. He managed to look simultaneously gawky & majestic, no mean feat. I’m accustomed to seeing Great blues in inlets & marshy areas by the ocean. Something different to see one in the woods!
Dear “Out”
So glad to hear from you and that you had a similarly warm experience at the Lab. It is indeed a special place.
Laura
I just happened a long your blog post this morning and hope you’ll allow me to link it to mine. As former finger lakes resident, Cornell employee, and bird-watcher, I loved reading about your recent trip. I regret that I have only visited Sapsucker Woods twice in my life. I need to incorporate into my next trip back home.
I am a long time resident of Ithaca, and I am constantly trying to convince people that Ithaca has a lot more to offer than just cows and farm land.
There is a little bit of everything in Ithaca, but still maintains that small town feel. I hope that you return soon, and write more positive blog posts about our small city.
Hi Mike,
Ithaca will always be one of my favorite places.
Some years ago, I wrote this post, which better defines what makes Ithaca such a special place.
http://transition2ny.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-i-love-ithaca.html
I have often thought of reprinting it here on Birds, Words, & Websites. Maybe this is a good time to do so. Thanks for writing!