An Eye for an....

A nifty little driftwood camp, snuggled under some Box Elder trees...
as ephemeral as the Killdeer nests once the water rises

We went down to Schoharie Crossing the other night to see what we could see. No new birds, but the river was about as low as I have ever seen it; I got carried away walking.

I walked all the way down to the Mohawk, enjoying the antics of Killdeers trying to lure me away from hidden nests. I am no danger atall to them, but the rising of the river is something they should have planned for. Heavy rains, or the closing of the locks will doom any eggs laid among the small stones that are normally well below the water line.

I felt kinda bad about walking so far, since the boss was sitting at a pic-a-nic table with nothing interesting to do. I couldn't resist though. That may have been the last time until winter that it was possible to walk so far, and river bank walks are not so appealing in snow and ice.

When I returned, rather than being irritated, he had a tale to tell. A giant snapping turtle had started to climb out of the river and then changed her mind. He much enjoyed describing just how large she was.

See that speck?

And then he pointed out into the Schoharie, "I think that's her right there."

I saw the thing he was looking at. Even through the binoculars it looked like a stick. There are lots of sticks in the river....

A little better look

And then it vanished from sight. Wow! That was one huge turtle! And what an eye that guy has!