Suspicious Characters

Black-capped Chickadee at the gym.

A photo of a Snowy Owl on top of a truck at the Target/Beechnut complex made its way to me the other day. We had a short window of time open to go birding this morning, and thanks to high winds and hungry eagles the river was bare.

Thus we and the trusty, rusty, battered old Durango tottered down there to do some perusing.

 Like typical birders, we drove slowly and erratically, stopping often to peer through binoculars at objects that needed to appear closer than they were.

Found a nice northern Red-tailed Hawk perched on the side of the town water tower, huddled up against the biting wind. Discovered a cute little flock of Snow Buntings right down by the Beechnut plant. They are adorable, like little winter toys, and I wasted a good bit of time trying to get decent photos of them, way down away from all the other cars.

We didn't find any snowies, but I sure enjoyed myself. However, I remarked to the boss as we drove away that we were probably on a dozen security cameras and if anybody looked at the feed they were going to wonder what the heck we were up to.

Snow Buntings

Fast forward a few hours. Scanner feeds on Facebook announce that the road outside the complex is lined with tractor trailers and the lots are full of police. It's a madhouse.

Seems there was a bomb threat there today, or so people are saying. 

Wanna bet we got looked over a little bit?

Fortunately we are well known to quite a few local LEOs because we drive around acting suspiciously all the time. At first when the boss stopped at Stewart's for gas or milk they would ask, "What are you doing down at Schoharie Crossing parking lot every day?"

After a while that changed to, "Seen any good birds lately?'

So I expect we will be okay. I sure hope so because I want to go back there again soon and look for those owls. Perfect, windswept, tundra-like habitat, and it is always a thrill to see them. 

Red-tailed Hawk with a much wider, darker belly band
than local birds usually sport.