Sheffield to Wyanet Bike Ride

Today's ride was very relaxing.  It was a bit cloudy, but the sun was poking through.  There was some rain in the forecast, so I packed up my bike with camera supplies, rain gear, food, water, etc.  I just got some bikepacking packs from Oveja Negra in Colorado, so I wanted to try these out and get used to riding with gear on the bike rather than on my back.

Specialized Carve Expert

I love the diversity of the canal, but today, it seemed like deja vu of rides in the recent past, but I'll share photos anyway.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted photos of a family of Canadian Geese on my other blog found here.  I'm assuming the family below is the same group as they were in the exact same spot.  Sadly, there were two less in the group of goslings.

Gaggle of Geese

 Northern Water Snake

Spiny Softshell

Mr. Tom Turkey

I had a race with the deer below.  He was bedded down between the path and the canal and bolted along side of me.  He pulled ahead in the race pretty quickly.  The photo below was taken while riding and trying to hold the camera one-handed.  Good fun!

White-tailed Deer

Immediately after the deer drag race, I got hammered with rain!  Luckily I had packed the camera raincoat as well as my own.  I rode the last 5 miles in the pouring rain, but it added to the adventure of the ride:)

The Calm Between the Storms

The weather here has been absolutely terrible.  Stormy and wet.  I was determined to get out today, as I needed some time to de-stress a bit.  I brought along the camera raincoat just in case, as we just had a small storm roll through, and supposedly another coming.  Luckily, the sun broke through a bit as I did a short hike on the canal just east of Geneseo.  Here's what I saw:

A Female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

A muskrat plays peek-a-boo with me as it gathers and flees with material for the den.

Painted Turtle

Hopefully tomorrow will bring some sun and dryness.  I hope to get out and do some riding/photography on the canal.  Enjoy the weekend!

A Great Day Off!

Today, I had the day off, so spent the day biking around the canal with my camera.  I'm amazed at the amount of wildlife that I see.  The day was gorgeous, great lighting and perfect for exploring.  My path started between Annawan and Atkinson and came west towards Geneseo.  Rather than babble about all of these photos, I'll just show the pics!

King Bird

Black Capped Chickadee

Mallards

Canadian Goose

American Mink

I stumbled on this mink on the prowl and was hoping he would come back towards me for a great face-first shot on the log.  I sat down and waited.  While waiting, I heard the brush explode to my left and saw a coyote running away from me:(  I always miss the coyotes when they are close!

Muskrat

This muskrat encounter was weird.  I spotted him while on my bike about 10 feet away.  He went down along the canal, and I got off my bike, got my camera out of the bag, got it set, and he came up again right in front of me!  It was busily gathering grass for his den, I assume.  Even more strange, it came up four times for more grass, even though I was snapping photos just 6 or 7 feet away!

Painted Turtle

Blue Winged Teal

Blue Heron Butt

I can never get close to herons!  This is what I see almost every time:)  What a great day off anyway!

New Photograph Finds

I have a life list for the wildlife I have seen, and I also have a life list for wildlife I have photographed.  Of course, I have seen way more than I have captured with a camera, so I get quite excited when I get something new photographically.

Today I biked from the Lock 22 and headed East past the feeder basin.  After I got to the feeder basin, I spotted eight double-crested cormorants!  I've never seen them on the canal before, so of course, I was quite excited!  The only shots I could get of them was as they were flying by after they spotted me.  These guys are hard to photograph (for me), as they are super skittish and very fast flyers.

Double-Crested Cormorant

On the way back, I spotted a little brown creeper on a tree.  I've seen these many times, but have never gotten a picture.  From what I've read about creepers, they lay their eggs behind loose bark at the base of trees.

Brown Creeper

Finally, right before I got back to the truck, I spotted the awesome little spotted sandpiper feeding around a semi-submerged log.  I couldn't decide which photo I liked best, so I'll just put them both here.

Spotted Sandpiper

I love the fact that I'm still seeing new birds along the canal.  Usually, the smaller birds just tick me off when trying to take pictures.  It seems that just as I get the shot lined up, they fly away!  Grrr!  Cardinals are the worst at this.