Montezuma NWR 1

Rose Mallow
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Hi everyone! I hope all is well with you. This break is helping me a great deal. Without getting into too much detail, I can only say, know your limits and do what you need to do. I'm not sure I will get back to a daily blog again, but I would like to continue on at an easy pace. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful notes and kind comments. I have read them all and am touched by your kindness.

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Last week, we took a small holiday and headed off to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York. It is in the Finger Lakes Region. We saw a lot of great things. Nowhere close to what we have seen in past visits, but the time of year has a great deal to do with that. The area is a big migratory stop off point for birds and we were a little early for that. Still, we were not disappointed. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I recommend clicking on them to see them larger.

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Purple Loosestrife - a pesky, invasive plant, but there is no denying its beauty
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We saw miles and miles of Goldenrod in bloom, as we traveled along the highways. The NWR is about a six hour drive from where I live. We also saw a lot of the beautiful golden flowers within the refuge. This is typically an autumn flower where I live, so guess what is right around the corner? ;-)

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This Great Blue Heron wasn't in the canals with the rest of its buddies. Preferring to stay in the tall grasses, he posed nicely for me.
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This log in the waterway seemed to be highly coveted by a lot of birds. It was rare that we saw it without birds lined up on it. This time it was Mallards and Wood Ducks.

We saw Canada Geese galore

I think there must have been some funny business going on. Looks like a hybrid Mallard and a female mallard. The hybrid was an extremely handsome fellow, so his Mama and Papa knew what they were doing!
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An early morning view of a marsh area were we walked

What else would you expect to find floating in Duckweed? DUCKS! Of course!

Common Moorhen
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Geese coming in
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Just outside the NWR were many farms. These cows were in nice light, so I took a shot of them. We can pretend they are wild. ;-)
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Loosestrife and Goldenrod

I have a moonroof on my car, so I opened it, sat on the center console, poking my head out of the roof to take pictures of some of the birds in flight. It gave me a great perspective, but I bet it looked mighty funny to passersby to see the crazy lady with her head coming out of the roof.

This was a pretty scene that I liked.

Continues here: Montezuma NWR 2