November 27 - Clinton

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June 29, 2010

November 27, 2010

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

Starting Weather: Cloudy 32 °
Ending Weather: Cloudy 31°
Distance Covered:  1.2 miles
Time: 3:06 PM - 3:56 PM
It was a dreary day, but I went out anyway.  I went to Clinton, because it is so filled with wildlife.  There was only one other car in the parking lot when I arrived.  I didn't see another person for forty-five minutes.  There really wasn't much going on.  I can't remember when I've seen less wildlife in Clinton.  I walked back to the car and loaded my camera and tripod into the back seat.  Just then, I saw something in a tree over the trail, about 100 feet away.  I tool out a smaller camera with a zoom lens, to see if it was a bird.  Just as I looked through the viewfinder, it jumped to another branch.  i got my camera and long lens back out, and started taking pictures.  It was a beautiful hawk.  I decided to walk across the bridge, over to the trail, to get a closer view.  I had to walk right underneath the hawk and positioned myself to the south.  It posed for me for a minute or two prior to flying off.   At least I saw one wild thing today!

November 26 - Beaver Marsh

Cedar Waxwing

Starting Weather: Sunny 31 °
Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy 31°
Distance Covered:  1 mile

Northern Flicker

Time: 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Today was a beautiful, sunny day.  Sunny days after the leaves fall from the trees are always so magical!  We went to the Beaver marsh, since there is always something wonderful to photograph there.  We stopped on the boardwalk and scanned the marsh.  Nothing! Not even a Mallard. We decided to walk north towards the bend in the Cuyahoga River.  On the way, Kay spotted a flock of Cedar Waxwings feasting on some berries in a tree. They were not shy, appearing not to be fazed by our attentions.  We stayed there for about an hour and a half, watching them flit between the berries and a nearby tree where they perched while not feeding.  Across the canal, we saw a  Northern Flicker and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  In addition, there were plenty of Black-capped Chickadees, who were practically dive-bombing us.  Also plentiful were White-breasted Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, and Northern Cardinals.  I saw an American Goldfinch tasting the berries and a White-throated Sparrow foraging on the trail.  It was a chilly day compared to what we have been used to so far this season, but well worth it!  

November 25 - Lock 4

Starting Weather: Cloudy 50 °
Ending Weather: Cloudy 50°
Distance Covered:  .32 miles
Time: 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM                                       Today is Thanksgiving.  I got up early and started many of the dishes that are to be served today.  Billy, Jim and Katie, Tim and Jim were over, and everyone was just kind of languishing in the family room.  I decided to take a quick trip to Lock 4 Park while the turkey was roasting.  This park is about ten minutes from home, and it is so representative of the Ohio and Erie Canal.  There is an actual working lock here, as well as a replica of a lock-keeper's house.  The canal boat also runs here as an attraction.   It was raining lightly at times, and even though it is Thanksgiving, there were several other people on the trail.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

November 21 - Wilbeth Road

Downy Woodpecker

Starting Weather: Partly Cloudy 60°
Ending Weather: Partly Cloudy 61°
Distance Covered: 1.65 miles
Time: 2:18 PM - 3:37 PM
We like the Wilbeth Road trailhead because of the swampy area just southeast of the parking lot. The area attracts a lot of birds, so we decided to try out our new equipment. We did see some small woodpeckers, but not a lot else today. An elderly couple stopped to ask what we were photographing, and gave us a short history of the area, including the fact that it has been used as a dumping ground. They said that it was supposed to have been cleaned up by now, but that some political glitches had kept that from happening. It was interesting because before we'd had this conversation, I hadn't noticed how junky the area looked because I was trying so hard to see the natural beauty!

November 20 - Warmington Road & Lock 4 Park

Starting Weather:
Ending Weather:
Distance Covered:  1.13 mile

Time:  PM -  PM

Brown Creeper

Today's travels began with a trip to the Warmington Road area.  We hadn't been here for awhile, and everything was starting to look wintery.  We always seem to see unusual birds here, and today was no exception.  We saw a little bird scaling a tree, and had no idea what it was.  It was brown striped, and so was hard to distinguish from the tree bark.  When we arrived home, we looked in our bird book and learned that it was a Brown Creeper, a cousin to the tree-hugging Nuthatch.    Next we stopped off at Lock 4 Park, hoping to find some birds there as well.  Not a lot going on there bird-wise, but always a scenic and photogenic stop!

November 14 - Clinton

Starting Weather: Mostly Cloudy 48°
Ending Weather: Mostly Cloudy 49°
Distance Covered: 1.2 miles
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Today the plan was to see the buck that was wandering around last Sunday and to photograph him with my new lens.  He was nowhere to be seen.  Saw a Red-tailed hawk soaring overhead, and hundreds of blackbirds flocking, however.  It was a pleasant, mid-fall day. 

November 13- Brecksville, Boston, Beaver Marsh

I-80 Bridge

Route 82 Bridge

Starting Weather: Sunny 63 °
Ending Weather: Sunny 65 °
Distance Covered:  1 mile
Time: 12:10 PM - 3:52 PM 
                                                                      Today was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, in contrast to a week ago when we went to many of the same places.  We started off at Brecksville, Kay hoping to spy some mating eagles.  No such luck.  We left there and drove down Riverview Road, with a quick stop to photograph the trail running underneath the I-80 Bridge. A Stark contrast to last week's snowy view!  Our final stop was the Beaver Marsh.  We got some new equipment and were anxious to try it our with some wildlife.  Not a lot happening at the Marsh today.  Wouldn't you know!

November 7 - Clinton

Starting Weather: Mostly Sunny °
Ending Weather: Mostly Sunny °
Distance Covered:  6.2 miles
Time: 12:40 PM - 4:45 PM

Red-tailed Hawk

White-tailed Deer

Today could not have been more different from its weekend partner, Saturday.  It was a beautiful, seasonal, sunny day.  I decided to go to Clinton, because it was a Sunday in November last year that I had the idea to embark on a year-long project to photograph the towpath.  That day I did not take a camera with me; I had gone only to hike and enjoy the beauty of that fall day.  Today I walked over near the railroad tracks and looked south.  I saw a doe near the tracks about a quarter mile away.  A few minutes later I looked towards the same spot and saw a beautiful buck in the same spot, crossing the tracks.  i ran back towards the trail and towards the outlook spot.  I saw him over near the tracks.  I ran back south down the trail, but never saw him again.  Kay stopped by and we went back to the tracks, and followed them south.  I got to do a little orienteering, trying to find the trail from the tracks much further south from where we left the trail.  We saw a lot of birds today, and enjoyed what fall color remained.

November 6 - I- 80 Bridge and Beaver Marsh

White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

Starting Weather: Cloudy 35°
Ending Weather: Cloudy, Sprinkling 37°
Distance Covered: 1.25 miles
Time: 11:25 AM - 2:18 PM

Grebe with fish

Runner on the trail near I-80 bridge

I-80 bridge at first snowfall

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

Northern Cardinal

White-breasted Nuthatch

Today we had our first snow of the season.  We decided to go to the Beaver Marsh.  When we got off the freeway in Peninsula, the trees looked beautiful, covered with a dusting of snow.  We decided to go north at first to Boston.  We were able to capture some photos of snow there, but not much.  Either it was already melting, or some areas just didn't get much snow.  By the time we arrived at he Beaver Marsh, there was no evidence of snow.  What we did see, however, were scores of "backyard birds" on the trail.  We noticed that someone had thrown sunflower seeds on the trail, and the birds were taking full advantage.  Although it seemed like cheating, we were snapping away at the chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, sparrows, blue jays and cardinals.  We even saw some Cedar Waxwings feasting on some berries on our way out.  At the Beaver Marsh itself, we watched a pie-billed grebe fishing, and caught it with a fish in its mouth.  We also saw a Great Blue heron perched on a log in the canal, motionless throughout the whole time we we there!

November 3 - Clinton

Starting Weather: Mostly Cloudy 51°
Ending Weather: Mostly Cloudy 51°
Distance Covered:  1.06 miles
Time: 5:37 PM - 6:21 PM

Unfortunately, I have been so busy at work these days that I have not been able to get out to the trail as much as I would like.  Didn't get on in the month of November until the 3rd.  We went to Clinton one evening after work to see how things were progressing with the trees.  Most of the color had faded, and everything looks like a burnt orange of brown color.  We saw some amazing flocks of blackbirds, containing literally hundreds of birds.  I can't believe how fast the weather has changed.  It was actually chilly tonight.  Fall sometimes doesn't seem to last as long as we'd like it to.  We are hoping that we get some warm days yet, so that we can enjoy hiking without freezing while the leaves are off the trees and the birds and other animals are much more visible.

October 31 - Wilbeth Road

The Wilbeth Road trailhead was a rather late discovery for us.  It isn't listed on the Towpath maps, and we just stumbled upon it one day in the spring.  It has a beautiful wetland area just to the east of the trail, and there are always lots of birds.  We have seen Great Blue herons, Green herons, and other species.  Today we saw two hawks who were perched in trees rather close to the trail.  They seemed to be happy to pose for us.  This trailhead is between Manchester Road and Summit lake, so walking either north or south affords a great, scenic hike.