The tour was interesting, but many of the buildings (like, all the good ones) were off limits. The best, by far, was the morgue. The others were in decent shape and some are still in use…so they are clean and freshly painted. Not the filthy dirty, chipped paint, and old asylum furniture we were really looking to shoot. Kind of disappointing… Plus, it started raining around 1:30/2:00 and eventually downpoured. On the way home it rained and there was some nice bolts of lighting ahead of us, where we live. By the time we got back to town a storm (wind shear?) had come through and wiped out many trees (some on vehicles) and phone poles. One electric line was smoking in a field and part of it was on fire. No damage at either of our homes, though, luckily.

Apparently there was a tiny little article in the newspaper about a bald eagle release taking place today at Clute Park.  Luckily, the officer at our building’s front entrance told me about.  Since I don’t normally bring my camera with me to work, I had to ask my parents to drop off my camera bag, which they did.  Jenna, my coworker/friend, and I headed down to the lake, arriving just before noon.  We found a large crowd of camera wielding people.  There was everything from point and shoot cameras to SLR’s to news cameras.  We noticed the truck and headed in that direction.  The explained that they’d be removing the bird from the crate in order to band and tag it.  They needed everyone to move back and be quiet.  The procedure took approximately 10 minutes.  Once banded, they carried the bird towards the lakeshore.  Before releasing him, the man talked a little bit about the bird.  One fact that was interesting to learn was that an eagle’s bite is equivalent to 1,000 pounds of pressure.  Ouch!

As they released the eagle, he flew off quickly and seemed to be doing very well.  It actually gave me goosebumps!  Then he started to circle back around.  He wound up landing in the lake close to the shore.  He sat, just floating, for about 10 minutes.  As the tide slowly brought him closer to shore and he began using his wings to swim to shore, which was pretty cool.  He made it to shore and just sat for a minute.  The DEC man grabbed a net and approached.  I guess he thought the bird may not be ready to fly off afterall.  Just as he was going to net him, the eagle took off again.  He appeared to fly towards the bridge and road, which was worrisome, but we think he wound up under the bridge.  We’re not sure.

We had to leave and head back to work.  First we had to pick up Jenna’s lunch at the deli.  She said she heard inside that the DEC and animal control had left the lake shortly after we did.  They must’ve thought it was safe to leave the eagle since it has no real predators, other than humans.

I’m so glad we were able to see this incredible event…and to think I almost didn’t go!

We met at the parking area off Fall Creek Drive. The many steps leading down to the creek were steep. Once down, there was really only one place to set up…right below a dropping waterfall and at the edge of the creek just above where it again falls creating the infamous Ithaca Falls. The spring runoff had the waters raging and the sound was deafening. We spent 20-30 minutes there before heading up. The walk up didn’t bother me quite as bad as the walk down…I’m scared of heights so at least I didn’t have to look down and see how high up we were. Next we went over the walking bridge and then headed back to the cars before our 1 hour parking expired.

We decided to go down to Ithaca Falls. It was roaring like crazy with all the spring run-off. There was a lot of mist and just enough of a breeze to kick it up in your face. It felt really good. There was a great rainbow at the base, too.

Next was Buttermilk and then Lick Brook. We found the small parking lot that would lead us to Lick Brook but we chose the wrong path and decided it would be a good hike for another day. Jerry had to leave so Gary, Brent, and I went up to Ludlowville Falls. This was a new one to all of us. When I asked Jerry how big it was, he said, “It’s cute.” Cute is not how we would have decribed it. It was nearly as big as Ithaca Falls and just as beautiful with yet another rainbow at its base. There was even a way to walk right on the top shelf at the edge of the falls. A bit scary but it gave us some interesting shots. It was much easier to shoot from there than behind the chain link fence.

That concluded our. I came home with just a handful of keepers. It was just too bright and sunny to shoot waterfalls, but a great day to be outdoors anyway.