Lab of Ornithology

Abandoned by my roommate who chose to go home to see her family rather than stay in Ithaca with me* while I finished research (and started grad school applications . . . what happened to cause that is a whole other story), I had to come up with my own trouble to get into. After some thought, I decided on biking to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, only 4.5 miles from Collegetown. Pocket change for any semi-serious halfway-competent biker, a significant distance for a culture that fights for the parking lots closest to the grocery store, just right for me.

Of course, being Ithaca, the way there was almost entirely uphill. There were enough flat spots along the way to make it bearable, but just barely. First I had to bike up a hill from Collegetown to get to campus. On campus, I had to bike up a hill from the engineering quad to North campus. From North campus, I had to bike up a hill to get off campus. After biking through a golf course, I turned left and had to bike up another hill. That hill led to another hill, which led to the last hill, and then I was at the Lab of Ornithology. I don’t think the overall grade was too bad, but you try biking uphill for forty minutes straight and tell me how your legs like it.

Biking was a very popular option this morning

I wasn’t really at the Lab of Ornithology to go birdwatching, because I can recognize maybe a half dozen different birds, but I wanted to take a look around at their trails and if I saw any birds, great. If not, I got a bike ride and a walk/hike for my troubles. I picked up a map and headed out on the paths. I planned to walk a couple loops that would take me around two sections of Sapsucker Woods and let me walk part of each trail.

In the end, I spent a couple hours wandering around the woods. It was pretty quiet, and not many other people were there, which was probably a good thing for birdwatching. I did end up seeing a few birds – a couple woodpeckers, some ducks, a robin, and the most rare find of all, shown below.

A rare find: the chinstrap penguin outside of its natural habitat

I also heard a lot of different birds, none of which I could identify by their calls. It was still a worthwhile experience, though I would like to go back for a birdwatching walk hosted by the Lab of Ornithology. They’re on the weekends, which isn’t a problem, but they start at 7:30 am, which might be . . .

*That was probably a good choice.