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Batavia Blue Devils 2014 Hall of Fame induction dinner
The lates edition of inductees for the Batavua Blue Devil Hall of Fame are; front row, from left to right, Maria Spiotta Dentino, '99, Jamie Callahan Hulbig '98, and Dr. Allyson Shirtz Howe '90. Back...
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Friends with Benefits: deer & wild turkeys hanging together
I came across these deer and wild turkeys feeding together along what was one of my favorite outdoor haunts in my teen years.As I took these photos I thought back to the very first time I came across...
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Meet argiope aurantia, maker of meadow web gems
A yellow garden spider tends to its dew-laden web.Argiope aurantia, a.k.a. the yellow garden spider, the black & yellow garden spider or golden garden spider. And while it may be found in your...
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Mid-October seasonal photos
Daybreak along the power linesA view from Molasses Hill RoadA chipmunk enjoys some sweet corn from our autumn decorA gray squirrel has similar taste - except he'd prefer to eat alone.A wagonload of...
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Veteran Batavia police officer scores well at Fall Festival Highland Games
It was just after 9 a.m. and Claudia and I were working our way between an already growing crowd of vendors and onlookers when we spotted Batavia Police officer Frank Klimjack. He was standing in a...
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Autumn pastoral: photos of the October countryside
A gently rolling buckwheat field, splashes of red-orange in the hardwoods and a sky filled with blue-gray clouds -- October in Genesee County.Downstream from the Powers Road bridge, a mirror image on a...
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Batavian has close encounter with large sow black bear and her cubs
It was approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23rd, when Mike Corbelli experienced the encounter of a lifetime. A Batavia resident, Mike was archery hunting for black bear with a group of local men...
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Musings on autumns past, present and an unsettled future
It was an October day when I walked out the front door of my grandmother's home and saw two family friends. They were sitting on the tailgate of a station wagon parked beneath an old maple. They were...
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Early November pics from Genesee County Park
As of last weekend there was still a splash of color at Genesee County Park & Forest, as seen along Memory Lane, the main road in the park. Soft morning light really enhanced the golden-bronze tint...
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Watching the waterfowl
The ballet of the honkers.....gathering speed prior to take off."In sync"...they just need some altitude - quickly! A drake and hen mallard enjoying a sunny morning on the Tonawanda.A lone ring-necked...
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It's late autumn and the critters help themselves to whatever's available
This gray squirrel found a weathered and wrinkly apple on the ground and decided on taking it back into the apple tree before gnawing away.The red squirrel stuck with more traditional fare -- a black...
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The Day the Duck Hunters Died: a look back at waterfowling's darkest hour
It was a time when much of the country was still feeling the effects from the Great Depression. In rural America the contents of a hunter's game bag greatly helped add to the family larder. Water fowl...
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Creature comforts: enjoying the warm weather respite
Long migratory flights have been put on hold in recent days. Here a drake and hen mallard take advantage of the open water on "celery brook" to do some dabbling.Downstream from the River Street bridge,...
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The red-bellied woodpecker expands its feeding grounds
There was a time when the red-bellied woodpeckers never ventured into our yard, instead choosing to scour the bark of the big cottonwood, as seen here, or sidling along the branches of the box elders...
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Wintering songbirds thrive despite the cold
Thanks in large part to a constantly filled bird feeder, the Winter of 2015 has seen an abundance of feathered visitors in and around our yard. This cardinal waits on a snow-covered spruce bough...
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Frankie's RocknGirl: a standardbred foal who went toe to toe with Old Man Winter
Life for Frankie's RocknGirl began on a frigid, if not inauspicious note. She made her entrance into the world at the Goodwin Farm in Byron in the wee hours of February 28th, the last day of what was...
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Despite a shortage of open water, geese are winging their way north
They seem to have delayed their migaration as long as possible. Now, their biological clocks ticking, large flocks of Canada geese have begun to return to their breeding grounds - even if the weather...
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Snow geese make local stopover enroute to far north breeding grounds
It was just about dinner time last Saturday when we received a call telling us about a big flock of snow geese in a Byron field. According to the caller, there were reportedly "at least 200" snow geese...
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Springtime in and around the wetlands
Pussy willow, one of the earliest harbingers of springtime and perhaps the most short-lived. Within a couple days the catkins will turn yellow and flowery in appearance. Oxbow marsh on Oak Orchard...
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Photo sequence of a red-tailed hawk dining "a la serpentine"
Seconds before I snapped this photo, the red-tailed hawk pictured above was perched on a tree limb. And that's usually where it's situated whenever I've set foot into its domain. From its lofty vantage...
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Yellowlegs and sandhill cranes make stopover at Iroquois NWR
Hard to say for certain whether this yellowlegs is of the "greater" or "lesser" variety. Both are quite similar in appearance and, as you might have guessed, the long bill is perhaps the first thing...
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Springtime photos from Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area
This photo of black-crowned night heron was taken by Claudia along the Feeder Ditch on the Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area. The Tonawanda WMA borders the western perimeter of the Iroquois National...
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Mid-spring photos from Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge
This is a what Mohawk Pool looked like when Claudia and I took our first hike at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge this year. It was April and cattails were brown and trees devoid of foliage. Later in...
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A morning on Ringneck marsh
Hardly the mental image conjured whenever one hears the word marsh, Ringneck Marsh has greened up considerably in recent weeks.A young angler tries his luck from the shoreline........... while his...
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The bird feeder and apple tree attract a variety of songbirds and other visitors
When our apple tree blossoms we're assured of seeing a variety of songbirds. Most years see plenty of "return customers," but every so often we're blessed with a "newcomer," like the yellow warbler...
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Pics from Genesee County Park & Forest
The Viceroy, pictured above, is nearly identical to the Monarch butterfly. Because the Viceroy so closely resembles the Monarch, which contain a toxin that is poisonous to birds and certain other...
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A look at some of the smaller creatures of summer
A streak-winged red skimmer rests atop a Rose of Sharon leaf. A couple summers back my grandson Joshua and I came across a large spiderweb with three of these dragonflies wrapped up cocoon-style and...
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Seasonal plants add color to local roadsides
Whether one views them as weeds or wildflowers, they are colorful nonetheless and for the past month or more they have pleasantly tinted the roadsides of Genesee County. The red clover pictured above...
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Friday frivolity: if animals could talk
Murph and Charlie were on their way to dig tunnels in the flower bed when Murph spotted trouble approaching from the rough growth at the edge of the yard. "Uh-oh -- look who's back," he said. "Do ya...
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The soft light of midsummer
There's plenty to be said for rising early. In the above photo, rays of sunlight permeate our yard as the sun begins its ascent.The calm of early morning provides a mirror image on a placid...
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