Pell Farm "House of Leaves"

My Brother Dan and 200 Year Old Purple Beach

My old friend: "Cedar Hill at Central Park"

In 1997 I was in New York City in September and October on a preaching assignment. On my "downtime" I discovered what was then a very well organized "Hawk Migration Count" which happened mostly on the top level of Belvedere Castle which is right below >"Turtle Pond"strong> and right at the beginning of "The Ramble" which is pretty much the center of Central Park. There I met many professional birders and bird photographers and naturalists as Lloyd Spytylnick, Debra Allen, "Birding Bob De Candido and many others. Today I was with two two gentlemen whom I have known since then: Bernie Nathan and Art Le Moyne. Now "Cedar Hill" which is right above what is known as the "Boating Pond" and leads up to the Boathouse where "The Ramble" begins is the best birding spot in all of Central Park, most especially for seeing warblers during this Fall and also Spring bird migration. In 1997 I spent my Thursdays during September at the morning Hawk Count. On days with a load cloud cover and good northwesterly winds one can see many hawks, falcons on there way south to winter and some to nest. It is a truly splendid sight to see an enormous "kettle" of accipiters or falcons soaring, gliding and spiralling sometimes a thousand feet up in the sky. The picture below is of Cedar Hill where today, even with the 60 degree temperature and the winds sunbathers and others enjoy these "last days of summer". I arrived at the Ramble around 11am and so there wasn't much movement of warblers, just a few Black Headed Blues, one Worm Eating Warbler, a number of Black and White Warblers and some Cedar Waxwings chewing away at the berries near Belvedere Castle. This "Hudson River Birder" began as a "Central Park Birder". I still feel a great love for the "lung of New York City" because that is what this great creation of two great arquitects: Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux truly is.

Cedar Hill at Central Park

A Day at Shaupeneak Peak/ Lake Louise

I have been at Esopus over a year and never visited Shaupeneak Peak and Lake Louise which are just three miles from The Mount. There is a blue trail that goes around the lake, a Red Trail that goes to great views of the upper Catskills and looking due East over the Hudson. There are both black and red birch there. The land is owned by Scenic Hudson, but a West Esopus Trail group cares for the trails quite well. There are didactic plaques on the trails the help one realize how nature can be treated either with respect....or its opposite!.... For this "birder" well I need to kick myself. Because that's where the Worm Eating Warblers nest. There are Eastern Wood Pewees galore, Red Tailed Hawks, Red Eyed Vireos "invisible but vocal as always"....high in the tree tops. It is a wonderful little piece of God's own earth...and "ours too"...right under my nose. I met a very nice retired NYC Fire Captain with his two "well behaved" Irish Terriers: Molly and Kiera...

Shores of Lake Louise at Shaupeneak Peak

Maple at Shapeneak Peak-Ulster Park

Lake Louise

A "MOUNT ST. ALPHONSUS SUNRISE"

Robert Livingston Pell Fish and Trout Ponds-4

THE ROBERT LIVINGSTON PELL FISH AND TROUT PONDS

Recently I received a request from an author doing a study on the Fish, especially trout that Robert Livingston Pell imported from Europe and placed in five artificial ponds that he created on this property when it belonged to him around 1844. Reading the memoirs of the grandaughter of John Burroughs (Elizabeth Burroughs) in a piece she wrote for the Esopus Klyne Museum around 1978, Ms. Burroughs says that "three of the original ponds are still visible on our Mt.St. Alphonsus property. And so I have photographed the three that are just below the 9W entrance on the southern part of our property. Our Redemptorist cemetery is just above the first and 2nd ponds and just across the macadam road from the third. There are two more heading south towards Black Creek. But I could not ascertain if these had also been ones built and stocked by Mr. Pell.

Livingston Pell Fish and Trout Ponds-3

PELL FISH AND TROUT POND-2

THE PELL FISH AND TROUT PONDS-1

A VISIT TO BLACK RIVER SWAMP WITH EVELYN AND TOMMIE DABBS.

In 2004 I went on a birding trip to Sumter, SC. There I met a then well known and distinguised member of South Carolina Audubon Society. He was Robin Carter and had written a very extensive, simple and practical Guide to the best birding sites in South Carolina. (Sadly Robin Carter died just last year). Besides taking me on one of his Birding Before Breakfast walks on the river in Columbia, SC, Robin told me about Evelyn Dabbs who lived on the Black River Swamp on the road from Sumter to Florence SC. Since then Evelyn and Tommie have become my friends. On at least three occasions, mostly in early May I have spent entire days roaming their meadows, forests and swamp birding. With Evelyn and Tommie I experienced true Southern Hospitality as have many groups of children, adults and university groups since the year 1976 when Evelyn began doing a study of the migration and population of birds in the Black River Swamp area. I have shared many of my photos of Evelyn and Tommie's wonderful home. Because of a most wise environmental lean on their property its beauty and the vibrant plant, bird and other wildlife will be preserved. Below is a YouTube video I just made on Evelyn and Tommie.

SHEPHERDING AND BORDER COLLIES

While my two brothers and I were in Ireland last June, we took a very enjoyable day bus trip around the "Ring of Kerry". One of the most interesting stops was up on a mountain where a professional shepherd showed us the many varieties of sheep that exist in Ireland. And he showed us how he communicates with his two feisty Border Collies. He uses, as far as we could gather, whistle signals which include a special whistle signal for each Collie and signals that tell each one exactly what to do: "Move Right!", "Move Left!" "Crouch and menace!" "Sit down" "Run up!" "Run sideways". I am pretty sure that the shepherd also uses voice signals. And I suspect that sometimes the simple movement or position of his shepherd's staff tells the collies where to go or what to do. One interesting detail was the "Crouch and Menace" signal. The sheep see what is the movement of a possible predator when the collies bend down and creep meanacingly toward them. So they move! Here I include a YouTube clip which I wish had been longer.
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KAYAKING AT 70 YEARS OF AGE

I spent about five hours on the River yesterday...celebrating my 70th birthday. Can't think of anything more enjoyable I could have done on that most pleasant (7 5 degree) day. I went "on board" the Esopus Lighthouse that is being restored and prepared to be a B & B with beautiful views of the East and West Banks and the northern and southern stretches of the Hudson.
Below is the stump of a Maple that seemed to me to be quite old. How many years do YOU think it was?---
Green Buoy #63 marks the Hudson River's channel as it curves southwest at the Esopus Meadows heading towards Esopus Island and THE MOUNT.

GUESS THE AGE OF THIS MILLS MANOR MAPLE

Mike "Visitthemount.org" at Hudson Meadow Lighthouse

Renovation at Hudson River Lighthouse

Hudson River Birder at Esopus Meadown Lighthouse

Hudson River Birder Kayaking Hudson River

Marshy Path to Acre Farm

Identify this Wildflower!!!

Beefsteak Polypure

NATURE'S "HALF ACRE"

Below you will see (for July 11th, 2009) what I have been able to capture with the "micro" part of my neat Canon Digital camera. There was a wonderful film made in the 50ties by the Disney corporation I think, which was called, "Nature's Half Acre". Because it showed the small bugs, insects, plants, aquatic as well as land, that are truly a wonderful part of God's creation. I don't think there is any harder thing to photograph than a small wind blown wildflower. But it's a challenge for me. The colors do not always turn out the way "I saw it or remembere it", but I hope you can appreciate them....
SOMETHING ABOUT SEIDO KARATE: This weekend of July 9-12 we have 90 members of the Seido Karate people. The founder of the movement whose name is, Tadashi Nakamura , restored the contemplative and virtuous dimensions of karate. The values of respect, cooperation, service and team work as well as the values of meditation, silence, discipline and a dignified life are so very apparent in the Master and the participants. And they had our many groves, mini forests, green lawns and meadows to both meditate, practice and enjoy this land of THE HUDSON RIVER BIRDER.

Seido Karate Weekend at The Mount

Dragonfly on Acre Pond

White Baneberry on Pell Farm--Esopus

Common Fiber Vase Fungus near River

Unidentified Acre Pond Wildflower at Esopus

Plants, Bugs and Wildflowers

I have not the photography equipment to do birds. But my little Canon Digital Camera is simply "great" for nature scenes, micro shots of butterflies, bugs and wildflower. I can't change the name of my blog. But it "could" be named from now on either: Hudson River Bugger or 2. Hudson River Wildflowerer or 3. Hudson River Tree Guy.

The fact is that I have committed myself to do two Saturday days of reflection. The first is called Christ and the Planet. I will give it here on Satuday Sept 26 from 10am till 3pm. The other is called Fall Migration and Christ. That will be on Satuday, Oct. 24th, also from 10am till 3pm. Let me give you an idea of where this came from. When I was in the Bronx my Thursday "free- day" was inevitably spent birding or just relaxing in the natural wonder that is Central Park. So when I was assigned up here at The Mount in Esopus, NY some of my friends joked, "They've sent you upstate to birdwatch!" Well yes and no! I have always loved our place at the Mount. It is, as I say above a "beautiful piece of wildlife on the Hudson River". But my joy, my "mission" as a missionary priest is to "try and show how all in the world reflects...or "should reflect" God's wonder, goodness, truth, justice and compassion. So.....with these two workshops I hope to put together...my love of nature and my mission to help make the human family precisely that..."a family". There are people who have come to or have been taught to "hate religion". Sometimes this hatred comes from the fact that people have sometimes been taught that in order to love God and be a good person one has to hate or despise themselves and either "ignore the rest of creation" or worse still, exploit it and literally "choke it to death" I DON'T BELIEVE THAT. As a young boy in Pittsburgh PA. one of my joys was finding and enjoying the many parks we had in that city. I lived in the city, but I never was a "city boy". So there is a bit of the personal history and the dream of this HUDSON RIVER BIRDER.

Bee on a Leaf at Pell Farm

Very Old Purple Beach on Pell Farm

INDIAN BURIAL MOUND

ALPHIES, A LAB THAT LOVES TO CHEW

The other day the tethered objective lense caps fell off my Pentax DCF-SP 10X43 binoculars. You see there is a center screw that keeps the two caps snug to the binoculars...But....if the screw comes loose!!! Fortunately we have Alphie a year old Black Lab that finds most things that get lost on our grounds. Well, yes she "finds things". But she also loves to "chew them". I was hoping that the former would happen without the "latter". But I had no luck. There the lens caps were in Alphie's "Lost and Chewed" section of our front lawn. I had a bit of luck. Pentax will send me new ones, including the screw....FOR FREE. Now there's a first!

Our property has a small area below where the former Robert Livingston Pell mansion used to be that contains indian artefacts. It may just have been an indian burial site. Some have noticed unusual raised sections that might have been "burial mounds". I haven't nailed down the site. When I do I will have some pictures. (The post before this which is an actual Indian Burial Mound shows me that I must "might have been walking upon the mound without seeing it". Remember when Jimmie Durante, as he is dying in the movie Mad, Mad, World tells them all to "Love under the "BIG W"???

HUDSON RIVER SUMMER

I was in Ireland from the 30th of June until June 15th. I haven't posted anything since then. The Hudson River here at Esopus is as sultry and humid as it can be. While we had sunny and bright days in Ireland rain was pouring down on the Hudson River Valley. While I was gone one or maybe two eagles fledged. I have only seen the one even way back in May when other said they saw two of them. These days I have seen just one of the scraggly little eaglets sitting "below his/or her birthplace". The Royal European Starling Airforce" as I like to call these huge swarms o light brown summer-coated birds has been eating whatever they find on our lawns. If I had to say what the order of most numerous birds here in Esopus are (AFTER the Starlings...of course!!!) I would say 2. Chipping Sparrows 3. Red Winged Blackbirds 3. Eastern Bluebirds 4. Eastern Wood Pewees 5. Phoebes 6. American Robins 7. Barn and Tree Swallows 8. American Crows and Fish Crows 9. House Finches 10.Northern Mockingbirds 11. House or Winter Wrens



As I go on I have some "doubts". I think the Mockingbirds and House Finches should be further up the line. I have just begun to see some Goldfinch.

In Ireland there is a beautiful Goldfinch that has at least five colors: white, tan, yellow, black and red. You can judge for yourself. The only place I saw them there was on the road from Mountcharls, Co. Donegal to Glencough which is a, as they say, townsland of Mountcharles. Here is one. It is to the upper left.

The "Birder's Shadow" and the "Shadow of Ireland's Past"--Glencough,Mountchalres-Co. Donegal

A Wonderful World of Irish Birds and Trees

These days in Ireland have been wonderful. At Glencough near Mountcharles-Co. Donegal is the place where our maternal grandfather, John McDermott, was born and raised before going to America to provide a place for us. At his grand nephew's house, Patsy McDermott, besides seeing the ivy covered remains of the family barn and home, I saw what I think were Chiff Chaffs or Willow Warblers. I also saw the most beautiful Irish Goldfinches which have a red ring on their head besides the yellow and white wing patches. The most frequent birds here are: magpies, Black Thrush, Chaffinches, European Robin, Rooks, Jackdaws, Goldcrests, Collared Doves (which some people mistake for Cuckooes because they "sound" like a cuckoo), the Swallow (which is actually what we call "Barn Swallow" elsewhere), Tree Swallow, which are quite numerous....

The smell of Ireland is like a farm. I imagine this is because of the constant dampness. I found that the turf grows only one millemeter a year and so it is not a source of heat as it was many years ago. Many people have either knocked down their ancient homes or even sold the stones to developers because of their dire economic need. The developers have then created "stylized Irish cottages" which have all the modern comforts and conveniences that the old homes, of course, never had. The most wonderful thing about Ireland is its welcoming, loving and generous spirit. While we were in Mountcharles our cousin Eileen got all the Porters, Connollys, Martins, McDermotts.....together for a wonderful party with good food, Guinness, song and laughter. While we were there the Fine Gael party had a victory parade which passed right in front of our house. The picture here is of Martha Brennan, 103 years young enjoying the parade from her window above Brennan's Supermarket.--- IN THE PICTURE I HAVE LABELLED "MY GRANDFATHER'S HARE" THERE IS ACTUALLY A HUGE RABBIT (HARE) OUT IN THE FIELD....SEE IF YOU CAN PICK HIM OR HER OUT. HE OR SHE WOULD NOT ALLOW ME ANY CLOSER..

The "Hudson River Birder's brother John at "The Slieve Cliffs"--Killybegs-Sligo-Ireland

Sheep on Cliffs of Slieve League near Killybegs-Co. Donegal

My brother Dan and cousin Philomena's old Family Home in Dromore--Mountcharles-Co. Donegal

My Grandfather's Hare in Mouncharles-Co. Donegal

Wildlife on Connemara Preserve and Aran Islands

The past few posts have been more "travelogue" than nature posts. Today I have a beautiful picture of the sandy but rough beaches on the coast of Ireland between Galway and the Irish speaking town of Spittel. I also have an interesting picture of a shepherd that I met on the so called "Ring of Kerry" last week. He could direct his two Border Collies to round up sheep far up into the hills. For this he had a whistle with a special sound that identified each of the two dogs and he also had specific whistle signals that would tell each dog things like, "Go left!" "Go right!"..."Sit down!"...."Crouch and menace the sheep!"...."Move up!"..."Move down!"...."Stop!"...."Go!.... And so on. The shepherd could also communicate with each dog with voice commands. And, though he did not say it specifically, I am sure that there were movements of his "shepherd's staff" that also communicated things to the sheep. Thank you for your patience. I will not use my blog for travelogue...But the fact is, even though I don't have photos I have seen many English birds. I am most impressed with the large menancing Hooded Crows and also with the big grey black Jackdaws that seem to have a good relationship with the sheep. They follow them everywhere. The European Robin has become my special friend. The Great Tit and the Blue and Coal Tit are very much like our American Chickadees. But they don't sound like them, nor do they act like chickadees.
My big challenge has been to try and figure out if the English Song Sparrow, which looks "a bit" like our American one, but is larger...if it is a mimic as I suspect. It seems to have about 10 or eleven calls...maybe more. The magpies are a treat. They are so big and clumsy. There are many swallows that seem like our Barn Swallows, because they have the long forked tails. But the large majority of swallows here in the south of Ireland seem like American Tree swallows.

Seals on Inishmore--Aran Islands--Ireland

Rough Sandy Shore of Connemara Coast--Ireland

Circle of Kerry Shepherd

Ruins of 1291 Church/ Cemetery of Deely Ancestors

Tom, John and Dan Deely in front of Castleton Conyers Deely Grave Site

Ruins of Castleton Conyers Cemetery where Deely Ancestors are Buried

Tom, Dan with Michael Deely

Two Jackdaws near Blarney--Ireland in Wildlife Preserve

The Ring of Kerry near Killarney-Ireland

The "Birder" with his Brothers at the Lakes of Killarney

THIS "BIRDER" ON THE "RING OF KERRY"

Today my brothers and I took a bus trip around the famous "Ring of Kerry" which begins in Killarney here in the South of Ireland . The photos that I have placed today are: 1. a Jackdaw that I saw in a Wildlife Preserve near the Blarney Castle. 2. a shot of the ocean from the Ring of Kerry. And finally, 3. My two brothers: John and Dan with me in front of one of the famous Lakes of Killarney.

Hudson River Birder in Limerick-Ireland

After a six and a half night flight to Shannon Airport, my brothers John and Dan drove to our historic "Mission Parish" of St. Alphonsus in downtown Limerick. My Redemptorist "confreres" greeted us with great joy, humor and food. Then we walked the banks of the Shannon in Limerick. Later I saw "some" Irish birds: their Great Tit, their crow, swallows and, some others I have not "nailed down" yet. I have a picture of some of the great missionary Redemptorists' graves in our "rose lined" small cementery. The founder of Limerick was a missionary who, in the 1860 was named Jerome Buggenoms. Buggenoms, before he came to Ireland from the Caribbean to build this parish, had, at one time been the only representative of the Holy Father (The Pope) in all the Caribbean. His correspondence is a most valuable source of events from the 1860ties, most especially in what was then the Island of Hispaniola, now the Dominican Republic.

Cemetery with Deceased Irish Redemptorist Missionaries

Quaint Old Residence in Limerick

Our Redemptorist Monastery in Limerick

My Two Brothers at the Shannon River-Limerick

WE GO TO OUR GRANDPARENTS' HOME IN IRELAND

For the next two weeks this Hudson River Birder, with my brothers John and Dan, will visit Ireland. The main part of the trip will be to visit the family of our maternal grandfather in Mountcharles, Glencough, Co. Donegal in Ireland. In 1991, when I had celebrated the previous year my first 25 years as a Redemptorist priest, I went to visit our Irish relatives. What I most remember on the "natural/spiritual level" was a very spontaneous, free, silly moment in Co. Galway. It was, as it mostly is there in Ireland, a cold, cloudy, windy day. I has asked my cousins to stop by a pasture that was full of an enormous flock of hugely wooly sheep. I then proceeded to "run after the sheep". I am sure that next week my cousin Eileen will delight the family recalling that moment when...."Father Tom oft and ran with the sheep".
Back at Esopus there are no sheep. We just have groundhogs, possums, coyotes, wild turkeys, deer, our new family of American Bald Eagles, and the many birds that are our visitors each spring and our year round residents.
----I am trying to put together a new retreat at The Mount. I am thinking of calling it: "Running with the Sheep--Strengthening our Bond with the Natural World".
I truly, truly believe that most of God's important messages and blessings are right here before us in the Natural World. The other day I was reading Rusty Johnson's most interesting book called "Twilight of the Natural World". Now I, like many aging persons, have memory problems. And so his data on the Clarke's Nutcracker really got my attention. The Clarke's Nutcracker is an inhabitant of the southwest. It feeds on pine cones which it gathers and buries in various spots so as to find them and enjoy them in winter time. This bird has the mental capacity to remember up to 20,000 distinct hiding places!!! I thought, Might not the secret of reducing demential or at least increasing our power of recall be found in the brain chemistry and structure of this humble little bird.
Anyway, during the next few weeks I will have two or three pictures of beautiful places and maybe animals in Ireland. Check in!