Lunch in Yonkers, NY – Saw Mill River Daylighting

June 11, 2022 by Howard Dale Posted in Buildings/Structures, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

Above: View of the Saw Mill River as it passes through Van der Donck Park with the Metro North Station in the background.

“Scenic Hudson spearheaded the “daylighting” (uncovering) of the Saw Mill River that forms the centerpiece of this exciting urban oasis. When is a river not a river? When it’s buried beneath pavement, as the Saw Mill River was in downtown Yonkers for most of the 20th century. Scenic Hudson took initial steps to demonstrate the feasibility of “daylighting” this important Hudson River tributary and partnered with local groups to convince city officials to launch this revolutionary project. Today, a rippling Saw Mill is the centerpiece of this park that replaced an unsightly parking lot. It’s an excellent place to relax and enjoy nature — including eels, which are making a comeback in the resurrected river.” (Scenic Hudson)

The Saw Mill River lay buried under concrete in this park/parking lot from 1922-2011.

A fish ladder and an eel ladder have been built, allowing migrating species to travel upriver. The river is now home to hundreds of different species, including snapping turtles, egrets, and salamanders.

A pair of mallards on the Sawmill River.

Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II

Reina

June 9, 2022 by Howard Dale Posted in Around the Neighborhood, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

This is Reina, my neighbor’s son’s dog. She’d been enjoying a roll in the grass and emerged with this crumbly, fragile, messy stuff that falls from the trees at this time of year all over her.

Apparently these stringy brown things are called catkins or tassels. They are the male pollen structures produced by oak trees. They hang in the trees like tassels on the end of bike handlebars, releasing their pollen into the wind to fertilize the female flowers. After all the pollen is gone, they float to the ground, creating great mats of the stuff.

Taken with a Sony A6000 and 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 OSS.

Still another deer

June 9, 2022 by Howard Dale Posted in Landscapes, Wildlife & Animals, Woodland Leave a comment

Seen in a nearby woodland. There’s something I like about this picture. Maybe it’s the way that the deer in the middle ground is sandwiched between the bright vegetation in the foreground and the darker woodland in the background? Maybe it’s the way the deer is looking straight at me? It looks as if it’s seconds away from bolting. That wasn’t actually the case. The deer in our neighborhood are generally quite tame and will stand around for some time watching you unless you get too close to them.

Taken with a Sony A6000 and 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 OSS.

A New Visitor to the Meadow

June 9, 2022 by Howard Dale Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

Another visitor to the meadow. Towards the end of the day I like to sit on the balcony outside my bedroom, read and watch the sun go down. I was sitting there today when out of the corner of my eye I detected some movement. When I focused on what it was this is what I saw. For those reading this who might not know what this is, it’s a skunk. I’ve only ever seen one once, perched on a rock in the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. Until today I’ve never seen one near the house, although I know they’re around because my dog, Harley was sprayed a couple of years ago. Again for those who don’t know what they are they protect themselves by spraying an incredibly unpleasant smelling substance on anything that’s a threat. They can spray with incredible accuracy as far as 10 ft and the smell is so strong that it can be detected by the human nose up to 3.5 miles downwind. Anyone who has smelled it will know what I mean. Most predators around here (bear, badgers, coyotes, dogs, cats etc.) will stay well away from skunks. Apparently the only animal that regularly preys on skunks is the Great Horned Owl – I imagine that the aerial attack allows the owl to kill the skunk before the skunk is able to spray it.

Taken with a Sony A7IV and Tamron Di III VXD A056SF 70-180mm f2.8.

A walk at Croton Landing

June 9, 2022 by Howard Dale Posted in Landscapes, Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

Above: Hudson River with Croton Point Park in the background.

I had planned on going into NY City, but when I noticed that the weather forecast indicated rain I decided to put that off for another day. That left me at a loose end. So I was pleased when I got a message from my friend Antonio: would I like to get together? I was, of course, happy to do so. I was even happier when the rain held off long enough for us to take our dogs Harley (mine) and Henry (Antonio’s) for a walk along the Hudson River at Croton Landing. It wasn’t a great day for taking pictures: poor light (it was around noon) cloudy, hazy and quite gloomy, but I took a few anyway. Harley’s usually indifferent to other animals (other dogs, cats, squirrels, chipmunks etc.). He’s not aggressive (except in the case of deer. He loves to bark at dear), but neither is he friendly – except in this case. He really seems to like Henry (see final picture).

“Croton Landing Park (where we walked and where these pictures were taken) was the site of a former asphalt batching plant and at various times in its past, the land had been the site of brick works and a location for depositing fill from construction done in NYC. This property is a 30-acre site bounded on the west by the Hudson River and on the east by the Metro North/Amtrak railroad.

The property was formerly owned by the Ottaviano family and was referred to as the Seprieo property. The letters in “Seprieo” represented the initials of the Ottaviano children.

Before Route 9 was created, several streets in the Village led to the Hudson River, although the railroad tracks had to be crossed to get there. With the advent of Route 9, the property was almost impossible to reach or to utilize except by some determined fishermen. Over time, it became overgrown and strewn with trash both dumped there and washed up from the river.

…

In 2002, the former Seprieo property is officially named Croton Landing based on historic maps showing that name for the area dating back to 1865.

In early 2003 the Open Space Institute transferred its title of the Beaverkill portion (the northern section) of Croton Landing to the Village. The nothern section is now unofficially named North Cove.

In 2006, Westchester County and Croton agreed to combine their efforts and funds for Croton Landing improvements, including the County’s proposed Riverwalk trail addition in the northern portion of the park. The 2300-foot trail addition is part of the County’s 51.5-mile River Walk trail system along the Hudson River from NYC to Putnam County.

In 2008, thirteen years after the initial purchase of the property, Croton Landing Park officially opened.” (Scenes from the Trail – where you can find more information, more pictures and an historical map).

Hudson River again with Croton Point Park on the left and Hook Mountain State Park on the right.

A convoy of geese

Harley and myself at Croton Landing. Of course I’m taking a picture. Photo courtesy of Antonio Mora.

Breakwater at Croton Landing. This is probably the picture I was taking in the preceding picture.

There are some impressive rocks at Croton Landing.

Detail of one of the rocks.

Detail of another rock.

Harley (in the foreground) and Henry. They both seemed to enjoy their walk together even it if got quite hot and humid by the time we finished. Photo courtesy of Antonio Mora.