I will let the pictures speak for themselves:
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Movie in Allegany
Today the film crew started shooting some scenes here in allegany state park for the new movie “Nicholas of Myra” which is a movie about our friend Saint Nicholas. I will only post a few production pictures here but to see more go to www.nicholasofmyra-movie.com/ or look for the movie around Christmas time 2007.
Its not my fault that I am a mutant!
I have some sad news to report. Around 6pm park staff knocked on my door to let me know that our good friend “marshmallow” had been hit by a vehicle. Supposedly, a dog scared marshmallow into the road as the vehicle was passing by and very quickly it was over.
Marshmallow was first observed on the 15th of June in the Red House Picnic Area with mom and three brown siblings. Being raised in the picnic area, marshmallow would let you get quite close to observe and very unlike I would expect any true albino animal.
This kind albino woodchuck did frequent the road as many passers would try and take its picture! It truly was the talk of the area. By mid July, this bold male left mom’s territory as any young woodchuck should do. Marshmallow moved down the road along the bikepath near the Red House Dam overspill. It was this area which its last days were lived. It even made the Olean Times Herald News Paper just days before this incident.
Rest in peace my white (always dirty) friend!!
A flickr get-together looking for Dragonflies
Took the day off of work today and spend the afternoon with Jeremy and Karen Martin Pictures over at the James A. Zaepfel Nature Sanctuary and Research Center. Jeremy had taught me some great info on improving my dragonfly pictures and gave me info on how to identify some different dragonflies! Here are a few thumbnails from some pictures that I took.
Yeck, wet day!
It was a very wet day today with rain and thunderstorms. High temps were 89.6F and a low of 61.3F. Banding session was canceled and will resume tomorrow! I did nothing but nap and clean house today!! But, I did get my first looks of our new hat that was designed.
It turned out much better than expected!! They come in both high and low profile with Navy Blue, Hunter Green (what is in the picture) and Barbie Pink.
Flickr Down Time
Well, flickr is down and I have no idea what to do. Luckily the staffs of flickr gave us a duty of coloring in two circles and take its picture. Knowing that the sun would be going down quickly, I colored in my circles with the blue and pink colors and jumped in the truck. It didn’t take long before I saw some geese on the side of the road that I knew would be cooperative in obtaining a close up picture.
After my quick photoshoot, I was on my way home to edit and wait for flickr to get back online. Once it was working again, I uploaded the pictures and now waiting to see who wins the free year membership.
WISH ME LUCK AND SAY HELLO TO ME IN FLICKR!
Bear Visit
Today the weather temp was a high of 86.2F and Low of 54.6F. About 8:30pm there was something that just told me to get up and look outside. What I found was a HUGE black bear that is probably around 200 pounds. It was checking out my grill which I had cooked hamburgers earlier. It then started climbing the tree and eating some sunflowers from my squirrel proof feeder (notice I said squirrel proof). Typically I take this down each evening but this guy beat me to it!! Ugg, Anyways, I started scrambling getting my camera in order to try and take some pictures! Of course, my screen door just kept on making the pictures look goofy but I did luckily get a shot in.
Not long after taking the picture, the bear got startled and climbed down the tree. It circled the tree and the bear started coming towards my screen door. I was probably about 5-7 feet away when I slammed the heavy thick door which in turn got the neighbors dog barking. This startled the bear and up into the woods it ran.
I believe that this bear started coming towards the house thinking I was going to give it handouts! The problem is that too many people try feeding the bears. Although I was very close to the bear, I was safe for the fact that I was able to close the door where it couldn’t get me. People don’t always have that opportunity and chance that the bear could turn on them. Just seeing a huge mammal like this had my heart pumping and was an amazing rush! There is just nothing like that experience!! So, if you do come across a bear in the wild, please don’t try to feed it! Making noise typically is enough to scare it away.
Banding Session
TODAY – Hot and Muggy Sunny day with a High of 89.6F and Low of 61.0F
Saturday was our 5th MAPS session and we ended up getting rained out with only an hour of operation completed. We finished the session today with it being very hot and muggy. Both days the birds were quite but I blame it on the weather!! We still caught some great birds like: Cedar Waxwing, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Blue Headed Vireo, and a Magnolia Warbler.
I would like to say thanks all my volunteers that came out in the rain and in the sun to assist. I will let everyone know once the hats are completed.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 