Life on the Chautauqua Ridge

A tiny Pied-billed Grebe creates ripples in the glow of autumn reflections.

The fall colors will peak within the next ten days in this area and then it will be all downhill from there.

Amish kids walking home after school this afternoon.

The village of Forestville was originally named Walnut Falls for this pretty little waterfall that is located in the middle of town. However, the name of the village was changed from Walnut Falls to Forestville in 1820.

Green Man on a tree in Lily Dale, the world's largest center for the Science Philosophy and Religion of Spiritualism.

Frost advisory for tonight...

Great Blue Heron splashing in head first to catch a fish.

Humans have no idea what true freedom is really like...

Some of our winter birds showed up today! A flock of Dark-eyed Juncos descended on my bird feeders. They most likely spent their summer in Canada and will winter on the south side of the Great Lakes.

Ring-billed Gull at the brink of Niagara Falls begging for food from the tourists.

An immature male Yellow-rumped Warbler migrating through on his first trip south for the winter.

The historic Leolyn Hotel in Lily Dale on a crystal clear autumn afternoon.

Sunny skies to the south highlight incoming lake effect rain storms from the north over Lake Erie.

I know this isn't a great shot but it's an important one for birders in this area and it's the best I could do in the rain today. Evening Grosbeaks showed up at my bird feeders today and I haven't seen them around here in years! I just read that this was going to be an irruption year for them and here they are. I sure hope they stick around all winter.

These guys are barely larger than a hummingbird and flit around nearly as fast. They are in constant motion and it took quite a while for me to catch one sitting still for a brief moment.

More winter birds have arrived! A small flock of seven Evening Grosbeak have been visiting my feeders for the last two days. We haven't had them in several years so this looks like it truly is an irruption year for them.

Temperatures early in the day were in the 70's but quickly fell 20 degrees by late afternoon.

Good riddance Sandy! She didn't do as much damage here in western New York as was predicted but we did have three inches of rain yesterday and 65 mph gusts of wind. Lake Erie calmed down just as fast as it was whipped up because it's the shallowest of the Great Lakes. You can see the contrast between the churned up sandy water and dark blue/green line on the horizon where the lake gets deeper.