So…back to our travels! In mid-June, we visited Ithaca, New York for a few days. Our primary reason was to visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (Boring, you say? There was a time that I would have thought so, too.)
Over the past twenty years, thanks in great part to Eric, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for birds and the art of birding. Little did I know when I started paying attention to our feathered friends how much they would enrich my life.
Why I Like Birds
I know that birds do all kinds of good things for us: they consume vast quantities of annoying and harmful insects; they pollinate plants and disperse seeds; some even act as nature’s clean-up crew (those not-so-pretty vultures? They’re really good guys, and we would be in deep trouble without them).
Tree Swallows eat their weight in insects every day, and they love mosquitoes
But mostly, I appreciate birds because they make me happy, with their exuberant voices, their beauty, and their distinctive personalities and behaviors.
Wood Ducks look like paint-by-number birds
Bird by bird, I’m learning to identify them. I’m delighted by the sweet song of a chickadee, the buzzy trill of a wren, and the call of a nuthatch, who sounds just like a toy trumpet. I recognize a woodpecker by its swooping flight and know a crow from a raven by the shape of its tail. I’m still a novice in the world of birding. But it’s the simple act of paying attention that matters most.
The Red-breasted Nuthatch sounds exactly like someone playing a toy trumpet
Observing birds brings me into the present moment, and pauses the endless thoughts that cycle through my mind (worrying about my parents, plotting our trip plans, fretting about the state of the world, creating a grocery list, pondering the meaning of life…). Left to its own devices, my mind is a wild, unruly thing. But paying attention to birds makes me immediately peaceful. And it’s easier than meditating.
Visiting The Cornell Lab Of Ornithology
One of the best things that ever happened for birds is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You may have seen headlines recently telling us that we’ve lost 1 in 4 birds in North America in the past 50 years. I cannot imagine a world without birdsong, but it appears that’s where we’re headed if we don’t make some changes.
Even in the face of such daunting news, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology takes a positive approach. I just received an email from them suggesting easy ways that we can make our planet more bird-friendly, from drinking shade-grown coffee (to protect the rainforests) to keeping cats indoors (because they kill between one and four billion birds a year).
One of the things they encourage is participating in citizen science, which is totally cool. Eric contributes to their online eBird program and has been recording his bird sightings during our six years of travels.
More than 400,000 people all over the world contribute to eBird. This provides continual, real-time information to scientists who use the information to monitor and protect bird populations. Anyone can participate—it’s free, it’s fun, and it helps the birds.
Behind The Scenes Tour At The Ornithology Lab
At the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a birder’s mecca
Several days a week, there’s a free behind-the-scenes tour of the Ornithology Lab. We invited our friends Sue and Dave to join us. They share our enthusiasm for birds and drove over to Cornell from their summer home on Lake Conesus for the tour.
Inside the Visitor Center, with cozy seating areas for bird observation
Sue and Dave joined us for a tour of the lab
We spent an interesting couple of hours learning about the laboratory and the research that takes place there. Cornell has quite a collection of taxidermied birds (more than 40,000, with many specimens dating from the early 1900s). Which reminded me of when I met Eric and discovered that he had a freezer full of road-kill birds that he was planning to taxidermy. Honestly, I’m glad that hobby went by the wayside.
I prefer my birds alive and hopping around, but I understand why they need taxidermied birds for scientific purposes.
A vast collection of taxidermied birds
Okay, this is kind of creepy
In the Cornell Lab of Ornithology library
It’s a daily treasure hunt, looking for birds while we’re hiking, biking, kayaking, or simply enjoying them when they visit our backyard (wherever that happens to be at the moment). One of the best resources we’ve found for any questions we have about North American birds is the free Cornell website All About Birds. We’ve been using it for years, and it’s terrific.
In addition to the lab, Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary offers four miles of paths with sculptures tucked into the woods, including a wonderful egg-shaped stone cairn by environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy, who is known for creating works of beautiful impermanence. All of his art is fashioned from natural materials and is meant to eventually return to the earth.
Andy Goldsworthy cairn in Sapsucker Woods
On the trails in Sapsucker Woods
Our day with Sue & Dave concluded with a delightful lunch at Mahogany Grill
And All The Rest Of Ithaca
Ithaca is an appealing, liberal, quirky, creative, intellectual university town. We enjoyed the Saturday Farmers’ Market and the delicious tacos at Bickering Twins downtown. And we stopped one afternoon for some tasty brews and local music at Salt Point Brewery, just a couple of miles from our campground.
Click on any photo for a larger image
Like many university towns, Cornell offers lots of free, interesting things to do. We explored the peaceful Cornell Botanic Gardens and arboretum and walked miles on pathways through the pretty campus. Sage Chapel, circa 1875, is a lovely non-denominational chapel with excellent acoustics—as we walked inside, we were greeted by a student enthusiastically ripping through a medley of show tunes on the organ in the semi-darkness. That was unexpected and rather refreshing.
We also visited the Johnson Museum of Art on campus, which in my opinion, has a very weirdly curated collection, saved by a mesmerizing work of electronic art in the sculpture garden on the second floor. We spent an hour lying on our backs on a zero-gravity bench, enjoying the light display of thousands of twinkling LEDs. The installation is entitled ‘Cosmos’ in tribute to Carl Sagan, who was a professor of astronomy at Cornell. (You can see a short video of the display here. It’s worth it.)
About The Campground
For our visit to Ithaca, we stayed at the cute little Myers Park Campground about 10 miles away in Lansing. It’s a sweet park on the shores of Cayuga Lake, with just a handful of sites; water and 30 amp electric hookups only. Verizon was decent. Although it’s a city park with a marina and many people visit during the day, the campground is set off from the busy area and was quiet while we were there. We liked our site (#13) because it had more elbow room than most, and we even had a bit of a water view from our ‘backyard.’
There’s a working lighthouse on the lake, for no reason. But it’s cute.
“Birds make me happy”…..Yep, they make us happy too. In addition to all the benefits you mentioned, I’d like to add that they encourage us take time and just observe the world around us. See it, smell it, notice the shapes of the trees we’re scanning, their colors, the time of day and the attendant light quality. All necessary in this busy, scary and sometimes mindless time.
We enjoyed our time in Ithaca and at Cornell. We’ll be back again to explore in more detail. Thanks for a lovely and informative day with good friends and good food!
Sue, you said it so beautifully—really ‘seeing’ birds and observing their behavior brings me into the present moment and brings me peace. There’s something transformative about the act of simply paying attention, isn’t there?
We loved our ‘bonus’ visit with you and Dave in Ithaca. Can’t wait to catch up with you guys in Florida this winter!
Being a birder takes a lot of dedication to learn all of the sounds and details. We just enjoy the sounds and watching the little buggers hard at work. The “All about birds” website is a great reference we will have to use.
Deb, if you enjoy observing birds, you’ll really like the All About Birds website. You can search for any North American bird and discover all kinds of interesting information, including their calls. It’s a lifetime exploration…bird by bird. :-)
TLG and I had an idea we’d do some birding when we took off, something she has really taken to especially with your help. Me, not as much as her but I’m always enthralled with their song and a good photoop.
Birds do provide the best photo ops! Although the fact that they’re moving targets also makes them a challenge. We take lots of fuzzy bird photos. Or empty frames. :-) We’re looking forward to actually doing some hiking and birding adventures with you guys in person!
Looks like another fabulous area. I’ve seen a couple of Goldsworthy documentaries…I love his work!
You guys are the reason we see different birds of different colors. Growing up in St. Louis I thought they all looked like Robins no matter what they were so I didn’t take the time to observe. You and Eric opened our eyes to the beautiful creatures! Thank you!! We continue to be amazed every time we see one of your beautiful pictures of them.
Beth, I’m so glad that we’ve been a good influence, LOL!! Seriously, I’m happy that we share the fun of discovering birds in our adventures together. Time to plan another adventure! :-)
Lisa, I agree—Andy Goldsworthy’s work is fabulous! We’ve also seen those documentaries. Actually, now that you mention it, I’d love to see them again. So inspiring!
While I wasn’t sold on the whole bird thing before, now that I know just how many mosquitoes they take out of circulation, I am 100% on board. Birds rule!!
Honestly, I do pay a bit more attention these days (thanks to posts like this) and notice the different birds I see in the trees. Pre-RV life, I never really noticed them, but there truly are a stunning array and many of them are just beautiful – speaking of which, your photo of the wood ducks is a “Wow!!” for sure! I can totally appreciate the need to disconnect the mind from the endless loop of crazy we’re all living in. It’s great to have something else to focus on while out on a walk.
I spent some time in Ithaca many years ago and really enjoyed that town. It is fun and quirky in all the best ways. Thanks for taking me back. (Love the name Bickering Twins Tacos, by the way!!)
Thanks, Laura—I’m glad you like the Wood Duck photo. Eric took it, and I love it! Hey, spend more time with us, Sue & Dave, MonaLiza, and Joodie and we’ll make you a birder yet!
Ithaca is another delightful university town, as you know. And Bickering Twins is a fun place with tasty food—it’s owned by two guys who are twins. I asked one of them if they really bicker and he laughed and said, “yes!”. I think he blamed his brother…
Love the birds too, and am using those sites to try to learn more. As you said, it is easier than meditating and so engrossing. I use ebird as well, but not very well. I need to practice more. Nice to see such a beautiful, happy post in spite of all you are dealing with.
Oh, thank you, Sue. We have had many happy, peaceful moments in the midst of the craziness…and the birds provide a good focus. I’m lucky that I have Eric to help me with bird ID—he’s so knowledgeable. Much easier than having to look up every bird. But then again, it probably slows down my learning, because I don’t have to work so hard!
Ah, the birdies! As you know, bird-watching has become an ever-increasing joy for me, too. I think the cheepers may get their revenge on all of us sometime soon by bringing another pandemic flu. I do have strong opinions on the recent push to capture and sterilize feral cats and re-release them. Humans are going to have to own up to their part in the epidemic feral cat population and make some harder choices where they’re concerned. Tough love sometimes.
The Sapsucker Woods looks beautiful, and I like the natural art installations. The Farmers Market also looks lovely. We seem to always miss them, but as I write this, we have plans to stop at a local farm for some goodies today!
I love the photo of you having chicken in a post all about birds! :D
Nooo….no chicken in this post, Joodie! That would be terrible! Not saying that we don’t indulge, though, LOL. I think what you saw there was salmon. :-)
Yes, the whole feral cat population explosion is a serious problem on many levels, but especially for wild birds. I feel badly for the cats, but something has to be done. It’s such a sad situation.
Although we’ve always loved birds, the avian communities in Florida are surprisingly limited (especially the full-timers). Coming west has given us a whole new perspective on the incredible diversity of these marvelous flying creatures. Of course, I do have the annoying habit of referring to all the ones I can’t identify as “tiny T. Rexes” which might explain why no one goes birding with us more than once. :-)
Like so many of the historic eastern college towns, Ithaca looks like a wonderful place to visit in the summer… and not so appealing in winter. It makes me wonder why Florida has so few universities. But you sure hit it at a sweet time. Thanks to your great photos I can almost smell the clean scent of the leafy forests and clear lakes.
Shannon, I love your ‘tiny T. Rex’ i.d.! We would be happy to go birding with you guys anytime!
As you said, traveling opens up a whole new world of birds…it’s astonishing when we realize how many new birds we’ve seen in the six-plus years of our travels. It adds a whole other interesting dimension to our journey. Put Ithaca and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on your list…it definitely will appeal to your inner scientist!
What a great find for the four of you since I know how much you all enjoy observing and listening to birds. The perfect day for four birders! All you birders have us noticing, listening, and observing the birds along the trails. I immediately notice when we don’t hear any birds. Seems strange. I often comment that I wish you two were along to identify the various sounds we are hearing. I don’t believe Sue was too happy about having the lunch photo taken!!! Haha! Ithaca has become quite a thriving town. I lived there for a year when I was 2 or 3. My father was attending Ithaca College after the military. Ithaca College was in the downtown back then. Sounds like a fun time discovering this area NY.
Pam, we had such a great time sharing the day at Cornell with Sue and Dave. (And we were all having fun, even if we weren’t all caught smiling. :-))
I always appreciate that you’re interested in birds when we’re hiking together. It definitely makes it easier when there’s someone along who can readily identify the birds…Eric makes it easy for me. I just keep guessing till I get it right, LOL.
Have you been back to Ithaca since you left at age 3? I think you would like it!
I always love the birds you and Eric share here and on FB – there are soooo many of them! We are enjoying spending time with our feathered neighbors here, getting to know their voices, and planning to learn who they are.
Those Wood Ducks are incredible. The lab looks wonderful, something else for the list in that beautiful part of the country!
Thanks, Jodee! You’re going to have such a great time getting to know your feathered friends at your new home. Put out the birdseed and a water feature, and they will come!
When you make it to the Finger Lakes, definitely visit the ornithology lab. I think you guys would enjoy it.
I hear you on the meditative qualities of birds, Laurel. Such a joy to listen to.
I read that same cat number yesterday after a friend bemoaned the fact that wind turbines kill birds. In reality, that number is a drop in the bucket, compared to windows, cell towers and cats.
Jim, it’s really distressing to know how many aspects of modern life are decimating bird populations. You’re right, windows are a significant problem for birds, and it’s not something most of us think about. There are some simple things we can do to help protect our feathered friends, but we need to get the word out. Fortunately, there are organizations like Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology doing good and essential work.
I wished I were with you so I can learn more about birds! My interest in bird watching and photography has rubbed off on Steve which makes me happy.
MonaLiza, I wish you had been with us, too! We always enjoy our birding adventures with you. I’m glad Steve is getting interested in bird watching and photography—it makes it so much more fun and then he doesn’t get bored while you’re looking at birds, LOL.
The Cornell Lab was one of the highlights of our travels as we too are bird lovers but not nearly as knowledgeable as the two of you. I can’t tell anything by its flight pattern. Your bird pictures here are just fantastic. Wow is all I can say. If you are using a Canon SX60 it sure works better than mine. Did you really eat in Ithaca and not go to the Mother Ship of Vegetarianism – the Moosewood? You didn’t really refuse for just one meal did you Eric?
Thanks, Sherry—I’m so glad you like the bird photos! Yes, those photos were taken with our Canon SX60s. I think it helps that there are two of us taking photos, so it gives us a lot to work with. And we delete A LOT. :-)
We were all set to go to Moosewood—we both had Moosewood cookbooks when we met. But we got sidetracked by Bickering Twins, LOL. Maybe we need to go back to Ithaca!