Kempf Preserve at Wading River

Today was my first adventure out from my yard with the camera.  I spend Friday night searching possible places, I had originally wanted to go to the south shore /ocean but the weather was saying clouds so I stuck close to home. Edward and Dororthy Kempf Preserve at Wading Rivier is where I finally ended up, a short 5 min drive from the house.  Very peaceful place indeed.   I didn’t capture many photos as the canopy is quite full and not good light for shooting, but saw and heard quite a selection of wildlife.  The usual songbirds, some wild turkeys, deer, chipmunks, a few heron’s and if I am not mistaken I also heard a kingfisher.

So now that I am back on Long Island I don’t have to worry about running into feral hogs, or snakes HOWEVER, there is a “predator” here. My BFF warned me to wear long sleeves, long pants, and spray with bug spray.  I did follow her advise and assumed I would be OK….shortly after leaving the preserve I starting itching and feeling like I was getting bitten…figured I had just rubbed up against some bush that irritated my skin…no such luck.  I finally pulled my pants leg up and horrors……ticks, itty bitty , way too many ticks all over my legs.   I mean no bigger then the head of a pin,  if they hadn’t moved I never would have seen them.  YUCK!   showered and scrubbed and washed everything I was wearing in hot water.   Felt much better, but I won’t be visiting any treed areas again until after the first frost…that’s fine I’ll stick to the beaches  🙂

Here are the only two photos worth posting from this morning’s walk.  An immature Cooper’s hawk that was carrying on like a spoiled little boy 🙂   And there were plenty of deer along the trail, caught one before he saw me and took off.