I, too, walk that path, although no where near as fre3quently as Marie. I have
noted an exceptional concentration of American Kestrel along that route,
occasionally up to 14 birds. They are eating grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are
growing on the roadside grasses that are not cut.
My sentiments, exactly.
John Confer
On Tuesday, July 29, 2025 at 02:20:26 PM EDT, Marie P. Read
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello Cayugabirders,My almost daily walks take me up Mt Pleasant Rd,
Ithaca/Dryden, and along the dirt road toward the communication towers.
Recently I've been enjoying checking out the numerous small milkweed plants
along the dirt road for signs of Monarch caterpillars (found a few) and
watching the few Monarch adults flitting about. But in the last couple of days
the roadsides up here are being mowed, so I was in a royal snit yesterday since
it looked from a distance that the dirt road edges had been mowed along with
that precious caterpillar nursery. Today I took a closer look, though, and to
my delight the mower had studiously avoided mowing the milkweeds, instead
swerving in and out to mow just the grass! That's a wonderful surprise and
evidence that someone has a heart and maybe there is a glimmer of hope for the
natural world. THANK YOU to whoever that thoughtful and caring mower was.
Marie
Marie Read
452 Ringwood Road
Freeville NY 13068 USA
http://www.marieread.com
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