Today I went birdwatching with the Audubon Society at Iroqouis Wildlife Refuge in Gasport, NY. This is north of Buffalo. a very beautiful area to hike around. The weather today wasn’t gorgeous as it rained off and on and was quite cold…but we saw birds. There were a few expert birders leading the informal outing, they were so good at naming birds just by their song.
I’m using a new bag that my friend in England sent me. It’s a military bag that feels really comfortable, holds my drawing supplies but not the sketchbook. It’s nice because it takes the weight off my shoulders.
I had to put up one of my sketchbook pages so you could see, just how little sketching I get done when on a hike like this. There is no time for stopping to sketch when you’re with a group of determined birders! haha…that’s ok, I have listed most of the birds we saw and heard. The check mark means I saw the bird not just heard it.
Here you can see the group coming to the area where Ospreys are nesting. We had a good look with a scope on a tripod. 
There were areas in open fields with chicken wire around them, I pointed out to everyone that they (the Wildlife Refuge) were trying to grow lupines there, a very important host plant for butterflies, and beautiful too! Here’s the link for the Iroqouis Nature Refuge: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/iroquois