Advertisement. Advertise with us

Wanna Bike?

4 Trail Systems Available

Within Minutes Of Oneonta

By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – If it’s been awhile since you rode a bike, now is the perfect time to get your wheels out of storage, Otsego Bicycles’ Sam Baskin will tell you.

Sam Baskin hits the trails in Wilber Park. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)

“There’s actually a bike shortage,” he said. “Because all the factories are shut down, we haven’t been able to get many new bikes in, so I’ve been busy fixing a lot of bikes that people have had in the garage for 10 years. There’s a big demand. I’ve never seen a bike shop that doesn’t have bikes!”

Baskin, a 2016 OHS graduate, has taken over the store from founder Ed Lorenz, who retired at the end of course, plenty of skies to watch.

“Birding is a simple thing to get started with,” he said. “All you need is binoculars and a field guide.”

And the field guide, he said, just got simpler, as the National Audubon Society has released a free app that includes photos, videos, recordings of birdsongs and more. “Now you don’t have to lug around a book,” said Mason.

The sanctuary itself has also gone digital. “We have new signs that have a QR code that you can scan with your phone,” he said. “It shows the birds we have, and the trails.”

Birds aren’t the only thing visitors may spot. “We see deer up here, we’ve got otters and a beaver dam, and we had a bear sighting earlier this spring!”

The beavers – and the rising waters from their dams – forced the DOAS to build an extended boardwalk between the forest and the wetlands. “The boy scouts came out and built it for us,” said Mason.

But it’s worth the trek, muddy as it can be. The wetlands near the end of the trail are
some of the best places for amateur birdwatchers to start their spotting.

“The wetlands are always productive,” Mason said. “We’ve got mallards and wood ducks, and although herons come to feed here, they don’t build their nests.”

Though the birds generally build their nests in the wild, the Audubon Society maintains several boxes, including bluebird and duck houses. “It’s always great when you see a bluebird settle into the box,” he said.

In addition to the sanctuary, the DOAS also maintains a map of other good spots for bird watching across the two-county area, including Gilbert Lake State Park, a canoe ride between Portlandville and Milford, and Wilber Park, where the county’s first pair of Merlins built their nest last year.

Mason is hoping that gathering restrictions are eased in time for their annual Franklin Mountain Hawk Watch, noted for the late-season flights of Red-Tailed Hawks. “We’ve been counting hawks since 1990,” he said. “Last year we counted 5,100.”

Among those, he said, were 142 golden eagles. “In 2018, we had the highest total of golden eagles in North America,” he said. “It’s always a big thrill to see one, and we’re the best place in the state to look for them.”

Posted

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

SCOLINOS: It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide

COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note:  Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…

Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told

CLICK HERE FOR MEMO TO SCHOOLS Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told COOPERSTOWN – In a memo released Friday evening, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond advised local school superintendents that sports can resume as early as Monday. “Effective Feb. 1, participants in higher-risk sports may participate in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training,” Bond wrote, “…including competitions and tournaments, if permitted by local health authorities.”…

Killer Ricky Knapp Dies In Prison

Killer Knapp Dies In Prison; Guilty In SUNY Coed’s Death ONEONTA – Ricky Knapp, the man convicted of the 1977 death of SUNY Oneonta student, has died in Mohawk Correctional Facility, according to prison records. Knapp, 66, died March 8, having served 40 years of a 25-to-life sentence for a 1978 manslaughter conviction in the death of 18-year-old Linda Velzy, a SUNY student from Long Island. According to reports, Velzy was last seen Dec. 9 1977, hitchhiking in downtown Oneonta.…