outdoors

James Elmore shared this photo from Thursday morning of an oriole eating some jelly in his backyard.

Judy Schildwaster submitted this photo of a juvenile bald eagle taken yesterday morning off of Route 33 in Stafford.

Photos submitted by Jason Smith, taken in his back yard in Batavia.

Jeremy McClellan submitted this photo of an eagle he spotted off of Route 20 in Pavilion.

A few days ago, we shared a photo from Sarah Wessel, in Alexander, of three eggs in a nest. Today, she shared this photo of two hatchlings.

Josh Hawkins shared these photos he took earlier this week of eagles in Elba.

He wrote:

For three days in a row, multiple bald eagles fed on a roadkill deer in a field on Route 262 in Elba. These were some of the better images I was able to capture with my 300mm zoom lens. The pair in the photos are mature birds because of their bright white head and tail, but I did also observe a juvenile eagle (some white present on the head and tail, but not much) at one point and was unable to capture a photo. They likely came from Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, although I've heard that there is a nest on or near Norton Road in Elba.

Roxanne Noeth took this picture of an eagle in the area of Lockport Road, Oakfield.

Jazmyn Fredo captured this picture today of a bald eagle in Elba, off Pekin Road.

Submitted by Jessica Fredo.

There's been enough talk about the deer problem in Batavia, Councilman John Canale said during Tuesday's Batavia City Council meeting after a local resident said he's been chased by a buck in his own yard during public comments.

"Forming another committee isn't going to do anything," Canale said. "We've done this before. We form a committee and the committee studies the issue and makes a recommendation and then there's no action."

It's time for action, he said.

Councilman Paul Viele's suggestion: A controlled kill. It's time, he said, to start thinning the herds that encroach on the city.

Russell Nephew, a Bank Street resident, said there's a large herd that hangs out at that end of town, in the farm fields between Genesee Community College and the city line and enter on residential property, destroying landscaping and leaving their droppings in local yards, and perhaps carrying tics that are a danger to dogs and humans.

"Those things are disheartening and I’ve put up with them but now I’ve got chased through my backyard by a deer," Nephew said. "It reared up and I got away from it luckily. A couple of days later, my 70-year-old neighbor got ran into her apartment from a parking lot. At any one time, there can be from six to 10 deer that run through there."

A resident from Avon spoke up during the council discussion and said that in Avon they've instituted a bait-and-shoot program that has rules, is regulated, and is helping reduce the herd size.

Council President Eugene Jankowski pointed out that any deer killed would have the meat from the animal donated to a food pantry in the region to help feed low-income residents.

He also blamed the growing herd sizes on fewer hunters in New York. He said more people are giving up hunting as a protest against New York's increasingly restrictive gun laws.

While council members seemed to favor some culling effort, no specific plan was approved at Tuesday's meeting.

Jason Smith spotted this piebald deer on Route 63 in Oakfield and sent in this photo.

Noah Toal submitted this photo today of a piebald deer in Oakfield, across from The Oak Grill and Cafe.

Rebecca LeFevre, a Bank Street resident, spotted this fawn in her backyard last night and shared the pictures with us.

Jim Beverly, a hunting retriever trainer from Oakfield, hosted his second annual Companion Retriever Hunting Challenge at Godfrey's Pond in Byron on Saturday. The challenge is primarily for retrieving-trained dogs who are more often pets than hunting companions.

At 10 a.m., Saturday, Godfrey's Pond on Griswold Road, Stafford, hosts the Companion Retriever Hunting Challenge. The event is open to the public.

The event is geared toward "every day" retrievers, dogs who are pets and companions and hunt with their masters as a hobby. All sporting breeds are invited to participate but only retrieving breeds will be scored. Dogs that hold field trial titles and hunt test titles may also participate but these dogs will not be scored.

Jim Beverly has been training retrievers for almost 55 years. 

Andy Merkel was interviewed for the video. His dog Roy won the 2017 and 2018 Scenes Challenge and this year his daughter and her 9-month-old puppy will participate.

The registration fee is $35 with proceeds going to benefit the Geneses County chapter of ducks.org

It may still be possible to register. Call Beverly at (716) 474-4661.

Photo submitted by Dylan Brew.

Neither Billie nor I know our birds very well. We spotted this red-breasted bird in our backyard and are curious about what kind of bird it is.

UPDATE: It's a rose-breasted grosbeak. Fellow Southsider Jason Smith sent over a video of one in his backyard.

City of Batavia firefighters responded to West Main Street, Batavia, in front of Tops, this afternoon, after at least three ducklings were seen falling into a storm drain. Three ducklings were rescued.

Spring is in the air.

Local photographer Dylan Brew shared this photo with us of an Eastern bluebird.

Frank Capuano took this picture of an eagle he spotted this morning feasting on a carcass in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.