Upstate New York, Sullivan County/ Great Swamp Preserve, New Jersey

 I went on a trip with my son upstate New York to check out the area and show him my grandparents old trailer house and mostly do general horseplay/ guy stuff.  We saw Turkey Vultures from the car on the drive up and stopped at Mongaup Reservoir aka "Forestburgh Lake".  We saw a Bald Eagle there and walked the trail going up to the dam to avoid ticks.  We didn't see many birds but heard a Pewee which is a bird special to me because I remember hearing them as a kid when I visited my grandparents house.  My attention changed to butterflies since we were seeing a lot and I know from a fellow birder's blog that I met that this time of year is "butterfly season" in Sullivan County and there was a group doing a survey of them.  On his blog, "Bashakill Birder" he noted there were some rare ones found, some that hadn't been seen in 20? years.  My son was intent on going to Ice Cave Mountains so we drove there next.  Along the way, I realized we were on Route 209 which is adjacent to Bashakill so we stopped briefly on Haven Road (my "go to" spot) there.  We saw Red Winged Blackbirds, heard a Marsh Wren, and heard some honking/ grunting which I assumed was a Virginia Rail but never came out in view.

My son was patient but was ready to move on so we proceeded to Ice Cave Mountains.  Well,,,,that was an experience...there are signs that it is a treacherous trail which I scoffed at but was later humbled by when trying to go through the trails in the caverns - it was also hot as *$*$* on top of the mountain and the fly were annoying.  I made the best of it, hoping to see a Barred Owl or Pileated Woodpecker but had no luck with them.  I saw Turkey Vultures from the mountain top and there was some Towhees calling.  We were also treated to a weasel sighting by the caverns - it posed and looked at me but my damn camera couldn't focus in time - would have been a great photo - I'm still pissed about it.  On the trail, I heard Pewees, chickadees, and some type of warbler but could not ID but sound/ and couldn't get a look.

Next stop on the way home was Great Swamp Preserve where I had always wanted to go - it seems to be a good spot for Barred Owls and Pileated Woodpeckers but we didn't see either.  The driving app took us to a back trail, but that was pleasant since it was a wooden boardwalk type trail that was in a shaded forest.  We were treated to hearing Wood Thrushes which my son never heard before.  We left that part and went to the visitor center, but wasn't excited too much by it. We did see Purple Martins however.  We were ready to leave to get home so we drove what I assumed was a road through the preserve but wasn't.  Only other bird we saw was a Great Blue Heron.