Archive: Around Town

The Lansing Town Board and Friends of Salt Point were recognized Saturday for the work they have done to transform Salt Point into a bird and birder-friendly nature park.  This year's meeting was hosted by the Cayuga Bird Club in the Village of Lansing.  The certificate was awarded at the New York State Ornithological Association 67th Annual Meeting at the Ramada Hotel.  The Town was represented by Lansing Supervisor Kathy Miller, and Friends of Salt Point by Katrina Binkewicz.

"I regularly see families with children and baby carriages enjoying a stroll around the trails at the Point," says Donna Scott, who was among the nominators. "People can easily hike in and enjoy a big picnic on the pretty lake shore and many have done that. And since Salt Point is one of the few shallow-water refuges for birds on all of Lake Cayuga, the more natural lakeshore of Salt Point and the new plantings and meadow provide a lot of diverse habitat for birds of all kinds."

The annual meeting attracts over 150 birders for three days of activities, including the Saturday banquet, a business meeting,  presentations of papers and field trips.  A highlight this year was a tour of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.


The renovations to Salt Point have included a nesting platform for osprey, as well as several nest boxes that have been installed in the meadow area.  While the ospreys are the most dramatic of the birds the nature park now attracts, bluebirds and tree swallows, warblers, vireos, orioles, kingfishers, green and great blue herons, ducks, geese, grebes, coots, and eagles are among the species spotted on the point.

Scott says that Salt Point is now a safe and welcoming place for birds and wildlife as well as for humans who like to hike, watch birds, or just enjoy a sunset.

"Salt Point has now become a safe, quiet, and serene place for people to walk," she says. "Much of the destructive, dangerous activity that used to occur at the Point has been eliminated by the work the Town has done there.  Even people who aren't avid bird or wildlife watchers have benefited from this new natural area.  Many of our friends who live above the Point on Syrian Hill and on Lake Forest Drive have told me and others how much better it is for them now that Salt Point has become mostly a walking trail with a nature preserve. There is much less noisy disturbance of speeding cars, drunken loud parties, and unsafe activities there now."

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