Long drive, but plenty to see

A seven-hour drive with children in the car is rarely an enjoyable experience, but at least birdwatching can make the trip a bit more tolerable.

For me, visiting “home” means driving to Erie, Pennsylvania. That’s a seven-hour drive from New England _ but it’s along I-86 (formerly Route 17) in New York. There are parts of the highway, miles on end, in which red-tailed hawks outnumber other cars on the road. I wanted to keep track of the hawk sightings this year, but lost count at about 20. One time I saw a coyote scampering along the road and I often find bald eagle soaring over rivers or even sitting in fields. It’s still a long drive, but it’s fun to watch the sides of the road for hawks and other birds.

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