Hi all, I was with a group of very enthusiastic and knowledgeable birders. We started at East Shore Park. There were several pairs of Buffleheads chasing each other. There was some movement of birds in the middle of the lake, but I did not pay much attention as I was trying to show some common birds. But during that period an adult BALD EAGLE soared over our head and seemed to be heading towards Pyramid mall.
On Drake road we watched several strutting Tom Turkeys. At Myers nothing special we could add. Yeah, but we did see a big flock of swallows in a tree. We also had a couple of Rough-winged Swallows fly over our head. On Center road we saw a few HORNED LARKS. We also saw two Savannah Sparrows at two different locations and both birds were hiding in the ditches. Actually, they were avoiding the 25 mph wind. At one point, one of them flew towards us landed just 5 feet away in front of us. But as soon as he landed he hunkered down and barely we could see him. On Long Point State Park road , we had wonderful views of singing Meadow Larks and watched two Savannah Sparrows dry themselves after a nice bath in the stream. At Long Point State Park, we watched a very adorable CHIPING SPARROIW singing his heart out. His whole body quivered as he sang. He was challenged by a shorter interval trill of the DARK-EYED JUNCO. We did not see any activity in the Mud Lock nest of OSPREY/BALD EAGLE nest. At the visitor center we were joined by a few more people. The birds on the main pool were rather too far to observe well enough. LaRue's pond had several common ducks that could be studied from close distance. Several Northern Harriers put up a nice show for us. We also watched a BALD EAGLE arrive to the nest and some interactions between the newly arrived and the one that was in the nest. On a tip from Erica, we spotted two SANDHILL CRTANES from the Seneca Spillway where the carps congregate across towards Route 89. We watched them do a bit of dance for us. >From the Tschache Tower, we watched usual ducks and an EURASIAN WIGEON among >hundreds of American Wigeons. We also watched swallows, Ospreys, Eagles and a >distant Sharp-shinned Hawk. At May's Point pool we had some more close looks at Pied-billed Grebe and a fight among the BUFLEHEAD MALES for a female, who left the scene before the fight was settled and she was joined by a male later. Among the several spinning sleepy RUDDY DUCKS that were in partial breeding plumage there was a beautiful male RUDDY DUCK with blue bill who kept disappearing underwater every few seconds, making it impossible to view him clearly. We had to stop next day again to see his lovely blue bill! On Sunday we stopped at Rail Road Road. Initially we had hard time finding singing SWAMP SPARROWS, but by the end of the road there were many clearly visible. We also had a VIRGINIA RAIL kiddick kiddicking. An American Bittern called just twice, though everyone heard him clearly. Two trumpeters were wanting to get the same mound that was occupied by a pair of Canada Geese. One of the geese was out on an errand. So the two swans harassed the female Canada Goose. They had several physical fight. After sometime the male CAGO returned. The swans left the spot quietly once the male CAGO joined the female in chasing away the Swans. Barbara and I also heard the LEAST BITTERN vocalize twice (Cou Cou coc). We also located the EURASIAN WIGEON here and after previous day's exercise with EUWI at Tschache, most of the participants located the duck on their own! We also had a pair of SANDHILL CRANES at this location too. We looked for the Golden Plovers but did not see them. On Van Dyne Spoor Road, we were looking for shore birds and there weren't any other than GREATER YELLOWLEGS. I was challenged to find more. So I scanned the grassy patches and there I found one Pectoral. By the time I looked at it second time, I found two more. Then finally I counted 10 of them! All of them were there and were so very well camouflaged! Further scanning produced a GOLDEN PLOVER. With my scope I could only see the Golden Plover. But when I looked into Tom's Swarowski, I found there were three shorebirds in the scope view! What a difference a good scope makes! One was LEAST and the other was a SEMI-PALMATED SANDPIPER. Soon with my scope I found two more GOLDEN PLOVERS among the ducks. We missed Dunlin. As were heading out of Van Dyne Spoor, a flock of four RUSTY BLAKBIRDS made such a racket that we had to stop and watch them. Here our group got split into half. Rest of us continued to Morgan Road. We located a singing VESPER SPAROOW in a same tree where I have seen him for last four or five years. He was challenged by two his neighbors, one on each side. At the pond near DEC office, we watched large numbers of Turtles basking. We also saw several pairs of WOOD-DUCKS and two female HOODED MERGANSERS. At Marten's tract we watched the TREE SWALLOWS fight with BLUE BIRDS as usual. After lunch at MAC, we stopped at newly created pond that had nothing much, but we did see a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK and a GREEN DARNER! Odonate season has begun! We came back to May's Point to look for the blue bill on the Ruddy duck. After several tries everyone was able to see the beautiful blue bill and were highly elated. Here I saw another male GREEN DARNER! Our last stop was Seneca Falls Fair Ground. As soon as we entered the ground from north side Barbara found an UPLAND SANDPIPER. But seeing our car he soon crouched to the ground and barely his head was visible. Thanks to noiseless Toyota Prius, we slowly inched forward and parked car sideways and watched him from a distance of about 8 to 10 feet. He first watched us for few minutes from his crouching position. Then got curious and stood up and looked at us. We observed his beautifully delicately marked breast feathers and head feathers. We also observed he had a black tip to his beak. The feathers on the sides of his head curved differently near the ears. Then he turned sideways to show his mottled side. Then turned to show his back. Occasionally he looked at us with his liquidy eyes. Then he got brave and pecked here and there on the grass. Then he became braver and took steps towards the paved road and walked bravely on the rod and pecked along the road. We were hoping he will also oblige us with his beautiful whistle, but he did not. Daintily he walked away into the grass! We also heard several meadowlarks and saw many HORNED LARKS, including their tiny horns! We also observed one take a mud bath! Finally we stopped at the Creamery to get a reward for ourselves! We ended up having 80+ species and we missed many common woodland birds. It was a great week-end. Cheers Meena PS: Only after coming home I realized my eyes were blood shot and red after two days of bird-watching! Meena Haribal Ithaca NY http://haribal.org/ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
