What a day. 89 species and some exciting surprises. Led SFO group 7 and our first stop was Sweedler-Lick Brook and the fields around. Not much at the brook... no Louisiana Waterthrushes yet and did not hear blue-headed vireos yet. We had most of the common birds including black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, dark-eyed juncos etc. Did get great looks at 3-4 FIELD SPARROWS nearby and 2 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS.
At Sandbank Road, got great views of 2 EASTERN MEADOWLARKS and heard a few SAVANNAH SPARROWS. By the far, the best and most surprising spot was Freese Road. We walked up the road and did not get the vesper sparrows initially, instead there were at least 100 american robins in the fields. We did have a fly-over AMERICAN PIPIT. Then, all of the sudden, there was a low-flying SHORT-EARED OWL! The bird flushed from the grasses below and flew around in several circles over our SFO group. Lighting was good and everyone got breath-taking views of this beautiful bird. The bird eventually met up with a NORTHERN HARRIER and then landed for a short time before an AMERICAN CROW started to harass it. The bird then took off and gradually worked its way northward out of sight! I have never got such a great look at a flying SHORT-EARED OWL as it was mid day and the lighting was excellent. Then after all this, we had a small kettle of BROAD-WINGED HAWKS overhead. Then toward the end we got on 2 VESPER SPARROWS. Our SFO group ended with 50 species. Then I birded with fellow Broome County birders Nancy Morgan and Melissa Penta. We drove up to Montezuma and met up with Chris Wood and Andy Guthrie and birded the Montezuma Visitor's center and wildlife drive. There were NORTHERN SHOVELORS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, GADWALL, among others. At Benning marsh, the shorebirds continue. Chris and Andy counted, I believe, 46 WILSON'S SNIPE. There were around a dozen PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, 4 DUNLIN and both GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS. And we had at least 1 KILLDEER. Andy left and then the rest of the trip was Chris, Nancy, Melissa and I. We stopped at May's point and had bufflehead, a double crested cormorant, green-winged teal, hooded merganser, pied-billed grebes, ring-billed gull, osprey, bald eagle, northern harrier and a flyover SANDHILL CRANE! There was also a PEREGRINE FALCON that buzzed through May's point. We also heard a RUSTY BLACKBIRD across the road by the pond. Next stop was Towpath Road, and yes, the road is graded and very nice. We had a lot of birds on towpath road, I probably will miss some but the most unusual was a GLAUCOUS GULL which Chris spotted flying over Knox-Marcellus Marsh toward east road. We also heard and got an unsatisfying look at a CASPIAN TERN flying way up high. Other birds at Towpath- FOX SPARROW, GREAT EGRET, loads of GREAT BLUE HERONs, many species of waterfowl, including one left-over SNOW GOOSE. There were many GREEN WINGED TEAL, and some BLUE-WINGED TEAL. We also had a nice group of RUDDY DUCKS, some in breeding plumage. Also RING-NECKED DUCKS. Next stop was Seneca County Fairgrounds and right away we had 2 UPLAND SANDPIPERS which gave us great views. Then they started flying around, some went very high and eventually we counted 4 uppies. Great birds! Chris heard a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW which took me a few attempts but I eventually got on it. He was not singing much and we did not see it. There were also HORNED LARKS, EASTERN MEADOWLARKS and SAVANNAH SPARROWS. Like I said in the beginning, what a day! Thanks to my SFO group, Nancy Morgan, Melissa Penta, Andy Guthrie and of course Chris Wood who all made this such an awesome day of birds!! Dave Nicosia Johnson City, NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
