The Hammond Hill site appears to be about 4.5 miles ESE of the west peak of Mount Pleasant. Some birds may have been visible from both sites, but at least when I was on Mount Pleasant the geese were headed pretty much north, not tracking from Hammond Hill toward Mount Pleasant, nor aiming from Mount Pleasant toward Cayuga Lake. As Kevin noted, even one high flock of Canada Geese which was pointed W was actually traveling N in the strong winds.
The location Chris, Jeff & Jessie marked on the eBird report is not the parking lot on Hammond Hill Road, but about half a mile to the southeast atop a N-S ridge with conifers to the north and deciduous forest in all other directions. This ridge is the edge of the Cayuga Lake Basin, so it's lucky the Pine Grosbeak was flying west! Is this site on a trail with a clearing for viewing?
--Dave Nutter
On Mar 11, 2013, at 08:48 AM, Kenneth Victor Rosenberg <k...@cornell.edu> wrote:
It's interesting to think that our coverage was so good in the Ithaca area that multiple groups were encountering the same birds. At Mount Pleasant, we had 2 NORTHERN PINTAIL in a large Canada flock shortly after 1 PM, and these were likely the same birds that passed over Hammond at 12:50. Then, there were 3 CACKLING GEESE together in another flock about 15 minutes later, so again possibly one of the same flocks. Definitely no good finches or shrikes, though!KENKen Rosenberg
Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
607-254-2412
607-342-4594 (cell)
k...@cornell.eduOn Mar 10, 2013, at 10:33 PM, Christopher Wood <chris.w...@cornell.edu> wrote:I spent three hours at Hammond Hill State Forest east of Ithaca this afternoon (starting at 12:10pm) watching migrants. As others have noted, there was an amazing flight of waterfowl throughout Tompkins County and beyond. This flight was strongly dominated by Canada Geese. I was curious how much of a concentrating effect Cayuga Lake had for the geese Would there still be some out to the east or if were they headed toward Cayuga Lake. The numbers of geese were just as high at Hammond Hill as Jessie and I had seen from Monkey Run earlier in the day. In comparing numbers with Luke Seitz and others watching from Cornell campus, it seemed that we recorded very close to the same number of birds. While some of these birds may have been the same, the great majority were probably different suggesting a very broad front given others reported similar numbers in Trumansburg. It would be fun to organize several different stations in the Finger Lakes (and beyond) the next time we have such a flight on a weekend.Jessie Barry and Jeff Gerbracht joined me for part of the time I was here and helped me find much more than I would have done on my own.Highlights included 8 Golden Eagles, 1 PINE GROSBEAK, 1 Northern Shrike, 1 White-winged Crossbill and at least 24 Evening Grosbeaks.Waterfowl made up the bulk of the show: 297 Snow Goose, 26575 Canada Geese, 13 Cackling Geese, 1 Tundra Swan, 1 Wood Duck, 2 Northern PintailA complete checklist with some photos can be found at the link below. I broke counts of Canadas into 20 minute segments for anyone interested (which may just be me!)Good birding,ChrisChristopher Wood--Cayugabirds-L List Info:Archives:Please submit your observations to eBird!----Cayugabirds-L List Info:Archives:Please submit your observations to eBird!--
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