I spent a little over an hour at the FLLT Goetchius Preserve this morning, and saw/heard a number of nice birds:
Brown Thrasher pair, one singing up high while the other foraged on the ground underneath it Eastern Meadowlark pair (one singing) Ruby-crowned Kinglets Shorebirds: Killdeer Great & Lesser Yellowlegs (nice to see them together and notice the size difference) SOLITARY SANDPIPER (don't recall this species being mentioned before, but maybe it has…certainly a first of the year for me) I had my best look ever of Wilson's Snipe displaying: I heard the bird (maybe two) calling within minutes of arriving. Later on my way back I was admiring the shorebirds, when a bird flew fairly low down across my field of view and I could easily see its long bill. Watching it through binocs, I saw it flip up its wings briefly in flight then begin calling, then it began circling higher and higher into the sky and I was able to follow it as it intermittently spread its tail in flight and that's what's responsible for the winnowing sound. It was still displaying when I left 10-15 minutes later. A buteo was circling overhead against a white/grey sky, giving few ID cues, but it DID have a bold white subterminal band on the underside of its tail, plus in my mind's eye I saw darkish underwings, so I'm going to call it a Red-shouldered Hawk. Sparrows were well represented with Savannah, Song, Field, and Swamp all heard singing. And the usual suspects... Quite a delightful outing. Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail m...@cornell.edu http://www.marieread.com Author of Sierra Wings: Birds of the Mono Lake Basin Available here: http://marieread.photoshelter.com/gallery/Sierra-Wings-Birds-of-the-Mono-Lake-Basin/G0000NlCxX37uTzE -- 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/ --
