?Hi all, Six of us started the trip initially around on the Sapsucker Woods Wilson trail.
We heard and saw several Ruby-crowned Kinglets (we also got to see their Ruby-crown), dozens of Yellow-rumped Warblers some sitting as far away as five feet from us and staring blankly, with their own thoughts. A foraging Northern Waterthrush, which Dave Nutter had focused his scope on was seen at the Kip's Barn pond. On the main pond there was Great Blue Heron and saw about eight Rough-winged Swallows sitting on a nearby tree and had a very good looks at them. >From the corral we spotted a pair of Buffleheads actively feeding, three or >four Wood Ducks in their gorgeous plumages, three female Hooded Mergansers and >a pair of kingfishers. We looked for lurking bittern among the cattail marsh >but we did not find one. I spotted a Palm warbler flying across the pond by >its tail pattern, which landed in a tree quarter mile away. I could see the >bird but could not put other members on it. Further down the wooded trail we >encountered several woodpeckers and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker gave us a >very good view. Back on the board walk we encountered a big flock of blackbirds consisting of both Rusty Blackbirds and Common Grackles. There were at least 10 Rusty blackbirds among them, most of them were feeding along the marshy spot. After this point our group spilt into half and three of us went to N. Titus Avenue in search of Merlins. We did not see the merlins. It was my mistake, I forgot about the Center road, so we spent time on the Titus avenue 400 block and we found a large stick nest on one of the tall pine trees in the area, we should have walked towards the Center road. But on the Six miles creek we had a gorgeous pair of Common mergansers and a Belted Kingfisher. >From here we went to Danby area to Tupper road. It was very quiet except for a >lone female Turkey and a few Juncos and sparingly singing Brown Creeper. We >also had brief sighting of Geo and Pat. Then via Van Buskrik rd we went to >Bower Road in search of Louisiana Waterthrush, but we did not find any. From >there we hit Vankirk Road which led us to Van Buskirik Gulf Road (notice Van >Kirk in the postings? I wonder who he was). On Van Buskirk Gulf road we saw a >Horned Lark and a pair of Bluebirds and usual other birds. >From there we went via Bull Hill Road into Newfield State Forest Management >area. There we came across some more Sapsuckers and other woodpeckers and we >some interaction between a male and a female Sapsuckers and also we saw a >Yellow-rumped warbler and a hovering male Kestrel. Then we decided to head towards the airport. In the field we came across several Eastern Meadowlarks and a few Bluebirds and nothing else much. We waited for the sun to set. After about 5 to 10 minutes of sunset we started hearing an American Woodcock peent. The peent was coming form the nearby shrubbery. So we slowly closed in on it. I got some recording of the bird from close range. There was another bird which also peented several times. Finally it flew up from the shrubs it was peenting and headed into the field. We waited some more time. It never sang or put up flight display. The we decided to call it a day! Here is the recording of the peenting bird http://www.xeno-canto.org/237375 [http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/RBYDYNRSJV/ffts/XC237375-med.png]<http://www.xeno-canto.org/237375> XC237375 American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) :: xeno-canto The bird was calling form about 10 feet from a marshy shrubby spot near backside of Ithaca airport. There was a second bird, which called once during the recording, which was some distance away. Later it flew out to the displaying spot and became very quiet till we left after about 10 minutes or so. bird-seen:yes playback-used:no Read more...<http://www.xeno-canto.org/237375> Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 42.429007,-76.47111 http://www.haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf -- 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/ --
