The sun came out, and the wind died, and about a dozen birders joined me for a slow stroll around the Swan Pond. Some beginning birders saw several life birds, and we all enjoyed spectacular looks at our breeding ducks. Any place that boasts WOOD DUCKS and HOODED MERGANSERS and COMMON MERGANSERS and MALLARDS is pretty special. Farther out were a few of our visiting waterfowl - scattered BUFFLEHEADS, a flock of SCAUP sp off Treman, about 50 RUDDY DUCKS near East Shore Park (including some breeding plumage males, their blue bills hard to discern against the water's reflections), and the biggest surprise for me, a male COMMON GOLDENEYE. There was also a distant COMMON LOON and a few distant RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS. We had an introduction to immature gull ID. We also got great looks at an EASTERN PHOEBE, a BELTED KINGFISHER, and a bold DOWNY WOODPECKER. Songbirds included a pair of BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, males of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD and COMMON GRACKLE, SONG SPARROW HOUSE SPARROW, HOUSE FINCH, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and AMERICAN ROBIN. Several additional species were heard. The show stoppers, however, were 2 OSPREYS flying past together, and an adult BALD EAGLE first flying south, then perching in Jetty Wood for quite awhile, then flying west and soaring high. I want to thank Sandy Wold for helping, Will Harrod for sharing his scope and expertise, and Stuart Krasnoff for a hot tip on some lake ducks. I think the trip was a great success. I cannot do this again for several weekends, but if anyone else would like to do lead such a walk, an announcement on CayugaBirds-L and to Friends of Stewart Park via Rick Manning <rmann...@twcny.rr.com> helped get the word out. People really appreciate learning about the birds seen in and from this park!
--Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
