On Sunday morning, 16 birders joined me and Betsy Darlington at today’s Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest (SBQ) walk at the new Logan Hill Nature Reserve in Candor. This impressive 285-acre property, which Betsy and her husband Dick donated to the Land Trust in 2015, encompasses fields, hardwood and hemlock forest, a deep ravine, and 32 vernal pools.
We had many exciting and illuminating encounters with birds and other wildlife in their typical respective habitats: * At the base of the water-tower turnoff where Water Street turns into Logan Hill Road (where we started our walk), a NORTHERN FLICKER sticking its head out of a presumed nest hole, plus a beautiful and cooperative male Ebony Jewelwing (damselfly with black wings and metallic green body) * In the open fields with shrubs, PRAIRIE WARBLERS (5+ heard, one seen by nearly the whole group), CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLERS, BLUE-WINGED WARBLERS, INDIGO BUNTINGS, FIELD SPARROWS, and a distant ALDER FLYCATCHER; * In the hedgerows, a BROWN THRASHER first heard by Jane Graves and seen briefly flying away, as well as EASTERN TOWHEES, AMERICAN REDSTARTS, and others; * In the shady deciduous woods, SCARLET TANAGERS (nice views for all), OVENBIRDS, EASTERN WOOD-PEWEES, maybe 2 dozen RED-EYED VIREOS (hard to count, singing everywhere in woods so expansive), two probable BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS (songs were not rhythmic, more like Cape May Warblers to my ear, so Black-and-white remains in a gray area), and a red-tailed RUFFED GROUSE flying away (it let Betsy pass close by but flew off as the rest of us followed in our approach) * In the hemlock woods, a singing HERMIT THRUSH and BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS * In the big grassy field, one male BOBOLINK that displayed and sang, then perched on a little rise for all of us to watch and enjoy, plus the day’s only EASTERN KINGBIRD * In a line of trees above this field, plus a couple of other spots in the woods, a singing YELLOW-THROATED VIREO * On Logan Hill Road, still rough even after welcome recent leveling work by the Town, many butterflies and two or three WILD TURKEYS It was a long, hot, rather challenging hike, so I offer special thanks to all attendees for their spirit and mutual support. I extend thanks also especially to Betsy of course, and also to Ken Kemphues for carrying his scope the whole way and giving many of us fine views that we would not otherwise have had. ** IMPORTANT NOTE about tomorrow’s SBQ walk ** Tomorrow morning, I will lead the last walk of this year’s SBQ at the VanRiper Conservation Area in Romulus, with a planned start as scheduled at 8:30 (not 8:00 as with a couple of other walks this weekend). PLEASE NOTE that very heavy rains fell for a couple of hours in Romulus today, prompting a flash-flood advisory in effect until 6:30 PM today. The weather should rather nice by tomorrow morning, but renewed rain tonight mean an updated alert. Please check conditions and be prudent about getting there. If there is water running across the road, I will not cross it, and I urge you to apply similar caution. Mark Chao -- 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/ --
