1/19/13 Long Lake (Hamilton Co.)
This morning, a group of 12 people, 10 from Saw Mill River Audubon and 2 from the Audubon Society of the Capital Region, visited our feeders for an hour (trip organized by Christine McCluskey). They planned to arrive between 8 and 8:30 a.m. I went outside a few minutes after 8 and the redpoll flocks were swirling around over our lawn (~200). They immediately settled into the trees surrounding our house and I had non-stop scope views of a brilliant female Hoary Redpoll. The birds only visited the feeders once before the visitors arrived, and spent most of the time preening up in the trees. The temps are unusually warm today (upper 20s at dawn). I had my scope trained on the female Hoary Redpoll as all the cars drove up our driveway at 8:30 - I was sure it would spook the flock and they would miss seeing the birds. As it turns out, the female Hoary Redpoll never moved and everyone had views of the bird through my scope! The bird even turned several times, allowing views of its brilliant white rump! It can be very difficult to have long views of a Hoary Redpoll in a scope because redpolls are often "flighty" going between trees or the feeders. This is by far the longest view I've had of this species in one spot (~15 minutes)! I believe I now have 3 Hoary Redpolls visiting - 2 females and 1 male. Sometimes you can lose redpoll flocks in warm-ups, but the numbers visiting our feeders actually increased in the warm-up last weekend. Hopefully, that will be the case this (warm) weekend too. 1/18/13 St. Lawrence Co. locations (mid-morning to mid-afternoon) I combined a bit of birding with a grocery trip to St. Lawrence Co. yesterday. (One of the few disadvantages of living in the middle of nowhere is 3 hour round trips to a major grocery store!). Here are a few of the species found: Common Goldeneye - Hawkins Point in Massena Common Merganser - Hawkins Point in Massena Ruffed Grouse - in a tree on Robinson Bay Rd. in Massena Bald Eagle - adult flying over the small airport in Potsdam Great Black-backed Gull - many at Hawkins Point in Massena (sitting up on the Moses-Saunders Dam) Northern Shrike - adult along the short drive into Hawkins Point (off Robinson Bay Rd.) Common Raven - 2 on the bridge to Barnhart Island in Massena (I believe the same bridge where Mary Curtis has been observing a pair of Peregrine Falcons). One of the ravens dropped a stick as I sat to watch what it was up to. Then, it flew to the peak of the bridge (second one in) and hopped up a flight of stairs, then hovered (for a long time) under a metal beam - with its bill inserted into a cache location! It finally pulled its bill out and had a piece of meat! Raven behavior is endlessly fascinating to me! Horned Lark - 11 on Planty Rd. in Madrid Northern Mockingbird - 1! (I assume this is the same bird that Mary Curtis recently posted.) This is only the second N. Mockingbird I have observed in St. Lawrence Co. The bird was on the short drive into Hawkins Point in shrubby vegetation along a side dirt road (that someone has been driving even in the snow). The only reason I spotted the bird was that it flew across that side dirt road - and then sat perfectly still in bitter cold temps. It was also interesting to me that this bird was about 200 feet from where I had been watching the N. Shrike hunting a half hour earlier! American Tree Sparrow Pine Grosbeak - 11 (all in Massena); 3 on Horton Rd. in a crab apple tree near the intersection with Rt. 131, 3 at the other end of Horton Rd. in buckthorn vegetation (I could hear more vocalizing, but could only see 3), and 5 on Rt. 42 between Horton and Dennison Rds. Common Redpoll - a large flock at feeders located at the end of Kinnie Rd. in Massena; The birds were snow burrowing on roof snow near the feeders! Amer. Goldfinch - with the same redpoll flock above Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
