Neither the Saratoga County Tundra Bean-Goose nor the Pink Footed Goose have been seen today (Wednesday.). Good numbers of Cackling Geese continue to be seen, and the Greater White Fronted Goose and Greater White-Fronted x Canada Hybrid that have been present along the Hudson around Stillwater have both been reported today. One or both may still be in the area - there is a ton of ground to cover and much of the habitat is inaccessible to birders.
This morning Scott Surner found a male Yellow-Headed Blackbird at Walsh Road and Route 68 (about 2.5 miles east of Fish Creek Marina.). The bird was relocated at that location later in the morning by Gregg Recer and found again by Gail Benson about 1.3 miles NW of its original location, near where Burgoyne Road intersects Route 68. This is only the second record of Yellow-Headed Blackbird in eBird for Saratoga County, though I haven’t gone through to check the Kingbird yet to see if there are others. Interestingly, last March a male YHBL spent a couple weeks on Mahaffey Road in the Washington County Grasslands, only about 15 miles away from where this bird was found. At sunrise this morning, while I was checking the small goose flock at the south end of Saratoga Lake, an American Mink ran right past my foot. For those considering chasing, the weather forecast for tomorrow is pretty dismal - rain starting around 9 AM and turning to snow in the evening. Not sure what effect this will have on geese, but I imagine the blackbirds will hunker down. Zach Schwartz-Weinstein Albany -- Zach Schwartz-Weinstein 203 500 7774 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
