Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count

2019-01-04 Thread Randolph Scott Little 
Hi Tom & Paul,

You have done some good digging!  A check of my birding log brought 
disappointing results - it only goes back to 1968
after I had graduated from Cornell and gone on to Ohio.  It may well be, and 
that 1968 timing would have been about right,
that I included my earlier records in with the materials that I deposited in 
the Cornell Library archives.  

Yes, at least through the 1950's and early 1960's when I was in Ithaca, Doc 
Allen always kicked off the new year with
a checklist of observations in the entire Cayuga Basin.  That watershed area 
served as the basis for the annual listing
of first sighting dates.  After the Stuart Observatory was built, that annual 
list was kept on a large bulletin board in
the observatory.  A new list was started every January 1st.  To this day I keep 
my annual list on that old basin checklist,
which contains Passenger Pigeon but not House Finch, for example.
 
As for the first January 1st count that followed the National Audubon Society 
CBC rules, I believe Paul is right that it
began on 1/1/1963.  That was my last Spring in Ithaca, and after considerable 
discussion with members of the informal
Cayuga Bird Club, Dorothy McIlroy convinced me to define a circle, divide it 
into sectors, assign teams to each sector,
and compile the results.  I assembled the several USGS topographic maps 
covering Ithaca and surroundings on the
wall in the hallway of my parents' home, and tested various 15-mile circles to 
try to encompass key places such as
Dryden Lake and Taughannock Point.  Ultimately I settled on centering it at the 
intersection of Mt. Pleasant Road and
Turkey Hill Road, although admittedly that didn't quite include Taughannock 
Point.

For the following Ithaca CBC, I promised to return over the holidays to 
participate in and compile the 1/1/1964 count
if other Cayuga Bird Club members would set up the teams and plan to take over 
the whole CBC the next year.  (By
that time I had become involved in several extant CBCs in central Ohio, and 
soon started yet another called the
Kingston (OH) CBC in an area known for winter Rough-legged Hawks and 
Short-eared Owls.)

I did not stay closely enough in touch with the Ithaca CBC over the intervening 
years to know exactly when the official
center of the circle was shifted, but it is my impression that the shift would 
not invalidate statistical inferences drawn
from both the original and the current counts.

Thank you and ...

Good birding,
Randy
Randolph Scott Little
111 Berkeley Circle
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
Phone: (908)221-9173
r...@att.net or rs...@cornell.edu


  - Original Message - 
  From: Tom Schulenberg 
  To: Paul Anderson 
  Cc: Randolph Scott Little ; Upstate NY Birding ; gregbutche...@hotmail.com ; 
c...@cornell.edu ; Cayugabirds- L ; Rick Bonney 
  Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 8:34 PM
  Subject: Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count




Yes 1963 was the earliest (or at least the earliest that was recorded). 
All the data from all years can be seen here: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19EWVe-v5fKI3s93ciNoNwy2Wpp-GpNg6/view.

There were 61 species observed in 1963. Of those, two have not shown up 
on the count since: Dickcissel and Green-tailed Towhee!

-Paul



  that answer may depend upon how you define a Christmas Bird Count. I don't 
doubt that the modern Ithaca CBC dates from 1963. but - with the important 
caveat that it took decades for the CBC to assume its current form, and that 
early CBCs had few guidelines (and, typically, very few participants) - there 
were a few earlier Christmas counts from the Ithaca area.


  before 1963, there were several single observer CBCs from Ithaca that were 
published in Bird-Lore and Audubon Magazine. the earliest I have found is one 
by Francis Harper from December 1904, which was only the 5th year of the 
Christmas Bird Count - a very early contribution.


  the next one that I know of was in December 1914, by Ludlow Griscom (!), who 
I believe at that time was a graduate student at Cornell. John P. Young 
submitted an Ithaca CBC for December 1922. and J. Kenneth Terres submitted four 
consecutive single observer CBCs from Ithaca, from December 1938 to December 
1941.


  there also was a count submitted from Trumansburg in December 1915, which as 
far as I know never was repeated.


  I've long been surprised by the fact that Ithaca did not develop its CBC 
until relatively late in the game. a possible clue comes from this tidbit in 
Greg Butcher's and Kevin McGowan's 1995 paper (History of ornithology at 
Cornell University):


  "[Arthur A.] Allen started a number of birding traditions in the Cayuga Lake 
basin, including a New Year's Day Count (split in 1963 to become three 
Christmas Bird Counts) and a May Big Day count. On New Year's Day, the Allens 
hosted a turkey dinner for all participants; on the May Big Day, the Allens 
provided a breakfast at their home and a picnic

Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count

2019-01-04 Thread Tom Schulenberg 
> Yes 1963 was the earliest (or at least the earliest that was recorded).
> All the data from all years can be seen here:
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/19EWVe-v5fKI3s93ciNoNwy2Wpp-GpNg6/view.
>
> There were 61 species observed in 1963. Of those, two have not shown up
> on the count since: Dickcissel and Green-tailed Towhee!
>
-Paul
>

that answer may depend upon how you define a Christmas Bird Count. I don't
doubt that the modern Ithaca CBC dates from 1963. but - with the important
caveat that it took decades for the CBC to assume its current form, and
that early CBCs had few guidelines (and, typically, very few participants)
- there were a few earlier Christmas counts from the Ithaca area.

before 1963, there were several single observer CBCs from Ithaca that were
published in Bird-Lore and Audubon Magazine. the earliest I have found is
one by Francis Harper from December 1904, which was only the 5th year of
the Christmas Bird Count - a very early contribution.

the next one that I know of was in December 1914, by Ludlow Griscom (!),
who I believe at that time was a graduate student at Cornell. John P. Young
submitted an Ithaca CBC for December 1922. and J. Kenneth Terres submitted
four consecutive single observer CBCs from Ithaca, from December 1938 to
December 1941.

there also was a count submitted from Trumansburg in December 1915, which
as far as I know never was repeated.

I've long been surprised by the fact that Ithaca did not develop its CBC
until relatively late in the game. a possible clue comes from this tidbit
in Greg Butcher's and Kevin McGowan's 1995 paper (History of ornithology at
Cornell University):

"[Arthur A.] Allen started a number of birding traditions in the Cayuga
Lake basin, including a New Year's Day Count (split in 1963 to become three
Christmas Bird Counts) and a May Big Day count. On New Year's Day, the
Allens hosted a turkey dinner for all participants; on the May Big Day, the
Allens provided a breakfast at their home and a picnic dinner at Montezuma
National Wildlife Refuge".

does anyone know when this New Year's Day Count was established, and
why?aside from the handful of CBCs mentioned above, by the 1950s the
Christmas Bird Count really was catching on. Ithaca was surrounded by
communities that already were doing CBCs, such as Cortland, Watkins Glen,
Elmira, Binghamton, and Syracuse. what was the allure of the New Year's Day
Count? for me, of course with the benefit of hindsight, the Ithaca birding
community of the 1950s (and earlier?) seems to have been
uncharacteristically out of step with trending approaches to birding and
ornithology when it comes to their delayed adoption of the Christmas Bird
Count. I'd very interested to know if anyone has more information on this
period of Ithaca birding history.

tss


> On 12/29/2018 10:16 AM, Randolph Scott Little wrote:
> > When was the first Ithaca Christmas Bird Count?  It may have been
> > 1/1/63, as that is the earliest NYIT CBC that I could find in the
> > National Audubon Society web archive.  Perhaps I could find it
> > somewhere in my old files, as I recall working
> > with Dorothy McIlroy to establish the first circle, whose center has
> > since been moved slightly.  Good birding!  --Randy
> >
> > --
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> 531 Esty St., Ithaca, NY 14850
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-- 
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Ithaca  NY  14850
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[cayugabirds-l] Snow Geese

2019-01-04 Thread Tom 
There were about 100 Snow Geese in a field just north of Scipio Center in 
Cayuga Co. about noon on 29 Dec 2018.  Apparently Snow Geese got missed in the 
Christmas Count.

Tom Vawter
Lansing

Sent from my iPhone


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[cayugabirds-l] OT:dish

2019-01-04 Thread Donna Lee Scott 
Left at CBC Bird count dinner:
Terra cotta dish with spoon
& a tiny glass with toothpicks.
Contact Donna Scott if you want them back. 
d...@cornell.edu

[cid:10EC151B-0005-46A5-84CD-41C778810017]


Donna Scott
Lansing
Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] empty lake

2019-01-04 Thread Glenn Wilson 
Similar here in Broome County. A rare few waterfowl are here and there. 

Glenn Wilson
Endicott, NY
www.WilsonsWarbler.com

On Jan 4, 2019, at 8:59 AM, Donna Lee Scott  wrote:

Yesterday, I was on the lake shore here in Lansing and looked up and down for a 
while and saw no waterfowl in any direction.

Donna L. Scott
Lansing Station Road
Lansing, NY 


-Original Message-
From: bounce-123219952-15001...@list.cornell.edu 
[mailto:bounce-123219952-15001...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Dave Nutter
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 6:32 AM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Raptors, swans, ducks

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 3 Jan) Ann Mitchell & I went north toward Fayette 
& Seneca Falls townships looking for raptors with some success: in addition to 
the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks we saw an adult Cooper’s Hawk on a pole in 
Covert, a male American Kestrel and a Merlin about a quarter mile apart on 
Seybolt Rd, a female Northern Harrier atop a mound of brush & wood along 
Peterman Rd, and two Snowy Owls, one on Seybolt Rd, another at the Fingerlakes 
Regional Airport, so that was a success. 

On our way back we made the tough choice to check out the lake rather than seek 
Short-eared Owls. The lake was calm and temperatures not extreme, so there was 
very little heat shimmer. We scanned from the boat ramp at Cayuga Lake SP while 
several boats of gunners came in for the day. I’m used to the shallow north end 
of Cayuga Lake being frozen for several miles in winter, but there was no ice 
at all. And when there’s no ice, or as the shelf is melting back in mid-March, 
I’m used to seeing hordes of northbound ducks diving near the ice edge. 
Yesterday the lake appeared eerily empty. In a complete scan I saw 3 pairs of 
Mallards scattered along the west shore along with 1 male Hooded Merganser 
(perhaps his mate eluded me?), a pair of breeding plumage Long-tailed Ducks far 
to the SE which flushed as one of the boats approached them, and another group 
of 9 Long-tailed Ducks already in flight farther south. That was it for ducks. 
There were dozens of Herring Gulls along with a few Great Blacked Gulls on the 
water far to the east, but all of the above birds except one pair of Mallards 
required a scope. 

There were small flocks of Canada Geese coming in overhead from the NW. The 
most interesting find from Cayuga L SP was a probable family group of 5 Mute 
Swans on the lake to the east of the boat ramp. They also took flight between 
when I found them and when Ann looked through my scope. They continued flying 
south out of sight. The Mute Swans I believe are a first for 2019 for the 
Cayuga Lake Basin (the table of 2019 basin firsts has been filled out and 
should be up on the Club website shortly). 

Along Lower Lake Rd we saw a handful of scattered Ring-billed Gulls, and from 
NYS-89 as we drove south we saw small separate groups of American Black Duck 
(11), Common Goldeneye (9), Bufflehead (10?), Red-breasted Merganser(3), and 
American Coot(~35), and Snow (2) and Canada Geese. The diversity aded up after 
awhile, but still the impression was of an empty lake. The only exception was 
the large raft of Snow Geese in the middle of the lake off Poplar Beach Rd by 
the Beer Garden, viewed from NYS-89. We didn’t go down to Sheldrake.  

- - Dave Nutter 




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RE:[cayugabirds-l] empty lake

2019-01-04 Thread Donna Lee Scott 
Yesterday, I was on the lake shore here in Lansing and looked up and down for a 
while and saw no waterfowl in any direction.

Donna L. Scott
Lansing Station Road
Lansing, NY 


-Original Message-
From: bounce-123219952-15001...@list.cornell.edu 
[mailto:bounce-123219952-15001...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Dave Nutter
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 6:32 AM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Raptors, swans, ducks

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 3 Jan) Ann Mitchell & I went north toward Fayette 
& Seneca Falls townships looking for raptors with some success: in addition to 
the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks we saw an adult Cooper’s Hawk on a pole in 
Covert, a male American Kestrel and a Merlin about a quarter mile apart on 
Seybolt Rd, a female Northern Harrier atop a mound of brush & wood along 
Peterman Rd, and two Snowy Owls, one on Seybolt Rd, another at the Fingerlakes 
Regional Airport, so that was a success. 

On our way back we made the tough choice to check out the lake rather than seek 
Short-eared Owls. The lake was calm and temperatures not extreme, so there was 
very little heat shimmer. We scanned from the boat ramp at Cayuga Lake SP while 
several boats of gunners came in for the day. I’m used to the shallow north end 
of Cayuga Lake being frozen for several miles in winter, but there was no ice 
at all. And when there’s no ice, or as the shelf is melting back in mid-March, 
I’m used to seeing hordes of northbound ducks diving near the ice edge. 
Yesterday the lake appeared eerily empty. In a complete scan I saw 3 pairs of 
Mallards scattered along the west shore along with 1 male Hooded Merganser 
(perhaps his mate eluded me?), a pair of breeding plumage Long-tailed Ducks far 
to the SE which flushed as one of the boats approached them, and another group 
of 9 Long-tailed Ducks already in flight farther south. That was it for ducks. 
There were dozens of Herring Gulls along with a few Great Blacked Gulls on the 
water far to the east, but all of the above birds except one pair of Mallards 
required a scope. 

There were small flocks of Canada Geese coming in overhead from the NW. The 
most interesting find from Cayuga L SP was a probable family group of 5 Mute 
Swans on the lake to the east of the boat ramp. They also took flight between 
when I found them and when Ann looked through my scope. They continued flying 
south out of sight. The Mute Swans I believe are a first for 2019 for the 
Cayuga Lake Basin (the table of 2019 basin firsts has been filled out and 
should be up on the Club website shortly). 

Along Lower Lake Rd we saw a handful of scattered Ring-billed Gulls, and from 
NYS-89 as we drove south we saw small separate groups of American Black Duck 
(11), Common Goldeneye (9), Bufflehead (10?), Red-breasted Merganser(3), and 
American Coot(~35), and Snow (2) and Canada Geese. The diversity aded up after 
awhile, but still the impression was of an empty lake. The only exception was 
the large raft of Snow Geese in the middle of the lake off Poplar Beach Rd by 
the Beer Garden, viewed from NYS-89. We didn’t go down to Sheldrake.  

- - Dave Nutter 




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[cayugabirds-l] Raptors, swans, ducks

2019-01-04 Thread Dave Nutter 
Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 3 Jan) Ann Mitchell & I went north toward Fayette 
& Seneca Falls townships looking for raptors with some success: in addition to 
the ubiquitous Red-tailed Hawks we saw an adult Cooper’s Hawk on a pole in 
Covert, a male American Kestrel and a Merlin about a quarter mile apart on 
Seybolt Rd, a female Northern Harrier atop a mound of brush & wood along 
Peterman Rd, and two Snowy Owls, one on Seybolt Rd, another at the Fingerlakes 
Regional Airport, so that was a success. 

On our way back we made the tough choice to check out the lake rather than seek 
Short-eared Owls. The lake was calm and temperatures not extreme, so there was 
very little heat shimmer. We scanned from the boat ramp at Cayuga Lake SP while 
several boats of gunners came in for the day. I’m used to the shallow north end 
of Cayuga Lake being frozen for several miles in winter, but there was no ice 
at all. And when there’s no ice, or as the shelf is melting back in mid-March, 
I’m used to seeing hordes of northbound ducks diving near the ice edge. 
Yesterday the lake appeared eerily empty. In a complete scan I saw 3 pairs of 
Mallards scattered along the west shore along with 1 male Hooded Merganser 
(perhaps his mate eluded me?), a pair of breeding plumage Long-tailed Ducks far 
to the SE which flushed as one of the boats approached them, and another group 
of 9 Long-tailed Ducks already in flight farther south. That was it for ducks. 
There were dozens of Herring Gulls along with a few Great Blacked Gulls on the 
water far to the east, but all of the above birds except one pair of Mallards 
required a scope. 

There were small flocks of Canada Geese coming in overhead from the NW. The 
most interesting find from Cayuga L SP was a probable family group of 5 Mute 
Swans on the lake to the east of the boat ramp. They also took flight between 
when I found them and when Ann looked through my scope. They continued flying 
south out of sight. The Mute Swans I believe are a first for 2019 for the 
Cayuga Lake Basin (the table of 2019 basin firsts has been filled out and 
should be up on the Club website shortly). 

Along Lower Lake Rd we saw a handful of scattered Ring-billed Gulls, and from 
NYS-89 as we drove south we saw small separate groups of American Black Duck 
(11), Common Goldeneye (9), Bufflehead (10?), Red-breasted Merganser(3), and 
American Coot(~35), and Snow (2) and Canada Geese. The diversity aded up after 
awhile, but still the impression was of an empty lake. The only exception was 
the large raft of Snow Geese in the middle of the lake off Poplar Beach Rd by 
the Beer Garden, viewed from NYS-89. We didn’t go down to Sheldrake.  

- - Dave Nutter 




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