[cayugabirds-l] OOB ... Oswego King Eider, w-w scoters & long-tailed ducks

[John and Fritzie Blizzard]

On Mon. 4 Feb. 2019:

Kathy Strickland & I were thrilled to see & hear several hundred 
long-tailed ducks on the Oswego River. For the first time ever, thanks 
to my hearing aid, I heard them  to me they sounded like loud peep 
frogs or tree toads.  For a long time I didn't know what the sound was 
'til Kathy mentioned the birds "talking." Indeed, the only time we 
didn't hear them was when they were under water.

The river is very swift so the ducks would float downstream towards Lake 
Ontario & suddenly fly back upstream. When they landed they didn't 
gracefully slide onto the water as other ducks & geese do. They hit the 
water almost flat-footed & then flopped over on their faces. Very 
undignified looking & really funny but they seemed to be having fun 
splashing & occasionally all diving about at the same time. A man who 
had been taking pictures of them said he had never seen as many as were 
there. In my many trips to the river, I've not seen anywhere near what 
we saw. It was an awesome sight.

While Kathy was looking at them I saw a very small duck pop up right 
below us ... an adorable _horned grebe_ in winter plumage, far prettier 
than any handbook pictures show.  We were surprised that we could see it 
underwater for maybe 3 ft. as it dove to look for food. Various other 
ducks were to be seen, but, unlike when Becky & I were there on 15 Jan., 
I saw no cormorants altho' another birder said one had been seen. An 
adult bald eagle flew around a bit & eventually sat on the breakwall. In 
Jan. I had seen one fly up the river, a first there for me.

To finish out our wonderful day, here is our finale:

We missed seeing the black scoter but did see the male surf scoter & an 
amazing 20 white-winged scoters in the marina area. In with the flotilla 
of w-w scoters was the absolute beauty to find at the end of a 65 deg. 
February day ... the magnificent male _KING EIDER_ in all his 
showing-off glory very close to us, closer than we had dared dream.

Fritzie



















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[cayugabirds-l] Cayuga Bird Club February meeting - Mon., Feb. 11

[Colleen Richards]

Next Monday, February 11, will be the next monthly meeting of the Cayuga Bird 
Club.
Ian Davies, eBird Project Coordinator at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, will 
be giving his presentation, "NY Breeding Bird Atlas III". In 2020, birders 
across New York will embark on the state's third breeding bird atlas: a 
five-year effort to document breeding birds in the region. New York will be the 
first state to start a third breeding bird atlas and will be taking advantage 
of modern tools to maximize the area we can cover: the atlas data collection 
will be run through eBird. Come learn about breeding bird atlases, how you can 
take part, and how to make your summer birding count.
 
 Ian Davies is the eBird Project Coordinator at the Cornell Lab. He focuses on 
project coordination and management, as well as outreach and engagement. Ian 
also writes the majority of the articles on the eBird homepage, and helps 
coordinate the global review network of eBird data quality volunteer reviewers. 
The meeting will be held at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Doors open 
at 7:00 pm and there will be cookies and conversation starting at 7:15. Bird 
club business begins at 7:30 pm followed by the presentation. All are welcome. 
There will not be a speaker dinner before the meeting.
 Looking forward to seeing many of you there.
 Colleen Richards
Corresponding Secretary
Cayuga Bird Club
 

Oncologists Freak Out Over True Cause of Cancer
pro.healthresponses.org
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5c5a67212ad4667203ebbst01duc
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[cayugabirds-l] 12 B. eagles bet. RR bridge & Mud Lock. Redheads, Glaucous gull/Geneva Seneca Lake SP.

[John and Fritzie Blizzard]

Gray, mid-afternoon: 5 Feb. 2019 ...

Daughter, Becky & I counted 4 adult bald eagles & 8 immatures. One adult 
was on the nest at the mouth of the Seneca R./canal & others were in 
trees near Mud Lock.   Immatures, except for 3 in trees,  were either 
flying or sitting on the ice with swans & ducks.

Dozens, if not several hundred swans were on the ice to the west of the 
main channel. Some were flying. Many ducks & Canadas were in the same area.

In Geneva at the Seneca Lake SP we saw 3 huge flotillas of red heads, 
all doing their usual soldierly back & forth swimming "ritual." Dare I 
estimate 1,000-2,000? Some may say more.

We saw many red-breasted & common mergansers as well as common 
golden-eye & gadwall.

Becky spotted a large, almost chunky looking, GBB size, white gull on 
the ice with ring-bills. It was all white with pink feet/legs. Bill had 
a pronounced all-black tip with no sign of black or visible gray 
anywhere on the feathers. We concluded it was a _glaucous_ gull but  you 
experienced "gullers" would have to say if it's an immature. She took 
pictures but binoculars showed better features than did her camera.

We didn't try for owls anywhere. Oh, Van Cleef Lake in Seneca Falls is 
still iced over.

Temperature was 50 deg. when we arrived in Geneva. When we left 4 hrs. 
later it was 31 deg.. What a difference a day makes. It was 65 yesterday.

Fritzie

Union Springs









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[cayugabirds-l] Owl flew away

[Donna Lee Scott]

Acc. To Chris whom I saw inside CLO just now. No report on where it went.

Donna Scott
Lansing
Sent from my iPhone

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Barred Owl still there

[Donna Lee Scott]

Barred Owl still in same pine tree, dozing but looking down at me now & then.
Wish I had brought hiking stick for slippery path! Other "oldsters" may want to 
bring one!

Donna Scott
Lansing
Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 5, 2019, at 10:30 AM, Chris R. Pelkie 
mailto:chris.pel...@cornell.edu>> wrote:

At about 10:10am today, the BARRED OWL reported by Mark and Bob is still 
sitting in the lone pine by the Sapsucker Woods Wilson Trail shelter.

Easily spotted approaching from the East as it is on the 2nd big needled branch 
up from ground on South side of tree, 2’ from trunk.
Harder to see looking back from West.

Also singing BROWN CREEPER by Harper Bench.

ChrisP
__

Chris Pelkie
Information/Data Manager; IT Support
Bioacoustics Research Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/

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[cayugabirds-l] Barred Owl still there

[Chris R. Pelkie]

At about 10:10am today, the BARRED OWL reported by Mark and Bob is still 
sitting in the lone pine by the Sapsucker Woods Wilson Trail shelter.

Easily spotted approaching from the East as it is on the 2nd big needled branch 
up from ground on South side of tree, 2’ from trunk.
Harder to see looking back from West.

Also singing BROWN CREEPER by Harper Bench.

ChrisP
__

Chris Pelkie
Information/Data Manager; IT Support
Bioacoustics Research Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bald Eagle

[hhei...@frontiernet.net]

 Some more information if you are interested - this article appeared in Life  
in the Finger Lakes magazine and talks about that was believed to be the last 
known pair of Bald Eagles (before the recovery program) in New York in 1965. It 
was discovered by Tom Rauber, a Rochester Telephone linesman, and amateur 
naturalist. Tom would later work with the DEC, and DEC wildlife technician Mike 
Allen of the Endangered Species Unit, on the bald eagle recovery program. Tom 
and Mike have both passed away but their work is one of the reasons we are able 
to see so many of these magnificent birds today.
>From the Brink of Extinction - Life in the Finger Lakes

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>From the Brink of Extinction - Life in the Finger Lakes

In 1965, the last known pair of bald eagles in New York State built a nest in 
an 80-foot shagbark hickory tree a...
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-Helen
On ‎Tuesday‎, ‎February‎ ‎5‎, ‎2019‎ ‎07‎:‎19‎:‎01‎ ‎AM‎ ‎EST, Tim 
Gallagher  wrote:  
 
 
Author Darryl McGrath wrote an interesting book a few years ago about the 
successful efforts to reintroduce Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons in New York 
State. Here's a link: 
https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Paths-Heartbreak-Miracles-Excelsior/dp/1438459262

| Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New 
York's Bird People (Excelsior Editions): Darryl McGrath: 9781438459264: 
Amazon.com: Bookswww.amazon.comFulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we 
offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment 
centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these 
products. |




From: bounce-123301377-10557...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Marty Schlabach 

Sent: Monday, February 4, 2019 10:13 PM
To: Dave Nutter; bob mcguire
Cc: Annette Nadeau; CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Bald Eagle 
Bob,

 

Jenny Landry (DEC) jenny.lan...@dec.ny.gov is the wildlife biologist in DEC 
Region 8 who keeps track of eagle nests in Region 8. 
https://www.dec.ny.gov/about/617.html She might have some additional info of 
interest.  I believe she mentioned there are about 80 nests known in Region 8, 
which I believe includes 11 counties.  Tompkins County is in Region 7, so 
perhaps there is a person with similar responsibilities in Region 7.

 

I remember visiting the eagle hacking site in the Iroquois Wildlife Refuge in 
in WNY in the 1970s when the program was underway.

 

Marty

===

Marty Schlabach   m...@cornell.edu

8407 Powell Rd.     home  607-532-3467

Interlaken, NY 14847   cell    315-521-4315

===

 

 

From: bounce-123301278-3494...@list.cornell.edu 
On Behalf Of Dave Nutter
Sent: Monday, February 4, 2019 8:53 PM
To: bob mcguire 
Cc: Annette Nadeau ; CAYUGABIRDS-L 

Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bald Eagle

 

I would add 

* the creation of the EPA in 1970, 

* the banning of DDT in 1972, 

* a series of Endangered Species Acts in 1966, 1969, & 1973

 
According to Wikipedia, the Bald Eagle Protection Act was first passed in 1940, 
Golden Eagles were added in 1962, and it was amended many times including a 
major strengthening in 1972. 

 

About local Bald Eagles, I saw a pair of adults perched together in a tree at 
Dryden Lake in January. I bet they have been or are or will be nesting there. 

 

The nest by the mouth of Paine’s Creek at the south end of Aurora is very 
accessible. It is not in the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, nor in the southern 
Cayuga Lake Basin. 

 

In the last few days I have seen as many as 5 Bald Eagles (1 adult and 4 
different immatures) on or over the ice shelf at the south end of Cayuga Lake. 

 

As someone who was growing up when Bald Eagles were near their population low 
point, I am thrilled every time I see one. It is wonderful to live in a place 
and time where we can personally experience the results of that recovery and 
know that efforts in our area were a part of the story. (Peregrine Falcons & 
Ospreys, too)

 

- - Dave Nutter


On Feb 4, 2019, at 7:48 PM, bob mcguire  wrote:


I am amazed - and heartened - by the continued (and increasing) reports of BALD 
EAGLES in the area. I have been looking into their increase in numbers because 
of my interest in the case of the shooting in Caroline in December. An article 
in Wikipedia noted that the US population crashed from some 300,000-500,000 
birds in the 18th century to only 412 nesting pairs in the Lower 48 by the 
1950’s. The primary causes of the decline were loss of habitat, shooting, and 
the effects of DDT (weakening eggshells so that they collapsed under the weight 
of the nesting adults).

 

With the passage of several laws (1918 Migratory Bird Treaty and 1950 Bald and 
Golden Eagle Protection Act) the population rebounded to some 100,000   birds 
in the early 1980’s. In the mid-1970’s New York State launched the most 

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bald Eagle

[Tim Gallagher]

Author Darryl McGrath wrote an interesting book a few years ago about the 
successful efforts to reintroduce Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons in New York 
State. Here's a link: 
https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Paths-Heartbreak-Miracles-Excelsior/dp/1438459262

Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York's 
Bird People (Excelsior Editions): Darryl McGrath: 9781438459264: Amazon.com: 
Books
www.amazon.com
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store 
their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and 
provide customer service for these products.





From: bounce-123301377-10557...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Marty Schlabach 

Sent: Monday, February 4, 2019 10:13 PM
To: Dave Nutter; bob mcguire
Cc: Annette Nadeau; CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Bald Eagle


Bob,



Jenny Landry (DEC) jenny.lan...@dec.ny.gov is 
the wildlife biologist in DEC Region 8 who keeps track of eagle nests in Region 
8.  https://www.dec.ny.gov/about/617.html She might have some additional info 
of interest.  I believe she mentioned there are about 80 nests known in Region 
8, which I believe includes 11 counties.  Tompkins County is in Region 7, so 
perhaps there is a person with similar responsibilities in Region 7.



I remember visiting the eagle hacking site in the Iroquois Wildlife Refuge in 
in WNY in the 1970s when the program was underway.



Marty

===

Marty Schlabach   m...@cornell.edu

8407 Powell Rd. home  607-532-3467

Interlaken, NY 14847   cell315-521-4315

===





From: bounce-123301278-3494...@list.cornell.edu 
 On Behalf Of Dave Nutter
Sent: Monday, February 4, 2019 8:53 PM
To: bob mcguire 
Cc: Annette Nadeau ; CAYUGABIRDS-L 

Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Bald Eagle



I would add

* the creation of the EPA in 1970,

* the banning of DDT in 1972,

* a series of Endangered Species Acts in 1966, 1969, & 1973


According to Wikipedia, the Bald Eagle Protection Act was first passed in 1940, 
Golden Eagles were added in 1962, and it was amended many times including a 
major strengthening in 1972.



About local Bald Eagles, I saw a pair of adults perched together in a tree at 
Dryden Lake in January. I bet they have been or are or will be nesting there.



The nest by the mouth of Paine’s Creek at the south end of Aurora is very 
accessible. It is not in the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, nor in the southern 
Cayuga Lake Basin.



In the last few days I have seen as many as 5 Bald Eagles (1 adult and 4 
different immatures) on or over the ice shelf at the south end of Cayuga Lake.



As someone who was growing up when Bald Eagles were near their population low 
point, I am thrilled every time I see one. It is wonderful to live in a place 
and time where we can personally experience the results of that recovery and 
know that efforts in our area were a part of the story. (Peregrine Falcons & 
Ospreys, too)



- - Dave Nutter

On Feb 4, 2019, at 7:48 PM, bob mcguire 
mailto:bmcgu...@clarityconnect.com>> wrote:

I am amazed - and heartened - by the continued (and increasing) reports of BALD 
EAGLES in the area. I have been looking into their increase in numbers because 
of my interest in the case of the shooting in Caroline in December. An article 
in Wikipedia noted that the US population crashed from some 300,000-500,000 
birds in the 18th century to only 412 nesting pairs in the Lower 48 by the 
1950’s. The primary causes of the decline were loss of habitat, shooting, and 
the effects of DDT (weakening eggshells so that they collapsed under the weight 
of the nesting adults).



With the passage of several laws (1918 Migratory Bird Treaty and 1950 Bald and 
Golden Eagle Protection Act) the population rebounded to some 100,000   birds 
in the early 1980’s. In the mid-1970’s New York State launched the most 
comprehensive restoration program in the country. In1976 a site was chosen at 
Tschache Pool in the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge for the first hacking 
tower in the state with young wild birds brought in from the upper midwest. 
That program was discontinued in 1989 when the goal of ten nesting pairs was 
reached. The large Bald Eagle statue along the wildlife drive was recently 
installed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the start of that program.



Today the MNWR boasts ten active nests with several more in the North Montezuma 
Wetlands Complex. During a recent winter raptor survey LaRue St. Clair spotted 
59 birds in one morning. In recent days the agglomeration of nearly 50 roosting 
Bald Eagles at the east end of Onondaga Lake has drawn national attention. See 
this article: