[cayugabirds-l] golden eagle

2021-02-08 Thread Deb Grantham 
Golden eagle about 4:45 pm on east side of Route 89 in Seneca County, a ways 
north of Van Doren Beach Road. Sitting in a tree, high up, and then flew.

Also, gray catbird under Eastern cedar in my yard on Sheffield Road (about ½ 
mile north of Rt. 79). They are around all year, a number of them. Also plenty 
of mockingbirds, including more than one today. Carolina wrens in horses run 
ins.

And another bird I can't be sure of - there were 3 or 4 but I got to watch one 
for a minute or two. It was on the ground under a big spruce tree (also in my 
yard), so lots of cover, scratching around in the litter on the ground. Had 
striking eye lines, dark ones above and below eye. Kind of plump body, but 
maybe because it was fluffed up. Buff upper body, no strong markings, and very 
light underbody. Bobbed tail like a wren but seemed too big for Carolina wren 
and eye markings were very dark, black in my binos.

Deb


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[cayugabirds-l] Field Birds

2021-02-08 Thread Suan Hsi Yong 
With the sunny weather I decided to take the afternoon off and drive
around north of Lansing looking for field birds. With the high snow
depth they were pretty easy to encounter, foraging by roadsides and
flushing on approach. Those wanting to look for them, just drive
slowly along any of the less-traveled roads between big fields.

I stopped to photograph three main groups with different dynamics. The
first had about a dozen each of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings, and
they tended to hang out with their own species but loosely associated
with each other. This was somewhere along Conlon Road, I think (I need
to take better mental notes). Also had a Common Redpoll flock of about
a dozen somewhere here. The second group along Indian Field Road just
north of 90 was smaller, about a dozen Horned Larks with 3-4 Snow
Buntings and two Lapland Longspurs (lifers for me, actually). I'm
guessing because the Snow Bunting number was smaller, the group tended
to stay together more as one group. Before I left a lone Common
Redpoll also joined this group. The third group was a very large flock
of 100+ snow buntings around Fennel and Snushal Roads, big enough to
murmurate like starlings.

An interesting observation was that the smaller groups were more
approachable than the large flock. The common redpoll flock was most
approachable, while the smaller field bird flocks were a close second.
I'm guessing that the flushing dynamic of these flocks relates to a
single individual sounding an alarm that triggers the flush, and that
the large flock was more likely to have the one jumpy individual to
sound the alarm to trigger the flock to flush, but this is just
conjecture. Also, flushing behavior on foot vs. by car was noticeably
different: on foot they tended to fly farther away while in the car
they seemed to only flush a shorter distance. When the birds were
backlit I actually had trouble driving to the other side of the flock,
as I just kept pushing them down the road bit by bit -- I might have
had better luck if I drove by fast.

Finally, at Salt Point I flushed a/the continuing Killdeer from the beach.

Suan

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[cayugabirds-l] Syracuse area RBA

2021-02-08 Thread Joseph Brin 

RBA

 

*  New York

*  Syracuse

* February 08, 2021

*  NYSY  02. 08. 21

 

Hotline: Syracuse Rare bird Alert

Dates(s):

February 01 to February 08, 2021

to report by e-mail: brinjoseph AT yahoo.com

covering upstate NY counties: Cayuga, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge

and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) (just outside Cayuga County),

Onondaga, Oswego, Lewis, Jefferson, Oneida, Herkimer,  Madison & Cortland

compiled: February 08 AT 3:00 p.m. (EDT)

compiler: Joseph Brin

Onondaga Audubon Homepage: www.onondagaaudubon.org

 

 

#738 

Monday February 08, 2021

 

Greetings. This is the Syracuse Area Rare Bird Alert for the week of 

February 01, 2020

 

Highlights:

---




AMERICAN WIGEON

CANVASBACK

PEREGRINE FALCON

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (Extralimital)

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK

ICELAND GULL

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL

SNOWY OWL

SHORT-EARED OWL

NORTHERN SHRIKE

WINTER WREN

RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET

HERMIT THRUSH

GRAY CATBIRD

LAPLAND LONGSPUR

BALTIMORE ORIOLE

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

SAVANNAH SPARROW

COMMON GRACKLE

EVENING GROSBEAK

HOARY REDPOLL

RED CROSSBILL













Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC)

 




     2/1: 2 SHORT-EARED OWLS were seen from Carncross Road.

     2/6: A SAVANNAH SPARROW and a LAPLAND LONGSPUR were found on East Road. A 
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET was seen from Armitage Road.







Cayuga County

--




     2/7: A WINTER WREN was found on Jensvold Road in Sterling.







Onondaga County






     An adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL is still being seen daily either at 
Mercer Park or Marble Street Island in Baldwinsville.

     2/4: A RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET was found at Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse. 8 
RED CROSSBILLS and an EVENING GROSBEAK were seen on Shakham Road in the Morgan 
Hill State Forest. A HOARY REDPOLL continues with Common Redpolls in the Marshy 
Spits area south of the Honeywell Center on Onondaga Lake. A BALTIMORE ORIOLE 
was seen on Nottingham Road in Syracuse.

     2/5: An AMERICAN WIGEON was seen near the Marshy Spits area of Onondaga 
Lake. 5 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were seen on Dunham Road west of Baldwinsville. 
A COMMON GRACKLE continues on Sunview Drive in Elbridge. 3 GADWALL and 3 
CANVASBACKS were seen near the Marshy Spits area of Onondaga Lake. An ICELAND 
GULL was seen in the Inner Harbor south of Onondaga Lake in Syracuse.

     2/7: A HOARY REDPOLL was seen on Harrington Road in Syracuse. 2 
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS continue on East Sorrell Hill Road south of 
Baldwinsville. 2 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS were seen hunting at a feeder on East Mud 
Lake  Road near Beaver Lake Nature Center west of Baldwinsville. A HERMIT 
THRUSH was seen on Towne Isle Road in Manlius.

     2/8: 26 RED CROSSBILLS were seen on Shakham Road in the Morgan Hill State 
Forest. 2 LAPLAND LONGSPURS were seen on Daboll Road in Memphis.







Oswego County






     2/1: A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen on Bishop Road near Richland.

     2/2: 2 EVENING GROSBEAKS were seen at a feeder in Hastings.

     2/4: A LAPLAND LONGSPUR and a PEREGRINE FALCON were seen at Oswego Harbor.

     2/5: A HOARY REDPOLL was seen near hastings.







Madison County






     2/3: A SHORT-EARED OWL was seen on Indian Lookout Road north of Cazenovia.

     2/6: A SNOWY OWL was again seen on Bellinger Road near the Fenner wind 
Farm.

     2/7: A SNOWY OWL was again seen near the Fenner wind farm, this time from 
West Mile Strip Road.A COMMON GRACKLE was seen on Baily Street in Chittenango.

     2/8: A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen on Williams Road in Morrisville.







Oneida County






     2/5: A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen on Harris Road near Poland.







Herkimer County






     2/2: 18 EVENING GROSBEAKS and a GRAY CATBIRD were seen in Salisbury 
Corners. 

     2/4: A PEREGRINE FALCON was seen near the McDonald’s Restaurant in Little 
Falls. A NORTHERN SHRIKE was seen in Salisbury Corners. 

     2/5: 17 EVENING GROSBEAKS were seen on the Military Road north of 
Dolgeville.







Extralimital






     The FERRUGINOUS HAWK in Orange County south of Goshen was again seen 
yesterday. The location was the Black Dirt area south of Lower Road. 

     




   







End Report







Joseph Brin

Baldwinsville NY

Region 5






  
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RE: [cayugabirds-l] Question on water quality for birdbaths

2021-02-08 Thread Donna Lee Scott 
Hi Mona,

I looked up the sodium content of softened water, sunflower seed meats, corn 
kernals, and shelled peanuts.

The amount of sodium in softened water depends on the hardness (called "grains 
per gallon") of the original water, which determines how much salt has to be 
added to the water to
"soften" it. That added sodium has to be added to the amount of sodium in the 
original water to get an exact figure.
But in an example:
If the water hardness is 18 grains, the recommended added salt to the softener 
would give about 35 mg of added sodium per 8 oz. glass of water.
(See www.purewaterproducts.com for more info).

Hulled sunflower seeds, 1 cup (8 oz dry) has about 13 mg sodium.
Hulled peanuts, 5 oz. has 454 mg of sodium, or 726 mg sodium in 8 oz./1 cup.
Corn kernals, 4 oz. has 230 mg sodium, so 8 oz. corn has 460 mg sodium.

So, I would say that the amount of sodium added to the water from your softener 
(depending on the grains of hardness in the original water) is a figure between 
the sunflower seed meats and the hulled peanuts, and is much nearer the lower 
amount of sodium in the sunflower seeds.

Therefore, if it was my water situation, I would go ahead and use the softened 
water in the birdbath, since the amount of added sodium the birds would get 
from their tiny drinks would probably be well less than the amount of sodium 
they are getting from peanuts and near the amount they would get from sunflower 
seeds.

I hope this is helpful.

Donna Scott

Donna L. Scott
Retired Food Scientist

535 Lansing Station Road
Lansing, NY 14882
d...@cornell.edu

From: bounce-125369359-15001...@list.cornell.edu 
[mailto:bounce-125369359-15001...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Mona Bearor
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2021 10:30 AM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Question on water quality for birdbaths

I keep my birdbath clean and heated in the winter, however I have moved to 
where a water softener is required.  I am wondering if this water is affecting 
the health of the birds. All our water goes through the softener - even the 
outside spigots - so if I should purchase water at the market should I buy 
distilled, spring water, or purified water?
Thank you for your knowledge and thoughts on this subject,
Ramona Bearor
Staunton, VA
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[cayugabirds-l] Question on water quality for birdbaths

2021-02-08 Thread Mona Bearor 
I keep my birdbath clean and heated in the winter, however I have moved to
where a water softener is required.  I am wondering if this water is
affecting the health of the birds. All our water goes through the softener -
even the outside spigots - so if I should purchase water at the market
should I buy distilled, spring water, or purified water?
Thank you for your knowledge and thoughts on this subject,
Ramona Bearor
Staunton, VA

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