On Monday, I led two more walks for the Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest (SBQ), one at the Goetchius Wetland Preserve in Caroline and one at the Park Nature Preserve (Baldwin Tract) in Dryden. See below for details.
My probable final count of species found on Land Trust properties over the weekend stands at 94, plus two additional species that I think were there but couldn't confirm. My most egregious misses were Chimney Swift, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Least Flycatcher, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and American Kestrel. I've heard directly from others about at least eight more species found on FLLT land this weekend, bringing the collective total comfortably over 100. Not bad for a late, hot Memorial Day weekend! Mark Chao _______________________________________ 1. Goetchius Wetland Preserve Flatiron Road, Caroline 5:45 - 8:05 AM 36 species, including SAVANNAH SPARROW, possible GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, BOBOLINK, EASTERN MEADOWLARK, ALDER FLYCATCHER, WILLOW FLYCATCHER, EASTERN KINGBIRD, and SPOTTED SANDPIPER A dozen intrepid spirits, including friends from as far away as Union Springs and Ovid, joined me at 6:30 AM for the first early-bird special walk I've ever offered on the SBQ. I hope that all would agree with me that the sacrifice of sleep was amply compensated by some high-quality birding and company. The grassy field at the north end of this preserve by the parking lot is, in my view, the single best place in the area for watching Bobolinks. With the rising sun at our backs, we saw at least 10 Bobolinks of both sexes at rest and in hormone-charged action. Most often, the female Bobolinks we saw were fleeing tirelessly randy males, but a couple of times, we saw pairs side by side. With one pair in particular, I was sure that copulation was imminent as the birds ritually preened. But then another male flew in, and then another. The four Bobolinks perched close together and eyed each other, while we held our breaths. Then, predictably, the female fled and the males gave chase again. We also got excellent scope views of Savannah Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlark in this field. Several times, I heard two countersinging sparrows whose long held note seemed less musical than that of Savannah Sparrow, without the little note resolving the phrase at the end. These songs seemed to me to be squarely consistent with Grasshopper Sparrow. I didn't approach closely enough, however, to rule out the possibility of distance-attenuated Savannah Sparrow song. The species therefore remains uncounted for the weekend, along with Saturday's ostensible Cape May or Bay-breasted Warbler at McIlroy. I welcome further information, positive or negative, from others who visit the site. And in any case, given widely noted concerns about the fate of Bobolinks in other area hayfields, I'm happy to note that the Land Trust has arranged for the former owner of this field to mow it only in late summer, after the next generation of field birds has presumably fledged. The wetland portion of the preserve is, well, not so wet, given this month of relentlessly dry weather. I had taken note that the redoubtable Chris Wood and Jessie Barry had found a Sora here on Friday, just as I did on last year's SBQ. Today, however, we found no Sora and indeed not really a lot of wetland birds at all -- some flyover herons, a couple of Spotted Sandpipers at the edge of a muddy channel, common swallows, Willow and Alder Flycatcher, and not a lot more. I was greatly relieved, therefore, that Tom Hoebbel and Sydney Penner found me a few Mallards flying by, sparing me the embarrassment of whiffing on this species for the weekend. 2. Park Nature Preserve (Baldwin Tract) Irish Settlement Road, Dryden 8:20 - 10:50 AM 45 species, including BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO, YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, PRAIRIE WARBLER, MAGNOLIA WARBLER, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, BLUE-WINGED WARBLER, LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, CANADA WARBLER, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, and WINTER WREN Seventeen people joined me on the day's second group walk, at the Park Nature Preserve. We had fine birding indeed along the first straightaway, with very long scope views of Indigo Bunting, Blue-winged Warbler, and Alder Flycatcher. Some of us also got a very close albeit obscured view of a Black-billed Cuckoo (maybe the best look I've ever had of this species, before I yielded the scope). From the parking lot to the far reaches of the open area, we almost continually heard the songs of Prairie Warblers, but the singers were never close enough to try to view. At one point, we saw a rather distant kettle of five Turkey Vultures, which dwarfed a buteo circling with them. I first identified the latter bird as a Red-tailed Hawk based on its shape, but Bob McGuire, seeing something more, urged me to take a better look. I eventually got this bird in the scope and saw bright windows in the spread wings (partially due to molt), and a black tail without an obvious white band. Bob also saw an orange breast and belly, clinching the ID of Red-shouldered Hawk -- quite a prize for the weekend's species tally. We took the trail spur down to the shelter and Six Mile Creek. Here, we heard the weekend's third Winter Wren at three preserves (hooray), and Blue-headed Vireo singing as expected in the hemlocks. At the bottom of the ravine, we heard an explosive chip note above the noise of rushing water. I thought that this must have been a Louisiana Waterthrush, but I was reluctant to count it until Steve Fast assured me that the ID was good enough to count. Then he proceeded to confirm one by sight. Thanks, Steve! Finally, we decided to try to see a Canada Warbler that had been singing incessantly above the ravine, a little downstream from the shelter. With much effort and patient mutual help, most people got very good views. Given my habit of birding close to home in Sapsucker Woods, it was different and exciting to see a male of this species acting so obviously territorial, singing and singing while hardly pausing to forage or otherwise changing position. But the most amazing find here today -- indeed, quite possibly the most remarkable sighting of any SBQ, ever -- wasn't ours. As we were returning to the road, we greeted Sarah Fern Striffler, who told us that she had just seen a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL being mobbed by a crow in the line of trees around the loop trail. She said that the owl issued its eponymous blade-sharpening scrape sound as it fled into the woods. I admit to some jealousy and regret about missing this bird, a long-coveted would-be lifer for me and probably many in our group, by less than ten minutes. But mostly, I'm just awed and impressed and fired up for Sarah, and just plain happy that the owl was there. What an incredible find for this site, at this time of year!! ... Aside from all the species and bird stories, I'm pleased to note that this year's SBQ attracted over 40 participants in the group walks, or more than 65 if you count repeat customers on each trip. I believe that the event will end up raising over $3300 for the Land Trust, thus bringing total SBQ donations since its inception past $20,000. Many thanks to everyone, especially Wild Birds Unlimited of Ithaca, for your interest and support! -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
