Colleen saw a goose on a utility pole along Rte. 90 but it wasn't real.
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] apex sighting ... goose on a pole Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2021 21:05:48 -0500 From: John and Fritzie Blizzard <job121...@verizon.net> To: Colleen Richards <cl...@juno.com>, Cayuga Birds <cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu> Colleen .... That goose is a "dummy" put there by NYSEG to keep ospreys from building a nest there until an extension can be put on the poles /well above the transformers/ before the ospreys return.� Daughter, Becky Sewell, who monitors the osprey nests for Candace Cornell since I'm no longer able, knows where /all three of them/ are. ***** One is on the transformer pole on the west side of 90, between the Union Springs Fire Department and the casino (Lakeside Entertainment). Map coordinates are 42.852716, -76.690844. ***** South of Union Springs is one on the transformer pole on the west side of 90, across from Great Gully Road. Map coordinates are 42.811910, -76.699376. ***** Another is on the pole on the west side of 90, at the northeast (toward Union Springs) corner of a little patch of trees at the top of the hill above Cayuga Lake Farm, (north of Levanna) with a nice view of the lake (from the top of the pole, anyway). Coordinates are 42.795959, -76.710332. Last fall, Becky actually "rescued" a NYSEG man at the Great Gully Rd. utility pole when the engine on his truck quit & his fully extended lift, with him in it, wouldn't go down. He was stuck! She had seen him & stopped to ask why the osprey nest had been removed & why a fake Canada goose had been put atop the pole. I'm sure he was glad for a "nosy" female 'cause she did what he told her so he got down okay. _So_ ... _*yes*, there really is a Canada goose balancing atop a utility pole._ The three /rigid, unmoving decoys/ have been securely fastened to the poles, so if NYSEG may never take them down, the poor ospreys will simply move their operations to other transformer poles since those are their favorite places, on the twin cross-arms above the transformers. Oh, and last week, Becky found that a new, sturdier, bald eagle nest has been built in a taller tree in the hedgerow south of Backus Rd. which goes west, down to Hibiscus Harbor just north of Rte. 326. It is replacing the former red-tail hawk/bald eagle nest, still seen in a slightly shorter tree about halfway down the hedgerow behind the Union Springs casino/fire station/Lakeside Trading gas station. It is highly visible from 90, at the storage units at the intersection of 90 and 326. She saw an adult eagle in the tree yesterday. Until trees leaf out, the nest(s) can be seen from the parking lots of those places & from Backus Rd., esp. from the 2nd curve, under the osprey nest pole. The new nest's higher position lifts it above the shorter trees that typically obscured the older, lower nest, giving much nicer, clearer views of the nest and hopefully its occupants! Its APPROXIMATE coordinates (it doesn't show on Googlemaps) are 42.857367, -76.697237, or very nearby. BTW, there is also a red-tail hawk nest in the first clump of trees north of Backus Road after leaving 90. It was occupied in 2020 at least. Map coordinates are 42.860886, -76.695246. Fritzie B. Union Springs, NY On 2/15/2021 6:18 PM, Colleen Richards wrote: > > ......� Sunday afternoon, completing a circling of Seneca and Cayuga > Lakes, something else odd appeared on the top of a telephone pole > along Rt. 90. Unless someone was playing a joke, a Canada Goose > appeared to be trying to balance on *that* apex by raising and > lowering his head and neck! > Strange sightings indeed! > Colleen Richards -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
