Thanks Mark for your inspiring and very enjoyable guidance on these walks.
Looking forward to next year already.
Tom
Sent from my iPhone
> On May 29, 2017, at 1:13 PM, Mark Chao wrote:
>
> With only moderate rain and no lightning at all, the conditions on Monday
> morning allowed us to complete our scheduled Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring
> Bird Quest (SBQ) walks after all. It got pretty cold and wet, I admit, but
> maybe an optimist could consider it half-warm and half-dry. We did get our
> share of rewarding moments too.
>
> Four optimistic and hardy participants joined me at the Goetchius Wetland
> Preserve at 6:30 AM. We had several distant views of male BOBOLINKS in the
> field by the parking lot, with one close look that left me wanting more but
> also somehow feeling satisfied at the same time. We also had an excellent
> close look at a pair of SAVANNAH SPARROWS. Feathers matted by the rain,
> these birds issued sharp chips, evidently out of alarm at our proximity to
> their nest.
>
> Down the road by the main wetland, Tom Hoebbel found the weekend’s only
> PURPLE FINCH, an intensely dark-red male, in a bare shrub at the edge of the
> pond. To my equal surprise, we heard a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH singing far out
> in the wetland, maybe all the way out in the trees on the opposite end. And
> as expected, we saw and heard both WILLOW FLYCATCHER and ALDER FLYCATCHER
> from essentially the same vantage point along the road.
>
> At the Baldwin Tract of the Roy H. Park Preserve, our group size now up to
> 10, our good luck with bird sightings seemed to run out. But we did hear
> many expected birds, most notably several MAGNOLIA WARBLERS, plus the
> weekend’s only WINTER WREN and LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, both singing
> virtuosically and tirelessly at the confluence of streams below the lean-to
> shelter. We heard a few forced high notes in some spruces – a partial
> BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER song, I think. I also heard one PRAIRIE WARBLER singing
> once, but I think that maybe the others in the group missed it.
>
> It was also a fine day for newts. We saw two adult Red-spotted Newts
> crossing Flatiron Road near Goetchius, and one bright Red Eft at Park.
>
> In the end, my SBQ bird species count reached 86 – not bad given today’s
> suboptimal conditions – and just as gratifying, the participant tally nearly
> touched 100 if you count repeat visitors each time. The species tally will
> probably yield at least a couple thousand dollars in support of the Land
> Trust’s work on protecting habitats for birds, for all wildlife, and for us.
>
> Thanks to all participants for your great company and support this weekend.
> What a privilege and pleasure it is to spend time in such great places, amid
> so many wonderful birds, with all of you!
>
> Mark Chao
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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