We had a tremendous turnout of 35 people for today’s Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest (SBQ) walk at the Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve. One might think that a group of this size would defeat the purpose at some level, making it prohibitively difficult to see birds or enjoy the setting. But I think that we affirmed the opposite.
It helped quite a lot that I got a lot of help leading the walk from veteran guides Suan Yong, Paul Anderson, Diane Morton, and Ken Kemphues. I don’t know what is the more generous act – anticipating a need and taking it upon oneself to show up and help, or cheerfully allowing oneself to be pressed into duty on the spot. Whichever one it is, or both, I don’t take any of it for granted. Thanks, Suan, Paul, Diane, and Ken – you really made the walk. And really, everyone helped – with good cheer (undampened by light rain from above and shoe-soaking seepage from below), excellent questions, a lot of patience, and the magnified detection power of 70 eyes and 70 ears. In the end, we all found and even saw essentially the same variety of birds that I found last weekend here alone. Highlights include long views of PRAIRIE WARBLER, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLER, male and female INDIGO BUNTING, CEDAR WAXWING, and RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, plus a brief but stirring view of a flock of 15+ WOOD DUCKS streaming by. We heard but did not manage to see a couple of BLUE-WINGED WARBLERS, several BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS, a HOODED WARBLER, several ALDER FLYCATCHERS, and some flyover BOBOLINKS. Twice our big group heard the guttural “kewp” calls of a cuckoo – I believe BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO, as indeed a subset of the group confirmed by sight later. The SBQ is also a per-species fundraiser for the Land Trust, so I felt unusually grateful for encounters with common species that have proven difficult to find on past SBQs – SPOTTED SANDPIPER (far away at Coleman Lake), HOODED MERGANSER (likewise), NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, CHIMNEY SWIFTS (nice learning moments for our novice birders, as these swifts alternated with Tree Swallows in passes through an overhead gap), a HOUSE WREN, and a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. Sodden but still spirited after three hours, about a third of our throng took me up on a bonus run to the beaver pond on the other side of Routes 34 and 96, along Sylvan Drive near the West Danby Fire Station. Here we saw at least eight active GREAT BLUE HERON nests, with parents strikingly standing sentinel over adorable half-pint heron chicks. Here I also had my day’s only sightings of RED-TAILED HAWK and AMERICAN REDSTART (thanks to high-school senior Will for his sharp eyes), plus a molting TURKEY VULTURE, a BROWN THRASHER, and a male CANADA WARBLER after almost everyone else had left. My total count reached 64 species by the time I finally went home at noon. I think that the SBQ head count is a record for a single walk. I might propose further that we consider an integrated statistical quantity. S x B = Q Where S = the number of bird species found on the walk and B = the number of birders on the walk and Q = the integrated quantity, in units of birder-species As you see, Q is a measure of the volume of birding, in terms of both the birds and the people. It’s imprecise, I know, but I think it aptly characterizes the engagement aspect of the event. And even if we take account of lower total tallies for most people, I feel positive that we shot through any previous single-outing ceiling for Q. I’d guess that we reached a minimum of Q = 1500 birder-species, or quite possibly somewhere closer to 2000. That is what you get with a record turnout in a vast, diverse preserve on a long morning in May! Tomorrow I will lead two SBQ walks in Enfield – one at the Bock-Harvey Forest Preserve starting at 8 AM, and one at the Stevenson Forest Preserve starting at 10 AM. I hope to see many of you there. Let’s keep pushing Q as high as we can! Mark Chao PS. The forecast seems OK for tomorrow, but not so great for Monday’s walks at the Goetchius Wetland Preserve and the Roy H. Park Preserve. I will show up to lead the walks no matter what, but may decide to cut things short if conditions warrant. Please be ready for anything if you do come. -- 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/ --
