Hi all,
I spent Sunday morning birding again around Myer's Point (Salt Point
to Portland Point), and again the highlight was the very large flight
of BLUE JAYS that kept pouring over all morning. In about 2 hours of
birding, I counted 1,760 Blue Jays, sometimes in streams of several
hundred birds that were moving at all heights - some were almost
specks in the sky, as they headed out over Cayuga Lake toward the
southwest. Interesting that on both mornings that I watched this
migration (last Sunday and yesterday), all of the birds seemed to
follow a path that took them down the lakeshore north of Myer's, over
the center of Salt Point, across Myer's Park and marina, and then out
over the lake towards the southwest, rather than continuing down the
east side of the lake. From Portland Point, I could see the large
flocks gaining height and heading out over the lake, while very few
birds passed overhead. I've assumed that this migration of Blue Jays
occurs in a relatively broad front, but now I wonder whether the
specific path down Cayuga Lake is a concentrated pathway, as with
Common Loons and other species?
It was quite birdy at Salt and Portland Points, and at Bomax Drive in
Lansing, mostly with typical early October migrants such as ROBINS,
GOLDFINCHES, BLUEBIRDS, CHIPPING SPARROWS, and YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLERS. Highlights included several GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and
PURPLE FINCHES at several locations, 1 PALM WARBLER at Salt Point, 2
BLUE-HEADED VIREOS and a SWAINSON'S THRUSH at Bomax, and continuing
BUFFLEHEAD male and GREEN-WINGED TEAL at Stewart Park.
KEN
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Ken Rosenberg
Director, Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Rd,
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 254-2412
[email protected]
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