It wasn't until early this morning that Ann Mitchell & I checked out Chris Wood's Red-headed Woodpecker spot in Monkey Run South. It was frosty, shady and pretty quiet, but we did find several GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, DARK- EYED JUNCOS and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, and we heard a BROWN CREEPER song among a few other expected birds. I returned this afternoon and took a longer loop walk clockwise upstream along the pink trail (past Chris' original description and eBird map mark where there was indeed a RUFFED GROUSE drumming), cutting across a meander on the red trail, more of the pink trail to near where NYS 13 crosses Fall Creek, and returning on the orange trail. Near where I first got on the red trail I found 3 FOX SPARROWS, and on the far end I found botrh RED-BREASTED and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES. On the return on the orange trail on a straight grassy right-of-way I found a flock of CEDAR WAXWINGS & AMERICAN ROBINS eating fruits near where a stream passed under in a culvert.
In the late morning Ann & I walked in several short grassy or weedy fields in the Varna area and found very few sparrows. I must concur with Bill Evans that we are probably 3 weeks late on such a quest. Next year! We did see a SAVANNAH SPARROW and saw and heard several flying AMERICAN PIPITS near Stevenson Road, and a immature WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW in the Freese Road gardens. There were a couple SONG SPARROWS, DARK-EYED JUNCOS, and AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES as well, but literally only a handful of birds at Freese Rd. Near the entrance to the Cornell compost facility there were many blackbirds feeding in a corn field which has not been harvested. These included hundreds of COMMON GRACKLES and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, over a dozen BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, and at least 5 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS. The EUROPEAN STARLINGS at the Game Farm numbered in the thousands, and were fun to watch as they took flight in lava-lamp-like blobs when an immature COOPER'S HAWK came by and tried to pick one off. The intended victim led it out of our sight toward the woods. There were at least 20 RED-TAILED HAWKS in the area, mainly the Game Farm and a similar number of TURKEY VULTURES, mainly the compost facility and fence posts on the adjacent hill. There were hundreds of HERRING and RING-BILLED GULLS and at least one FISH CROW (heard by Ann) and plenty of AMERICAN CROWS at the compost or commuting. --Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
