Cayugabirders, At 5:30 pm I was scanning the gulls on the red lighthouse jetty on Cayuga Lake from Stewart Park, Ithaca when a swallow flew through my field of view. Pulling back a bit I was able to see at least 4 pale-rumped, chunky swallows flying with choppy wingbeats high over the jetty. Given the distance and backlighting, I wasn't able to discern any plumage details except for pale rump, dark back and wings, and pale underparts, but they were clearly Petrochelidon swallows; given the time of year and the recent weather (strong S/ SW winds), I think it is very likely these were Cave Swallows. I watched the birds for about 5 minutes before I lost them against or behind the trees at Hog Hole/ Treman Marine State Park - the birds seemed to be heading off the lake and may have gone to roost along Cayuga Inlet. I stuck around until after 6:30 pm and did not see them again; however, among the many Canada Geese that flew in at dusk were 1 Cackling Goose and, even more interestingly, a group of 4 very small Canada Geese. It would be nice to get some photos of these little Canadas at some point; they could possibly represent subspecies parvipes (Lesser Canada Goose), though identification is murky and the status in the East is very unclear. With winds forecast to swing around NW overnight in Ithaca, lakewatching could be increasingly good tomorrow. The previous records of Cave Swallow (all photo documented) that I'm aware of in the Cayuga Lake basin follow: 1 on 24 Nov 2004 - Stewart Park, Ithaca - Roger Sleeper ( http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/cave_swallow.htm) 1 on 6 Nov 2007 - Stewart Park, Ithaca - Chris Wood, Tim Lenz, Mike Harvey, Tom Johnson (http://www.flickr.com/photos/42595...@n00/1894789595/) 3 on 8 Nov 2007 - Sheldrake Point - Gary Kohlenberg (1 bird lingered until 10 Nov and was seen by many)
Good birding, Tom Good birding, Tom -- Thomas Brodie Johnson Ithaca, NY t...@cornell.edu mobile: 717.991.5727 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
