On Saturday around noon, I stopped at Stewart Park and saw most of
what Tom reported, minus any swallows. A highlight was an adult
PEREGRINE FALCON perched in the cormorant tree across the inlet.
Interestingly, I also had an encounter with an unidentified passerine
-- in the dense weeds on the lakeshore by the center pavilion (old
swimming beach). I got several very brief glimpses of a small,
darkish looking passerine, noticeably smaller than the Song Sparrows
that were present, staying very hidden in the weeds. Once I saw it
jump up and hover at the top of the weeds, which makes me think it
wasn't a wren or sparrow. It could well have been an (or the)
Orange-crowned Warbler that was present there last weekend, but if so
it was surprisingly secretive despite much pishing and squeaking.
This morning (Sunday), I resisted temptation to stay local in hopes
of a Cave Swallow, and instead headed up to Montezuma. An early
morning stop at Long Point produced only a few COMMON LOONS, a single
HORNED GREBE, and a small flock of DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS heading
down the lake.
At Montezuma NWR, the Visitor Center pool still held a few late
shorebirds - 4 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS and 10 DUNLIN, all of which
took off while I was watching. My only NORTHERN SHOVELER of the day
was a single female swimming among Pintail and Green-winged Teal. A
pair of adult BALD EAGLES were perched above the entrance road
calling frequently (sounded remarkably like the call of Western
Grebe!)
The Main Pool hosted VERY impressive numbers of waterfowl - I
carefully counted roughly 4,000 RING-NECKED DUCKS (with many LESSER
SCAUP mixed in), only to realize that I was seeing only about half
the flock! Also at least 2,000 NORTHERN PINTAIL, mostly among the
flooded vegetation. Surprisingly few MALLARDS or CANVASBACK (only 4)
were present. Among the thousands of CANADA GEESE towards the back of
the pool were 8 TUNDRA SWANS.
At the newly plowed and flooded area at the northeast bend of the
Wildlife Drive, a flock of 12 juvenile SNOW BUNTINGS flew in and
foraged in the mud.
Tschache Pool had only about 100 AMERICAN WIGEON and GADWALL way out,
and I could not find a Eurasion Wigeon among them. Several imm. BALD
EAGLES were sitting on muskrat houses. Mays Point had about 200
GREEN-WINGED TEAL. From East Road, I saw several hundred more AM
WIGEON and GREEN-WINGED TEAL, a single GREATER YELLOWLEGS, and a
flock of 4 calling TRUMPETER SWANS flew over.
Finally, along Rt. 89 in the Savannah Mucklands, there were about
5,000 CANADA GEESE, and 1,000 SNOW GEESE -- on a rather quick scan, I
could not pick out any rarer geese. Also several small groups of
HORNED LARKS.
Other birds included a single PEREGRINE, a few large flocks of COMMON
GRACKLES and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, scattered AM PIPITS, and 3 AM.
TREE SPARROWS.
Back in Ithaca, I checked Stewart Park carefully in the late
afternoon, scanning the lakeshore, inlet, and sky for any sign of
swallows, but no success.
KEN
--
****************************************
Ken Rosenberg
Director, Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
159 Sapsucker Woods Rd,
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 254-2412
[email protected]
****************************************
--
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/
--
