I went up to Montezuma NWR this morning. I made a stop at the Aurora boathouse to see if the eared grebe is here yet, but did not see it. Saw 6 HORNED GREBES.
>From the observation tower at the Visitor Center, I heard 1 SANDHILL CRANE call once as it flew over the Pool towards Seneca Falls. COOTS are cute when they walk around on the ice foraging. Tschache Lake: from the tower, I watched 4 SANDHILL CRANES flying over toward the east. Potato Bldg: 4 SANDHILL CRANES seen to the south (probably the same ones as above). VanDyne Spoor Rd.: Initially saw 2 SANDHILLS together in the field to the south; scanning further, I found 9 more. The 9 soon took off in a wad and joined the 2. They were followed by an adult BALD EAGLE. The cranes bugled a lot when the eagle soared right over them. Later one of the cranes began chasing another about, finally causing it to fly off by itself and land about 200yds. away. The group of 10 then continued foraging until they slipped into the taller weeds and disappeared from view. N. SHRIKE was seen here. I then hung around waiting for the SHORT-EARED OWL SHOW. The first 2 appeared at the south edge of the field at 1530. I stayed for 45 minutes and with repeated scans confirmed 4, but I think there are more there. On one scan I counted 11 N. HARRIERS (I had a total of 17 for the day). Also for the day were 5 adult BALD EAGLES, 2 immature of same species, and 5 GREAT BLUE HERONS. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/ --
