I was by the swan pond looking for warblers (there were at least 2 PALM WARBLERS - 1 yellow, 1 brown) when I met Sydney who said he'd just seen 3 terns flying east. I tried scoping and found nothing in the limited clear view north to the fog. Then a few minutes later he saw terns again. This time I saw 2, and got them in the scope so we could see the grey mantle contrasting with the white rump and forked tail of COMMON TERNS. One had a fish, and at least one was calling as well. A few other sightings for me from Stewart Park were of more distant northbound single terns, one of which was a Common, another may have been a Caspian. I can't say how many were repeat sightings or what the total number of terns I saw was. Sydney mentioned a larger group (25-30?) of distant tern-like birds over the lake before I got there. I also saw 1 breeding plumage and 1 first year BONAPARTE'S GULL separate from each other. At least 3 distant breeding plumage COMMON LOONS were also visible on the lake, a DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT stood atop the red lighthouse, a BELTED KINGFISHER flew in and perched near the swan pond, and an adult BALD EAGLE perched in a snag opposite the boathouse.
I next went to Myers Point, where shortly before 10am I saw 7 breeding plumage BONAPARTE'S GULLS and 2 breeding plumage COMMON TERNS fly by in a group fairly close going north. I also saw an interesting trio of ducks with white speculums fly north and alight on the water together far out from the lighthouse: 2 male WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and 1 female GADWALL. --Dave Nutter On Monday, April 26, 2010, at 11:14AM, "Sydney F Penner" <sf...@cornell.edu> wrote: >Today is a marvellous day for swallow watching. I saw lots of swallows >everywhere I went and all of them were flying low and slow in a most >cooperative fashion. This morning (7:30-9:15) at Stewart Park I saw (in >order of frequency) TREE, BARN, BANK, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, and PURPLE >MARTINS. > >Early in the afternoon (12:40-1:15) I went to Myers Point and saw all of >the above except Purple Martins and added CLIFF SWALLOWS for a sweep. > >Question about behaviour: at Myers Point I started wondering if swallow >species differed in how close to the shore they prefer to remain---is >there such a difference? It looked to me like the Barn and Northern >Rough-winged Swallows tended to stay close to the shore with the Tree >Swallows a bit farther out on the water and the Cliff Swallows even >farther out. The Bank Swallows seemed to roam all over the place. Was >this just a fluke or do the species in fact differ in where they prefer >to hunt for insects? > >Stewart Park had quite a few other birds in addition to swallows; of >particular interest were the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER flying north and >several COMMON TERNS. The terns flew in and out of the fog bank over the >water so it was hard to tell exactly how many there were. But there were >at least three terns and at least two of them were Common Terns. I >believe Dave Nutter suspected that one of them might be a Caspian, but >didn't get a good enough look to confirm his suspicion. > >Sydney Penner > >43 N. Landon Rd. >Ithaca, NY 14850 > > > >-- > >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 >3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > >Please submit your observations to eBird: >http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > >-- > > -- 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 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
