I paid another visit to Tutelo Park along Bostwick Road in Ithaca on Monday evening. I was mostly preoccupied with watching a ballgame, but I dashed off at one point to look for birds. I found a NORTHERN PARULA, a singing BROWN THRASHER, a pair of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS in a nest box, some VEERIES and WOOD THRUSHES, a ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, and a few other common birds. As the game wound down, I also saw two COMMON NIGHTHAWKS flying southeast, roughly toward the inlet and Buttermilk Falls.
I met Chris Wiley and Alberto Lopez early this morning in hopes of finding Mourning Warbler for the third consecutive May 17 in Sapsucker Woods. We didn't find it. In fact, we found only common summer resident warblers on the Wilson Trail North, plus a BLUE-WINGED WARBLER singing in the power-line cut (maybe a breeder) and continuing NORTHERN WATERTHRUSHES around the pond. One waterthrush is singing a very distinctive song that sounds a bit like that of Tennessee Warbler, opening with three slow, heavily accented trochees. We also saw a SOLITARY SANDPIPER at the edge of the muddy pool by the first footbridge. This bird was rapidly vibrating its feet to stir up prey from the bottom. Speaking of waterthrushes -- probably my most surprising bird of the day was a Northern Waterthrush that I heard singing at dawn in our suburban neighborhood in northeast Ithaca, far from any swampy woods. Finally, I'll note that in his eagerness to share (and embellish) his account of yesterday's Bay-breasted Warbler quest, Chris didn't mention that we first went to Stewart Park, where we saw a pair of adult BALD EAGLES in the snag across from the boathouse, and a HOODED MERGANSER hen with five tiny ducklings in the swan pen pool. Mark Chao -- 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 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
