Hi all, Though it was pouring in Ithaca, I drove to MNWR as the weather map showed clear skies after 3.00 PM in MNWR region, till almost Canoga Village on it rained, but sky did clear after 3.30 pm! I drove via Seybolt bait ponds. Nothing of particular interest was seen here except for a MOCKING BIRD and molting or at least disheveled EASTERN BLUEBIRD. Many BARN SWALLOWS were feeding over the fields and some sitting on the wires, where fledglings were begging for food from parents or anyone willing to give them some food.
I stopped for sometime at North Spring Pool viewing area. There were hundreds of swallows on the dead trees and many more skimming over the water. When I arrived at East Road, there were very few shore birds in sight. Several SEMI PALMATED PLOVERS and a few LESSER and GREATER YELLOWLEGS were feeding along with numerous GREAT BLUE HERONS. An OSPREY with fish was harassed by three young BALD EAGLES and the Osprey was screaming. I felt sorry for the Osprey that this must be every fish scene for him. In the marsh, there were at least four more young BALD EAGLES. Two SANDHILL CRANES called several times but did not see them and RED-TAILED HAWK circled the sky. From here it looked like all the shore birds were towards Towpath road. So I headed there though a little bit apprehensive as to how muddy would be the road. When I arrived there, there were two other bird watchers scoping the marsh. I started scanning, unfortunately again I forgot to take my better tripod, so it was little shaky watching the birds in the lovely breeze. There were hundreds of shorebirds and viewing was better than East Road still way too far. Often the Bald Eagles made shorebirds and green-winged teals take off. So that was good for me as I found that when the birds took off all the birds rose from the marsh, but they divided into groups of almost pure species, all SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS flew in one direction, while the PECTORALS in another and the BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS in the third and finally regrouped on the same spot in the mars like grouping and ungrouping on power point slide. So I was able to pick up at least 30-40 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS (or otherwise impossible to see unless they moved), 10+ BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, 3 GOLDEN-PLOVER (one still with some black belly), numerous PECTORAL, SEMI-PALMATED and LEAST SANDPIPERS. There were also about 12+ DOWITCHERS, but a little further away for my scope to pick up details but based on the GISS , I think they were SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. There were four STILT SANDPIPERS nearby them and large number of GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS. I Scanned many Lesser Yellowlegs to see if I could convert them to a phalarope, but everyone turned out to be yellowlegs:( There were hundreds of tree Swallows, perched on the cattails and that flitted around so much that it was difficult to concentrate on shorebirds! There is a family of TRUMPETER SWANS, where papa keeps an eye on intruders and mummy teaches her young to feed. The grey plumaged young with beautiful pink beak looked very cute. I wish there is a way to be little closer than we are to watch the birds from here. A few locations could be maintained to watch from road by clearing some of the over grown bushes and also a blind could be built on the dyke for observations. I think next MUCKRACE or otherwise should have this goal in mind when raising money or we birdwatchers like duck hunters can raise money to get these facilities. I headed to May's Point Pool. At this time of the year it is always very enjoyable at May's. Wonderful breeze, lovely evening light and cute Pied-billed grebe babies continuously begging for food from their parent made the place heavenly. I was watched a young Common Moorhen baby pick something from the vegetation, after gulping it, he satisfactorily bobbed his black and white stunt tail. As I was enjoying the view through the scope something moved in the cattail. So I quickly scanned, it turned out to be a MARSH WREN on mission. He quickly hoped from one cattail to other and finally caught something green and headed back the way he came and got lost in the cattail. I was still looking around when the adult COMMON MOORHEN came out of the cattail, he looked gorgeous with fresh red comb with yellow tip. He darted around a bit with the young and then disappeared. As the sun started going lower and lower, hundreds of blackbirds, mostly RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS were coming into cattail. Slowly one by one GREAT EGRETS started heading towards Tschache. Many Ospreys were successfully catching fish and flying often over our heads from both directions. There were two other birders on the platform and we often pointed out to each other saying there goes an Osprey with a fish. One Osprey from Tschache often came with piece of vegetation hanging with the fish. So we thought maybe he was being very conscious about his babies' diet, he was giving salad along with the fish. As one of blackbird flock was heading towards the marsh, suddenly they all stooped down and landed on the poplar. When we looked up a PEREGINE FALCON was giving them a chase. He often swooped around, once almost got a Starling, but missed. As he missed and moved away a tiny little brave TREE SWALLOW chased behind him! While doing some of the chases his path crossed with an Osprey with a fish in its talon, there was a short chase by falcon, but soon decided that he may not be able to handle an osprey. As it was getting to dusk, an Osprey parent decided it was time for its dinner, so it came with a fish and landed right in the poplar above us and ate his dinner in relaxed manner taking its own time. Blackbird were getting restless in the cattail often the whole flock , maybe 3 or 4 thousand birds will take off in the air and do aerial maneuvers, when the sound of their wings and their calls drowned the highway traffic noise! I waited until it was almost dark hoping for a nighthawk or a night heron, but none came to the marsh. It was a beautiful evening! I had a total of 66 species! Cheers Meena Meena Haribal Ithaca NY http://haribal.org/ http://picasaweb.google.com/ithmoths http://picasaweb.google.com/mharibal http://www.flickr.com/photos/91426...@n00/ -- 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/ --
