I took my first trip around the lake since my return from the tropics, in the excellent company of Shawn Billerman, Matt Medler, and Tim Lenz. We started at Stewart Park in the morning. The eider was not in evidence, but we looked mostly from the east side. The female LONG-TAILED DUCK was still directly off the ice edge, and a good number of the Readhead flock was also near the east end, along with a few Greater and Lesser scaup and three Ring-necked Ducks. (A scan of the Redhead flock near Hog Hole a few days ago yielded all the usual diving ducks, including Redhead, Canvasback, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, and 5 Ruddy Ducks.)
Myers Point was pretty quiet. A decent Redhead flock was offshore from the marina, and a few Gadwall were hanging out in the marina itself. >From the Aurora Bluffs, we could see a raft of 7 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 4 Horned Grebes, and a large flock of Snow Geese flying south. A YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER was in the junipers and subsequently flew high and out of sight to the northeast. From the boathouse at Wells College we picked out a nice EARED GREBE relatively close and straight out, as well as a few more Horned Grebes to the north. A female NORTHERN SHOVELER was swimming in the Factory Street Pond in Union Springs with the many Gadwall and Redheads. The Eastern Screech-Owl was exuberantly sunning itself in its box. A large flock of swans was on the ice north of the railroad bridge at the north end of the lake, but they were pretty distant. At Mud Lock, a Belted Kingfisher was perched on the far shore, and a GREYLAG GOOSE (a non-domestic looking bird, quite possibly the same that spent many months on the wildlife drive this year) on the ice with the Canadas. As has been pointed out before, this bird can easily be confused with a Greater White-fronted Goose; it has a similar pattern and even some white on the face. However, it shows no black barring on the belly and the white face is much thinner than a white-fronted would show. Also at Mud Lock we had a nice sparrow flock along the road with several Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and at least one Dark-eyed Junco. We scanned the main pool from the main pool tower. The highlight was two MARSH WRENS giving call notes from the cattails close to the tower. Two Rough-legged Hawks and several Bald Eagles were also visible. >From East Road, I picked out a NORTHERN SHRIKE perched very distantly on a cattail. An adult white SNOW GOOSE was feeding with a few Canada Geese. While we were scanning the distance, a flock of 18 Horned Larks with a single LAPLAND LONGSPUR flew in and landed in the field next to us for a few minutes, then moved on towards the Mucklands. At the north end of East Road, we found a large flock of American Robins (at least 60), accompanied by a RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD and 80 House Finches. A scan of the Savannah Mucklands yielded 5 Rough-legged Hawks. At Van Cleef Lake in Seneca Falls, five FISH CROWS fly over while scanning the gulls. Good numbers of swans, ducks, geese, and gulls were congregated at the ice edge as usual, but the edge was difficult to view (south of Cayuga Lake State Park) and we were unable to find anything unusual. From here and subsequently from Sheldrake we observed large numbers of Athya ducks flying both north and south over the lake. Most of the flocks consisted of Redhead, sometimes several hundred, some with Canvasbacks and both scaup mixed in. We never encountered a large congregation on the water, so I'm not sure where they were going to or coming from. Sheldrake was relatively quiet, with only a few Common Loons and no Pacific. At Stewart Park at dusk, the KING EIDER was fairly close off the ice edge near the west end. An adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was with the other gulls on the red lighthouse jetty, and a Peregrine Falcon was perched briefly on the snag by the boathouse. Perri and I stopped at Stewart Park yesterday afternoon around 3:30. The eider was easily visible (with a scope) near the jetty. In the gull flock I was able to pull out an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, and adult ICELAND GULL (with an intermediate amount of dark on the wingtips), and an adult GLAUCOUS GULL. Later that evening a few minutes after 5:00, we observed three SHORT-EARED OWLS flying near the runway at the Ithaca Airport, somewhat distantly visible from halfway down Snyder Road. Finally, Kevin and I did the Summerhill portion of the Cortland Christmas Bird Count on Saturday. The woods were fairly quiet, but we did have a flock of 24 EVENING GROSBEAKS at the Hovel Chalet on Fillmore Lane, and a COMMON REDPOLL with a huge goldfinch flock near the E on Lake Como Road. Good birding, Jay McGowan Dryden, NY -- 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/ --
