Sorry for this very late post, but on Wednesday (26th) the lake was like glass and I did a thorough scan from East Shore Park in the afternoon. A pair of LONG-TAILED DUCKS (one stunning adult male) and 6 HORNED GREBES were far out but clearly visible in the middle of the lake to the north. Two loons were across the lake on the west shore -- one was an obvious COMMON, but the other looked smaller, slimmer, with a more clearly defined and narrow dark back and hind-neck, I believe indicative of the RED-THROATED LOON. I also counted 110 COMMON MERGANSERS and 200 COMMON GOLDENEYES scattered across the south end of the lake.
I could see the large raft of ducks that Elaina has been reporting on -- with the very different angle looking from the Northeast, and the complete lack of any heat shimmer, I got remarkably good looks from this great distance and could probably see parts of the flock not visible from the west shore. I counted roughly 100 RING-NECKED DUCKS along the edge of the flock, and several hundred SCAUP made up one end of the flock. My estimates were 4,000 REDHEAD and 500 CANVASBACK in total. KEN Ken Rosenberg Director of Conservation Science Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu> On Jan 29, 2011, at 11:46 AM, Elaina McCartney wrote: There are spread-out rafts of waterfowl (the usual Redheads, Canvasbacks, Canadas, some gulls), but close in are small active groups of Ruddy Ducks (9), Common Goldeneye (6) and Bufflehead (6), Ring-necked Ducks (3). Nice viewing for size comparisons. Elaina -- 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/ --
