I took a few minutes this afternoon to check some of the local wetlands in the Dryden area. Although a lot is still frozen, the flooding has created some interesting waterfowl/shorebird habitat. If any of it lingers a week or two we could get some good concentrations. As of now, the birds were fairly sparse.
Dryden Lake is still almost completely frozen (and replete with ice-fisherman getting in a few last hours of sitting around on the ice), but the north bay is open as usual (without birds, though I was told a Tundra Swan stopped there earlier today), as is a strip on the south end, where a few Common Mergansers and Canada Geese were swimming. The George Road pond has only a small shoreline thawed, but it should open up significantly this week, and some of the surrounding wet areas had a bit of water, but I saw nothing but Canada Geese and Mallards. The low field at George Junior (on the same side of 38 as George Road pond but farther towards Freeville) had a lot more geese and Mallards as well as two American Black Ducks and a big white domestic goose. The water level at the wet areas on Herman Road (straight at the sharp left turn on Rt. 38 just outside Freeville) is quite impressive, and what is usually a creek with some damp fields is currently a huge, shallow, rectangular lake, on both sides of the road. The water is only a foot or two from the road, so any more rain could see that road flooded. The bird numbers weren't spectacular here, but that could change quickly. I did find a pair of Richardson's CACKLING GEESE in with the several hundred Canada Geese. Mallards and American Black Ducks were the only ducks, and a few dozen Ring-billed Gulls were also present. Several hundred Ring-billed Gulls and a handful of Herring were loafing in the field across the road, and more were up Ed Hill Road in another field. The best waterfowl I found were in the flooded area along Fall Creek west of Herman/Ed Hill Road and just east of Freeville. Besides Canada Geese, Mallards, and American Black Duck there were 4 NORTHERN PINTAIL, 2 AMERICAN WIGEON, and 2 RING-NECKED DUCKS. 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/ --
