Hi all, My two sons (ages 8 and 11) and I went around Cayuga Lake Saturday, starting after a mid morning music lesson.
Highlights were: Excellent scope views of the Great Horned owls in Renwick Woods (Stewart Park, Ithaca), a domestic-Canada goose hybrid and a domestic?-mallard mixed female (the really light brown one reported from Stewart previously). A Merlin flying and perching in the top of a spruce tree just north of Myers Point. "Screechie" at the Factory St. pond in Union Springs. Snow geese as reported by others in the north parts of the Montezuma complex. Throughout the day, my kids were trying to estimate and keep track of the number of birds seen by species. With respect to the Snow Geese, my 8 year-old said, "I don't know how many birds there were. My eyes know, but they can't talk so I can't ask them." On Center Rd. Ovid, among the hundreds of Canada Geese in a field right next to the road was one of the coolest birds I have ever seen. It clearly was a Canada-Snow goose hybrid. Seen from 20 yards with binoculars. Slightly smaller than surrounding Canadas. Base plumage similar to Canada (i.e., black head and neck with white chin strap, body more or less brownish gray [sort of]). Bill shaped like a Snow Goose, complete with a grinning patch. I have never seen one of those on a Canada before. Black of head and neck was flaked with white feathers making it really stand out from the crowd. Body had substantial number of white feathers mixed in with the typical brownish-gray Canada-type feathers. When it flew a short distance with the rest of the flock (they all picked up, flew in a really tight circle and landed back in the same spot next to the road), its flight feathers looked like a typical Canada Goose. All gray-brown. No noticeable white feathers or black ends to primaries. Some day I'll actually buy a camera. I could have gotten a decent picture with a cell phone. But I don't have one of those either. Did I mention that we drive a horse and buggy (just kidding on that one). Last highlight was that my 8 year-old really wanted to see a Loon as he had never knowingly seen one. We got a decent scope view of one just north of Sheldrake Point. Another cool bird in transitional plumage. Pretty far out, but easily seen in the scope. At that distance, and with the transitional plumage, the best thing I had to go on was bill structure to call it a Common Loon (I have personally never seen the Pacific Loon in that area -- too difficult to get up there often by horse and buggy :)) At the end of the day, both kids said that the day was even more fun than they thought it would be. Not a bad way to spend my birthday. Jody Enck -- 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/ --
