Someone expressed surprise to me (I don't think it was outright skepticism) about my report yesterday of an EASTERN MEADOWLARK at the City of Ithaca's Newman Golf Course. I was surprised, too, as this golf course is not what I would consider great habitat for a meadowlark. I suspect it was just pausing on its travels. I would expect to find such a bird in the large field north of Treman Marina, but I have also occasionally seen a migrating Meadowlark fly over Stewart Park. This observation was not simply hearing mimicry by a Starling, it was a visual ID, although the Meadowlark also gave its squeaky rattle call several times. The bird was in the short grass of a fairway close to a shrub and not far from some taller grass and a water hazard. It was in a relatively treeless part of the course, but not really in what I would call a field. When I first saw the bird, it was vigorously spreading its tail, displaying the wide white sides, and flicking it downward. Later it stopped doing this. It was actively and successfully foraging in the lawn for worms and large insect larvae, and it ate at least 5 during the ten minutes I watched it. This was surely one of the best observations I've had of this species as I watched it through my scope. Meadowlarks have huge feet. From time to time it would cock its head sideways, evidently looking at the sky. Perhaps it was just doing this to enjoy watching me scan the sky trying to figure out what it was seeing. I didn't see any raptors or passing meadowlarks, so perhaps it saw things too small and distant for me, or perhaps it was just studying the sky in case something interesting were to pass over. For awhile it crouched down low and still, again making me think there was a predator, but I didn't see any, and I thought I was far enough away and acting harmless enough not to elicit a reaction. Eventually I continued my walk past, looking back every once in awhile, but finally it disappeared when I wasn't looking. I think birds do that quite purposefully, to avoid being followed. By the way, this is not the first Eastern Meadowlark report for the basin for the year. Dave Spier and Frank Morehouse reported one at the Montezuma Audubon Center in Savannah on 9 March.
The reason I was wandering in Newman Golf Course is because I wanted to find more RUSTY BLACKBIRDS like the flock of 34 which I found on Sunday afternoon. I had first seen them from Stewart Park as they fed in or next to a large temporary pool in the golf course, but they were far away and hard to count, so I walked over the bridges to the golf course. During that time they moved to a tree for more convenient scoping. In the next tree for easy comparison was a similar number of COMMON GRACKLES (which I did not actually count because I wanted to watch the Rusty Blackbirds). For good measure there were also 2 EUROPEAN STARLINGS, and on the ground a NORTHERN FLICKER and an AMERICAN ROBIN.
Today (Wednesday 16 March) I did find some RUSTY BLACKBIRDS - a flock of 4 in Myers Point Park foraging in a large puddle under a tree. A male RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD was there as well, but it foraged outside the puddle while the Rusty Blackbirds often waded into the puddle and turned over dead leaves with their bills.
From Myers Point I also saw 2 male and 1 female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER to the north today. A HORNED GREBE in transition plumage, with the head shape and pattern - but not yet color - of a breeding bird, was south of the private marina. There was also a winter plumage HORNED GREBE today near Ithaca's white lighthouse.
--Dave Nutter
