Apologies for the delayed post, as I was distracted by Jay's rare bird alert about the EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL which was still present when I left NYS-38 & Hart Rd at 10:15am.
Anyway, this morning in Fuertes Sanctuary / Renwick Woods a WINTER WREN was singing. It was next to the new trail boardwalk between the green suspension bridges which connect Stewart Park and the end of Pier Rd by the golf course. As it sang it hopped from branch to branch of the Poison Ivy whose vines lined the trunk of a tree close to the railing. I did not see any GREAT HORNED OWL today, because as I said I got distracted and didn't look from all angles, but I did see an adult in the base of the cavity near the entrance on 15 March.
In addition to the RING-NECKED DUCK flock with various mainly Aythya ducks mixed in at Stewart Park, I saw an immature BALD EAGLE fly by. This reminds me that yesterday I saw an adult Bald Eagle eating a very large fish on a snag opposite the boathouse. Again, apologies for not posting, as I got distracted by work.
I pretty well spent today birding. After Stewart Park, Renwick, and George Rd I went to Mount Pleasant from 10:40 till noon, where there were more raptors hanging around locally (5 TURKEY VULTURES, 3 RED-TAILED HAWKS, 2 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS) than migrating (1 COOPER'S HAWK, 1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, 1 unidentified Buteo). There were also ICTERIDS, AMERICAN ROBINS, and EUROPEAN STARLINGS flying various directions, at least 1 KILLDEER flying west, a few smallish flocks of northbound CANADA GEESE, several local and several migrating HORNED LARKS, a local singing EASTERN BLUEBIRD, and a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH.
I also went around the lake, skipping many stops on account of the late start. I did pause in Union Springs at the Factory Street pond where I saw ZERO birds, no Screechie nor waterfowl, and the Mill Pond on NYS-90 where I saw a few REDHEADS and BUFFLEHEADS and a PIED-BILLED GREBE.
The Montezuma NWR Visitor Center pond had 1 immature TUNDRA SWAN, a few CANADA GEESE, and several NORTHERN SHOVELER (21 males, 13 females). There was also an immature BALD EAGLE near NYS-5&20, and 2 very high NORTHERN HARRIERS. The Wildlife Drive was still closed, and I didn't even look from the tower. Bad birder.
All the Osprey nests I saw, including Portland Point, appeared empty.
Tschache Pool was still icy but had lots of mostly HERRING GULLS spread out on it. There were also gull on the frozen part of May's Point Pool but I didn't notice anything else on the unfrozen minority as I drove by on NYS-89. Knox-Marsellus is thawed and has lots of waterfowl, including CANADA GEESE, NORTHERN PINTAIL, AMERICAN WIGEON, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. I didn't take enough time to find the rarities, if any, among them (Blue-winged Teal and Greater White-fronted Goose were reported yesterday).
The mucklands along NYS-31 also had lots of waterfowl, including thousands of white SNOW GEESE at the west end on the south side, hundreds of TUNDRA SWANS scattered about, thousands of ducks concentrated in various areas, including lots of NORTHERN PINTAIL and AMERICAN WIGEON, some MALLARD, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, at least one NORTHERN SHOVELER, and some CANADA GEESE. Again I didn't find any rarities (Eurasian Wigeon was reported recently), but one could have spent an entire day just searching through them. A similar mix was north of the DEC offices at the end of Morgan Rd. From Carncross Rd is saw 2 adult SANDHILL CRANES feeding and preening together on the south side west of the flooded part. The pond by the parking lot at Martens Tract was frozen, but I did see a GREAT BLUE HERON flying by closer to the Seneca River. Muckrace Flats on Savannah-Spring Lake Rd near Morgan Rd had a family of 2 adult and 2 immature TRUMPETER SWANS and a few other waterfowl, but there was also still some ice. The wetlands where Crusoe Creek crosses the road were also frozen.
There was still ice on Cayuga lake south from the dock at Cayuga Lake State Park and south of the Village of Cayuga. I didn't closely examine the many waterfowl by the Village of Cayuga, but there were CANVASBACKS and REDHEADS by the northern part of Lower Lake Rd.
I saw 4 non-breeding plumage COMMON LOONS in the Sheldrake area as well as several HORNED GREBES in various plumages.
--Dave Nutter
