Here is my report on yesterday's (22 October) Cayuga Bird Club trip to local hot spots.
Bob McGuire "We had a great turnout for today's trip! Eight folks joined me to check a couple of the local hot spots. And the only reason I can think of for that many people is that we did not start until 8 AM. (It was still dark at 7:30!) We first drove to Stewart Park to take advantage of the warmer temperatures down south. Waterfowl had begun to arrive, and we turned up quite a variety: 2 Surf Scoters, 8 Lesser Scaup, a pair of Gadwalls, a female Wigeon, a male Pintail, one black Duck, both Common and Hooded Mergansers, over 20 Ruddy Ducks, and at least that many Pied-billed Grebes. A late Spotted Sandpiper flew by along the shore. And then, perhaps the best sighting of the day, a glistening dark-brown mink ambled up out of the accumulated flotsam along the shore line and slowly devoured a crayfish. Because of all the excitement along the shore, we never got to the Swan Pen. But we did have several Yellow-rumped Warblers pass through the willows. Our next stop was back at Sapsucker Woods where we walked the Wilson Trail. The variety of birds was small, but we did come across two different feeding flocks of some 15 Golden-crowned Kinglets and a couple of Ruby-crowneds. In addition to them, Red-bellied Woodpeckers seemed to be everywhere. Finally, we ran over to the Freese Road garden plots to check on sparrows. Time was short, and we did not put in much time looking for Lincoln's, but we were able to get good looks at Savannah, Field, and White-crowned Sparrows. And, while it wasn't much of a look, we did get a glimpse of a fleeing Vesper Sparrow." -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
