Sorry for the late post. Yesterday evening I went to Hog Hole where the Thayer's Gull was resting on the docks in the marina. Other highlights below.
Hog Hole Ithaca, Tompkins, US-NY Dec 17, 2011 4:01 PM - 4:51 PM Protocol: Traveling 0.9 mile(s) Comments: I came here to see if there were any interesting geese or other birds following the AMAZING movement of Canada and Snow Geese elsewhere. There were a fair number of Canadas here, and judging by the presence of a Cackling Goose, I suspect that many of these were different from the ones roosting here each evening. In addition, there were also some Canada that continued flying south even at sunset. The only Snow Goose was a blue morph bird in with the Canadas. The biggest surprise was a juvenile Thayer's Gull -- it appeared identical to and was certainly the same bird I found on 9 December at the compost piles. I don't believe it has been seen since about the 11th. 25 species (+1 other taxa) Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) 1 Blue morph adult with Canadas in marina. Brant (Atlantic) (Branta bernicla hrota) 2 Continuing juveniles. Along with all the geese we saw in flight today on the Cortland CBC, this made by SIXTH goose species for the day -- a new high species count for me in Upstate New York. Cackling Goose (Richardson's) (Branta hutchinsii hutchinsii) 1 One adult in with a flock of Canada that came in and landed in the marina. Excellent views in flight and on the ground. A fairly typical Richardson's with a silvery upperparts, pale breast, no neck ring. Much smaller than CANG with shorter bill. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 1285 Close to an exact count as bird came into roost and others (20% continued moving south). Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 350 Very rough estimate -- most birds were off Stewart Park. Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) 1 Male off of Stewart Park Redhead (Aythya americana) 10 Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) 3 Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) 16 Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 21 Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 7 Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 29 Exact count included birds off of the red jetty and another flock that flew over. Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 42 Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 1 Adult. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 350 Herring Gull (American) (Larus argentatus smithsonianus) 470 * My highest count yet of the fall/winter. Thayer's Gull (Larus thayeri) 1 Juvenile. Almost certainly the same bird that I found on 9 December, though it hadn't been seen in almost a week. There were no differences at all from the bird I found before, including the very limited pale at the base of the bill (not typical, but not rare in juv THGU on this date). Upperwring patterning also identical as was overall coloration. Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) 75 gull sp. (Larinae sp.) 1 A very distant white-winged gull Glaucous / Iceland / Thayer's type bird that was probably a pure Iceland Gull. Either a first or second-winter bird. Pale brown below, not gleaming white. Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) 20 Hairy Woodpecker (Eastern) (Picoides villosus [villosus Group]) 1 Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 1 Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 1 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) (Junco hyemalis hyemalis/carolinensis) 1 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 2 American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 1 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) Chris Wood Ithaca, NY -- 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/ --
