Late this afternoon I took a quick trip up the west side of Cayuga Lake to Montezuma NWR. The biggest highlight was finding a SHORT-EARED OWL on East Road, Tyre. When I arrived it was perched atop a sapling in the weedy field across from the lone house. This was at 5:30pm, well before sunset. After a couple minutes it glided east, then cruised back and forth a bit before disappearing from my sight beyond the crest of the hill. Twenty minutes later I re-found what I assume was the same bird perched atop a Sumac on the edge of Knox-Marsellus marsh. Still later, as I was on my way back from a brief foray to the Potatoes building, I saw a/the owl again cruising back and forth over the lower slope of the hill between East Road and K-M. It dropped to the ground, but I don't know if it caught anything, and then it flew a short distance to rest again on the ground, where it was when I left.
Other items of interest:
An adult BALD EAGLE was apparently incubating in the nest north of the intersection of NYS-31 & NYS-89 west of the Potatoes building
I saw one pair of NORTHERN SHOVELERS in K-M marsh, along with a few NORTHERN PINTAILS and RING-NECKED DUCKS.
There were several large rafts of SNOW GEESE on Cayuga Lake, including 2 between Aurora and approximately Dean's Cove, and 3 off Canoga. There was a substantial movement from these flocks flying west at 4pm as I passed by. I don't know whether they were off to feed or seeking another place to spend the night before remaining in the area, or simply continuing migration.
Among a few small flocks of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and COMMON GRACKLES in Montezuma area I found a couple female Red-winged Blackbirds, 2 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, and one BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD.
--Dave Nutter
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