(Sorry for the late post)
An eagle was on the nest at Mud Lock, but we saw no other eagles in the area. Just south of the nest in the Lake we saw 31 RUDDY DUCKS. Most appeared to be males, but so many were sleeping it was hard to be sure. At Montezuma's visitor center pool, two male EASTERN BLUEBIRDS did some sit'n'sally insect hunting from the small evergreens close to the entrance, whipping across our field of view. Gorgeous! The COMMON TEAL was present also, as others have noted. As we watched the teal and the many other ducks, our most surprising sighting wasn't a bird, but two RIVER OTTERS! They came over the berm at the back (SW) of the visitor center pond; they were dark, glistenly wet, very active, and seemed huge in comparison to the ducks and even the geese. They galumphed over the top of the berm and slid into the water with the ducks. The ducks seemed only mildly disturbed as the otters started swimming along the edge of the berm, but two of the Canada Geese immediately took off from our side of the pond and flew across, honking furiously. The other geese joined the general honking as the otters retreated back over the berm. We also saw the four DUNLINS at the shorebird area and the SNOW GEESE at East Road, as Jay McGowan did, but we missed the Blue Winged Teal. We did see many pairs of PINTAILS in the muckland area, especially in the flooded field behind the potato barn. As we headed home, an OSPREY landed on the nest by Rt 20, just east of the intersection with Rt 89. Sue and Bud Norvell -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
