Hello everyone, I was leading the 7 AM group today (Sunday) on the Spring Field Ornithology trip to the banding station at Braddock Bay. While not strictly speaking an all-birding trip (many uncountable birds in the hand...but really nice looks as a result), it was a very enjoyable time with: cooperative weather (no rain!), chances for people to have wonderfully close looks at a number of species, and migrating raptors in number and diversity to make the Derby Hill trip in mid-April look silly in comparison: BALD EAGLE, MERLIN, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, COOPER'S HAWK, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, and NORTHERN HARRIER.
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEEs and BLUE JAYs were moving eastward along the lake shore in very large numbers (we saw one flock of jays numbering over 50 birds travelling as a cohesive group --- more than I've seen as a flock in Ithaca ever, and I chickadees moving in streams at tree-top level). Judging by numbers of birds banded, two dominant migrant species in the last 24 hours along the south shore of Lake Ontario (and the Cayuga Lake basin?) were the chickadees, and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETs. Wesley Hochachka -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
