In the afternoon, I did a walk on Cayuga Trail from Freese road gardens to equestrian fields and back. I did have some nice birds. In the garden plots, gardeners were busy removing their sticks, nettings etc. so all the sparrows and birds were at the Fall Creek edge.
Right at the entrance of Cayuga Trail along the creek, I came across a flock of birds which had lots of Juncos (15+) and a beautiful WINTER WREN. This is the first time ever, I have seen it so close and so looong. He was so close that I had to move away to see him through binoculars. He sat watching me for more than 30 seconds I would say. Then he foraged right in front of me next minute or so. He was so beautiful, a tiny little brown blob. Further up there were 15 to 20 Song Sparrows and among them was a beautiful LINCOLN SPARROW who popped up from rose bushes and sat long enough to for me admire him. Then there were a few YELLOW-ERUMPED WARBLERS in the goldenrod. I watched a BLUE JAY take sunflower seeds in GOLDFINCH like manner, i.e. sitting on a sunflower and eating seeds. Across the road around the Liddell lab, there were many WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, many singing partial song' They would sing "pure sweet" or "Hey see pure sweet" and then stop. Either they did not want to say "Canada Canada" in US or they had not yet learnt, or in this season they just sing the first part. Among the White-throateds there was a beautiful pink lipsticked FIELD SPARROW and a male RED-WINGED BLACK BIRD. Further down walk along the edge of the field produced several more WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, I watched one eating multiflora rose seeds. On the whole I must have seen 50+ WTSP. Then I came across another mixed flock that consisted of one BLACKPOLL WARBLER eating wild grapes (so this is later than Tim Lenz's late Blackpoll), one MAGNOLIA WARBLER and many RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS. It was a pleasant walk! Meena Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 http://haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ -- 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/ --
