Hi all, Ton and I spent today birding up the east side of Cayuga Lake, ending at the Potato Building around 4 pm before heading back toward Ithaca with a brief stop at Rafferty Rd. in search of Short-earred owls (we didn't find any but did see a KESTREL). We started around 11 am at Stewart Park where there were still hundreds of Canada Geese and one handsome blue phase SNOW GOOSE. In addition, there were around 30 REDHEADS, 5 RINGNECKED Ducks, 2 GADWALL, 2 male PINTAILS, ~15 COMMON GOLDENEYE, 2 RUDDY DUCKS, a few BUFFLEHEAD and many Mallards, Black ducks and Coots. There was also one CORMORANT near the red lighthouse and serveral COMMON MERGANSERS. We didn't count gulls but present were Great Black-backed, Herring and Ringbilled. From there we stopped briefly at Lake Shore Park where we found one female HOODED MERGANSER. From Rte 34, we turned onto Drake Rd. where we found one Redtailed Hawk, one TURKEY VULTURE, 2 MOCKINGBIRDS and 2 BLUEBIRDS. Next stop was Ladoga Park near Myers Park, which was empty, then Myers Park which had one HORNED GREBE, one COMMON LOON, many Mallards, a few more COMMON MERGANSERS and another female HOODED MERGANSER, along with lots of the same assortment of gulls found at Stewa.t Park. We checked out the marina in Myers Park where we found one female WOOD DUCK. The SCREECH OWL was peeking out of his box in the Factory Rd. pond in Union Springs. There were lots of REDHEAD DUCKS and GADWALL on the pond norht of the town. Aurora Bay had many Canada Geese and some Black Ducks and Mallards. Continuing north, we found TUNDRA SWANS in the lake just south of Mud Lock (no count). The wildlife drive at Montezuma was not too productive since most of the water is frozen, but at the north end there is some open water which had many TUNDRA SWANS and a few SNOW GEESE, along with many Canada Geese and assorted ducks and one mature BALD EAGLE. Continuing north, we drove East Rd. but found the marsh to be pretty empty. We found 5 TUNDRA SWANS, and only a few SNOW GEESE. More Canada Geese were visible from the Potato Building and one more BALD EAGLE, but not much else. One thing we noticed was that there were LOTS of Canada Geese in the air all day long. Large Vs of them flying inland from the lake. Most of the day was clouded over with snow squalls here and there. When we turned south around 4 pm, it started to clear and by the time we reached Rafferty Rd., the sky was completely cloudless. Was it sunny all day in Ithaca? A nice day out - and a good start to scouting for the Christmas Bird Count. Have a wonderful Holiday Celebration! Laura and Ton
Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu -- 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/ --