Hi all, Yesterday I hiked Lick Brook Gorge both blue and white trails and did not hear or see a single bird in one and a half hour or so. I thought that was pretty strange, I was hoping for some pine siskins and winter finches in the hemlocks and pines. May be they are all at feeders, i.e. at fast food joint.
After that I went to Cass park, I did find three Brants feeding on the lawn along with ultimate frisbee players. Somehow they preferred to be closer to the players, may be they were safe from dogs as couple of times, I found dog owners being pulled closer to the birds by dogs. While they were feeding one ring-billed gull kept close to them, I think he was waiting for geese to disturb some juicy earthworm or something similar. Once one goose was very angry that gull came too close to him. After eating sometime they took off to lake and drank water a whole lot and then ten minutes later they were back on the lawn to eat more. I also found whenever the ultimate frisbeerers made a goal? (or equivalent to that) would scream in unison and the geese stopped feeding and all looked alert till the roar died. Initially, I was thinking they were not hearing human voices because when a single person screamed, it did not have any effect on them. Curious to know how their hearing senses are. If the volume of the sound is important or the quality of the sound. Later I went across to Cornell Rowing Club and in the bay, I found 39 female/young Common Mergansers. I also saw a young Bald Eagle flyby. Cheers 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/ --
