I spent about an hour and a half at the southwest corner of Cayuga Lake this morning. The west side is sheltered, and now that the temperature has dropped again, and the wind is not from the land to the south, there was almost no heat distortion over the water. There were waves in the middle and east sides of the lake, and much of the south end is muddy from the rains and wind, but I think I did a pretty good job seeing what was out there (Then again, I thought the same when I left on Tuesday minutes before the alert about the Tufted Duck.). There were plenty of waterfowl, but perhaps not as many as the past couple days. One individual in particular, the obscure little Tufted Duck, seemed to be missing. Birds of note:
Canada X domestic Greylag Goose hybrid - 1 with broad white band on sides (this is feathered, I was in error previously)
Northern Pintail - 1 male
Redhead - 92 in a tight flock close by when I arrived. They left after awhile, and I saw smaller groups later (same? additional?)
Canvasback 20 males in flight, not seen on the water
Ring-necked Duck - a pair in the corner of the lake, a male near the mouth of the inlet
Lesser Scaup - 18 maximum count in a single sweep
Bufflehead - 1 female seen 3 different places
Common Goldeneye - plenty
Hooded Merganser - still large numbers far to north, some under docks and hard to count
Common Merganser - still large numbers
Red-breasted Merganser - group of 3 females continues to the north in the middle
Ruddy Ducks - flock of 30+ continues
EARED GREBE - 1 far to north, not far from shore
Double-crested Cormorant - 1
Turkey Vulture - 1 over Cayuga Heights
Bald Eagle - 1 adult circling high over southeast part of lake
Red-tailed Hawk - over Cayuga Heights
--Dave Nutter
--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
Archives:
Please submit your observations to eBird!
--
