I'll stick my neck out and resurect the suggestion that we change our Christmas count date. It would be great to add the many students and holiday travelers to our group of counters. Maybe the second or third Saturday of December.....
Laura Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu<mailto:m...@cornell.edu> On Dec 29, 2013, at 10:52 PM, "Dave Nutter" <nutter.d...@me.com<mailto:nutter.d...@me.com>> wrote: Perhaps the line of fire & proximity of people & buildings was the reason the DEC police called in the gunners who were in the SW corner of the lake tied to a tree along the shore of Treman. I saw in the background 2 adults and a child on the beach of the west shore, associated with the first house, a large new one. I'd like to petition the DEC to have the south end of the lake, say the portion within the City of Ithaca, which does not allow firing guns, off limits to hunting. --Dave Nutter On Dec 29, 2013, at 08:47 PM, Anne Clark <anneb.cl...@gmail.com<mailto:anneb.cl...@gmail.com>> wrote: It sounds as if some of these folks might be illegally close to buildings, although I suppose they argue that their guns are pointing down the lake. On the other hand, in the park area, trails and inlets make a complex problem for claiming that nothing could be in the line of fire when shooting at ducks flying in and over. Do they really stop firing when the ducks swing toward shore? Per the DEC hunting regulations Question: How far from a building do I have to be to discharge my firearm? Answer: You cannot discharge a firearm or bow within 500 feet of any school, playground, occupied factory or church. You cannot discharge a firearm or bow within 500 feet of a dwelling, farm building, or structure unless you own it, lease it, are an immediate member of the family, an employee, or have the owner's consent. This does not apply to the discharge of a shotgun over water when hunting migratory game birds and no dwelling, public structure, livestock, or person is in the line of fire. On Dec 29, 2013, at 5:07 PM, Kenneth V. Rosenberg wrote: I birded at East Shore Park on Saturday mid-day, and at Stewart Park this morning -- I must say that I have never seen so much hunting pressure at the south end of the lake. I want to say clearly that I am not against legal duck hunting in well managed areas (and I buy a Migratory Bird Stamp to support wetland conservation), but what is going on this year does not seem to be sustainable or an appropriate use of such a large public space. Boats with hunters and decoys were anchored right under the trees at the Swan Pen at Stewart Park, at the tip of the red lighthouse jetty, at the wooden buoy marker, on the beach at Hogs Hole, and along East Shore -- yesterday there was an additional boat cruising the center of the lake to chase duck flocks. Needless to say there was not a single spot for ducks to rest safely anywhere in the southern quarter-mile or so of Cayuga Lake (and probably north past Myer's Point as well), and any flock that circled around over the south end of the lake (no matter how high) was shot at. I don't know if DEC would consider that proper management of this important waterfowl wintering area. This seemed pretty different from the past few years when a few hunters kept the duck flocks moving around but there was plenty of place for them to rest -- notably along the Stewart Park shoreline, which was not available today. This activity will undoubtedly affect the numbers of waterfowl on this year's Christmas Bird Count on Wednesday (wasn't much to count today). If this trend continues in future years, I strongly recommend that the Cayuga Bird Club move its count to the days prior to the late hunting season -- this slight straying from "tradition" will probably yield more accurate numbers of local waterfowl populations. In spite of the hunting, I did manage to see a few distant LONG-TAILED DUCKS and a single WHITE-WINGED SCOTER far to the north of East Shore Park, and a flock of 12 RUDDY DUCKS, along with HORNED and PIED-BIILED GREBES, COMMON LOON, and 3 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS -- all decent CBC birds if they can hang in there. There were also TUNDRA SWANS around this morning -- 2 on the ice at Stewart Park east end when I arrived, and a flock of 40-50 in the center of the lake way out. Later in the morning, as I was scouting around the Farmers Market and Community Gardens, several small flocks of swans passed over Ithaca heading south. Yesterday, at Taughannock Falls State Park, there were 2 (MYRTLE) YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS with chickadees at the lakeshore near the south end of the park. 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