I finally got around to writing up yesterday's trip up the lake. Here it is:
Sunday, January 11th, the holidays are now over and we've settled into the long, cold stretch of Ithaca winter. After a week in which the temperature never even approached freezing, it finally warmed up a bit today on a south breeze. Twelve well-bundled folks joined me for a run up the east side of the lake. From East Shore park we picked out two loafing Tundra Swans and noted the distant flock of mainly Redheads that was beginning to re-congregate after the end of duck season. A check of Drake and Portland Point Road yielded nothing of note. The marina at Myers and then the spit brought the first of several Northern Pintails and Red-breasted and Hooded Mergansers as well as the expected Common Goldeneye and Mallards. We tried for Horned Larks on Center Road but came up empty. The waters off Long Point State Park were equally uninteresting, but we did manage a couple of Eastern Bluebirds on the hillside and a Northern Harrier on the road down to the park. It finally got interesting at the Aurora boathouse, with good looks at at least six Horned Grebes and a great comparison with a lone Eared Grebe. From the boathouse looking south we could make out a pair of Bald Eagles in the vicinity of the nest along the creek. At Factory Street pond we once again (just like last year at this time) got to study the Gadwalls and Mallards, noting the differences between females of those two species. Mill Pond held a good selection of Redheads, American Wigeon, Gadwalls, and Buffleheads - and the first Green-winged Teal I have seen all winter. Finally we reached the Village of Cayuga and were able to scope the finger of open water just north of the railroad bridge. Hundreds of swans were hunkered down on the edge of the ice, some of which could be identified as Tundra. Trumpeter and Mute had been reported there the day before, but we were unable to confirm either of them. We did note, however, three Bald Eagles on or around the old nest atop the metal tower at Mud Lock. >From there we headed home. Even though we kept our eyes peeled, we never found >and pheasants of turkeys, although we did add American Kestrel to the trip >list. Bob McGuire -- 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/ --
