I started out from my house by driving along Lansing Sta. and Bill Geo. Rds. Mostly gulls and Aythas seen on lake. Saw some perky GOLDENEYE males doing courtship displays!
On Sweazey Rd. near the Cornell Small Fruits Orchard building by the road, I found a pair of gorgeous BLUEBIRDS exploring the nest box on the fence nearest the road. They both went in and out of the box. (Sweazey runs between Rt. 34 B and Bill Geo. Rds). Their blue color is brilliant in the sun! At Myers Park area I found most the species that Jay McG. noted earlier in the day! What a treat. But I have yet to see the Scoters or Wood Ducks. Still some dead ducks in the town marina; I met a man there a few days ago who said he collected a lot of the bodies to get the bands on some of them for the Ducks Unlimited/DEC database. He said he also works on the education boat in summer. After enjoying the birds, sunshine and sparkling open water at Myers park, the private marina, and Salt Point, I drove up Lansingville Road off Rt. 34 B towards southern Cayuga County. I found some of the usual feeder birds here and there, and then a few HORNED LARKS in a couple fields. I turned down Atwater Rd. in Town of Genoa (after going thru "Genoa Heights" - a private name for a hill top area, I think; has an amusing sign on the telephone pole). I started seeing small vees of SNOW GEESE every so often, flying towards Cayuga Lake. Their white plumage with black wing tips is stunning against the bright blue sky! I have yet to see any "blue" ones in my spottings of Snow Geese in the last few days. Turned down Mahaney Rd heading east back towards No. Lansing and found lots of EUROPEAN STARLINGS and only a few HORNED LARKS by the big Belltown Dairy Farm. The people were doing a lot of noisy work around the big feed bins and storage bays, so maybe birds were scared away. Found some warbling TREE SPARROWS in a thicket of bush and trees on Davis Rd., as well as more of the usual birds, BLUE JAYS, JUNCOS, CARDINALS, ROBINS along the road. Then while noting some HOUSE SPARROWS in a big tangle of multiflora rose bush and wild grape vine, I heard a pretty, varied song and finally located its singer in the same tangle - a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD quietly singing away in the sunshine! It was a good close look and nice to see its throat moving as it sang. More SNOW GEESE flew over, all in small vees, headed towards the lake. Heading west towards home, I saw lots of A. CROWS on Jerry Smith Road in a field they often inhabit. Then near Rt. 34 B, a lovely A. KESTREL flew off in pursuit of something in the field there. In the back of the large field by Rt. 34B, across from jct. with Jerry Smith Rd. I counted 30 deer feeding and lying down. Two RED TAILED HAWKS flew over Algerine Road, but none of the 118 previously seen Wild Turkeys were by the red-roofed barn west of Ludlow Rd. A soaring TURKEY VULTURE completed my sightings until I got home to see my feeder birds, including a couple male RED WINGED BLACKBIRDS greeting me with "Conk-a-Reeee" call! Donna L. Scott Lansing Station Road Lansing, NY -- 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/ --
