As someone always used to say, “bad weather - good birding”. How true! Our group stopped first on Christopher Lane and were greeted by a pair of Merlins, calling and hanging out. Great scope views.
We then drove down Burdick Hill Rd and, after careful searching, located one Eastern Meadowlark on the ground, far out to the southeast. It sang once. We spent almost a hour at Ladoga, looking over the small flocks of ducks (Scaup, Ring-neckeds, Wigeon, Mergansers) and had wonderful looks at several Horned Grebes. One still in winter, one in nearly full breeding, and one in between plumages. Farther out was a single Red-necked Grebe. And the continuing Surf Scoter gave us a fly-by. The town park was almost unbearable in the 20+ mph north wind. But we managed just long enough to pick out an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull across the creek on the spit. At that point we received Dave Nicosia’s RBA on the Tufted Duck and headed straight for Cass Park. The Red-throated Loon was still foraging inside the marina. We walked out along the inlet to find the relatively small flock of Aythya at the ice edge across from the white lighthouse. The Tufted Duck stood out among the Scaup and Ringed-necks, and everyone was able to get solid looks through the scopes. The tuft was clearly visible as it was tasseled (sp?) by the wind. Last but not least we located an adult Glaucous Gull loading out on the ice edge. For the day we saw/heard a total of 47 species, and everyone in the group had at least one life bird - some as many as three. It was a great group - lots of help with IDs and high spirits in spite of the wind, wet, and chill. 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/ --
