Here are some highlights from the past few days.
Goetchius Wetland Preserve (Tuesday) I found one GREATER YELLOWLEGS, an oxymoronic trio of SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, and a pair of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS around the two long flooded areas in the big field. At one point, the male Spotted Sandpiper perched up on a rock before his rapt mate, pushed his chest and shoulders forward, and let out a long, complex song as musical as that of any passerine. Later I saw these two birds flying together in a dramatic sweep across the whole back fence of the preserve. At least three male BOBOLINKS have joined the SAVANNAH SPARROWS and EASTERN MEADOWLARKS. The Bobolinks sang often but seemed not too aggressive toward each other yet. They even spent a couple of minutes all together in a small tree. Christopher Lane, northeast Ithaca (Sunday) At 5:40 PM, I saw the MERLIN pair at the edge of Northeast Elementary School staff parking lot across Christopher Lane from the yard where they have been since early April. The male MERLIN circled overhead with fast shallow wingbeats, calling loudly, then descended to copulate with the female. I wonder to what extent this indicates that their attempts to breed last month have failed. Wesley Hill Nature Preserve (Saturday) Eleven birders joined me for a bird walk at this Finger Lakes Land Trust preserve between Canandaigua and Honeoye Lakes. It was the first of a series of walks that I’ll lead this month for the Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest (SBQ). We found 39 bird species and an orgy of American Toads. For full details and some photos (rated PG for humans, but NC-17 for amphibians), see the SBQ blog at http://www.fllt.org/spring-bird-quest-blog-by-mark-chao/. The next SBQ walks will be at the Bahar Preserve and the High Vista Nature Preserve on Skaneateles Lake on Saturday, May 9. The Bahar Preserve walk will begin at 8 AM at the DEC parking area along Appletree Point Road (not the smaller Land Trust trailhead further down the road). The High Vista walk will begin at 10:30. I hope to see some of you there! Mark Chao -- 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/ --
