Add a family of VIRGINIA RAILS along the channel on the opposite side of the Wildlife Drive from Larue's Lagoon. I saw at least 2 downy black chicks with 2 adults. I was alerted by persistent 'pip-pip' calls.
The WOOD DUCK family at Larue's had 10 babies on Sunday. On Thursday I counted 14. On Van Dyne Spoor Rd Sunday I saw a family of 2 adult and 6 downy young AMERICAN COOTS. A distant pair of adult TRUMPETER SWANS in the SW part of Van Dyne Spoor Rd marsh may have been at a nest. There was also a pair of adult TRUMPETER SWANS swimming by the Deep Muck platform on Thursday. I saw at least 2 and possibly as many as 6 adult BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS south of Van Dyne Spoor Rd on Sunday morning. They were resting on 1 leg, preening, standing beside water as if hunting, flying from one part of the marsh to another, or seemingly circling randomly over the marsh, but I missed any evidence of pairing or breeding. Of 6 distant GREAT EGRETS south of Van Dyne Spoor Rd, 2 perched close to each other on a small dead tree and had plumes on their backs, but I saw no other evidence of breeding. Other observations of interest (to me at least) included: a WEASEL at Eaton Marsh, seen well for about a second as it scooted across the Wildlife Drive: brown above, white below, black-tipped brown narrow tail about half the body length, very short legs, round head about the same diameter as the narrow body, fast as hell. a MONARCH BUTTERFLY (first of year for me) apparently heading north on the south breeze Thursday and pausing to feed at blooming Milkweed in front of the Deep Muck Platfrom off Savannah-Spring Lake Rd. two RED-TAILED HAWKS on the empty Osprey platform & perch just south of Dean's Cove on NYS-89 as I drove north Sunday but gone when I went south hours later. That pole isn't vertical, and I wonder if the tipped platform makes it less appealing. an AMERICAN BITTERN called many times throughout the morning from the middle of Van Dyne Spoor Rd marsh, but I did not find any Least Bittern. from the platform at Mays Point Pool I finally saw one of those noisy MARSH WRENS that I've heard so many places at Montezuma. PS- Oddly, apparently I did not receive the original CayugaBirds-L message from Mike Tetlow. I wonder what else I've missed. --Dave Nutter On Jun 21, 2015, at 09:30 PM, Meena Madhav Haribal <m...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Nice observations Mike and Joanne! I was thinking of swinging in in the > afternoon on the way back form Sterling Nature Center. > > > Meena Haribal > Ithaca NY 14850 > > 42.429007,-76.47111 > http://www.haribal.org/ > > http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ > > Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts > > Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf > > > > > > > From: bounce-119394628-3493...@list.cornell.edu > <bounce-119394628-3493...@list.cornell.edu> on behalf of Michael Tetlow > <mjtet...@frontiernet.net> > Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2015 9:16 PM > To: CAYUGABIRDS-L > Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma babies or future babies > > > This afternoon a trip through the refuge brought nothing rare but higher > water on the main pool diluted the smell of rotting carp and last week’s > congregation of 20+ eagles had moved on. Here are some family highlights of > the day; > > - The winner of the cutest babies contest was a family of 3 tiny baby > Spotted Sandpipers with parent on the main pool edge opposite Benning Marsh. > They were very difficult to find as their peeping sounded like it was 30 feet > away from where they were. > > - The family of Wood Ducks continues at Larue lagoon and a small family > with only 3 young was at the last pool at the very end of the wildlife drive. > > - 4 teenage Hooded Mergansers were on a log in the same pond. > > - Common Gallinules had 3 brand new babies at the south end of Eaton > Marsh and a dense clump at the north end held a Gallinule on the nest. > > - Pied-billed Grebes had a teenager at Eaton Marsh and one on a nest > near the end of Van Dyne Spoor Road. > > - Trumpeter Swans with young were on Tschasche pool with 1 Common Tern > feeding around them. > > - We had no luck with the Red-headed Woodpeckers at May’s Point and > although, hopefully wrong, Starlings were all around the previously contested > nest hole. > > - Sandhill Cranes with their colt were still reported at Knox-Marcellus > marsh but not seen by us. > > - A Horned Lark took a mouthful of insects into the grass along East > Road and fed a tailless barely feathered fledgling. > > - 2 Black-crowned Night Herons were seen at Van Dyne Spoor Road with one > carrying a long stick out to about the middle of the marsh. > > -Black Terns were represented at every cattail marsh with one carrying > food at both the main pool and Van Dyne Spoor Road. > > Mike and Joann Tetlow > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > > Rules and Information > > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > > Archives: > The Mail Archive > > Surfbirds > > BirdingOnThe.Net > > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > > Rules and Information > > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > > Archives: > The Mail Archive > > Surfbirds > > BirdingOnThe.Net > > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- 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/ --
