Hi Cayugabirders, I know, it is October—that lull between when most migrant warblers have vanished and when the ducks arrive. Many of us like to go out and look for sparrows now, but for others it is a tough time of year to get motivated to go out birding. But what’s not to like? The mornings have the crispness of fall, the foliage is spectacular, and there are still birds moving throughout the landscape.
Many of the good birding areas at this time of year involve either water or weedy edges, the latter especially near agricultural areas. If you’re looking for a little push to get out and go birding, why not visit some places that you’ve never been before, see interesting migrants, contribute to science, and potentially win free Zeiss binoculars. Why not go Avicaching (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/avicaching/)? In case you’re not familiar with Avicaching, I’ll give a quick rundown. There are 50 sites scattered across Tompkins and Cortland Counties, chosen to represent undersampled habitats and regions on the landscape. By having targeted visits to these locations, we’re able to greatly improve models of species distribution in the region—basically creating range maps with your sightings. In addition, when you visit an Avicache, you gain a certain amount of “points”, and each point makes it more likely that you’ll get a free pair of Zeiss binoculars at the end of the year. In addition, some good birds have been found among the 158 species detected at Avicaches this year! This past spring there were multiple Golden Eagles, Cackling Geese, a White-winged Crossbill, and even Iceland and Lesser Black-backed Gulls over farm fields near Cortland. It shows that wherever you go, there is potential to find interesting birds. Over the next few weeks, many of these Avicaches have great habitat for a wide variety of sparrows in addition to species like Orange-crowned Warbler, and perhaps a western vagrant? You won’t know until you look. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing your name on the Avicaching page: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/avicaching/! Best, Ian -- Ian Davies eBird Project Assistant Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://ebird.org/content/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/[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/ --
