Jay, Judy, and Klaus joined me today for an awesome day of birding. The weather was in the high 30's. It was a cloudy day with very little wind. The lake was very calm for most of the day affording excellent viewing. Everyone jumped in my car and we started our adventure. The stops and highlights are as follows:
East Shore Marina - 2 Long-tailed Ducks. One was particularly beautiful. Ladoga and the Lighthouse at Myers - 11 Wood Ducks, mostly male. unprecedented this early in the season, 2 Horned Grebes, 4 White-winged Scoters, American Wigeon, 1 Double-crested Cormorant, 1 Belted Kingfisher. While at Ladoga we heard 1 or 2 Pine Siskins making their zreeeeeet calls. Just south of Miliken Station, a dark-phase Rough-legged Hawk flew in front of the car, briefly landing in a ditch, then flying to a nearby tree to feast on a newly caught rodent. We watched it for awhile. Long Point State Park - 4 Common Loons and 7 White-winged Scoters. There were close to 100 Red-breasted Mergansers. Aurora Boat House - We were treated to super looks at an Eared Grebe. It was mixed in with 10 Horned Grebes. It was transitioning into breeding plumage and we could see a hint of the yellow wisps by it's eyes. We did stop at Cayuga to view the many swans before stopping for lunch and, then continuing around the lake. The ice edge was quite south of Cayuga State Park. We noticed huge rafts of Snow Geese in the middle of the lake. One raft was so long we could hardly see the end of it. The last stop of note was Dean's Cove where we saw the continuing Lesser Black-backed Gull. Most of the trip was lake oriented, but we did make a side trip here and there. One trip was to Van Dyne Spoor Road in Savannah and saw lots of Robins, Cedar Waxwings, 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, a Red-bellied, Downy and Hairy Woodpecker and a Northern Flicker. All in all, it was a great day. Thanks to everyone who came! Ann -- 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/ --
