It was a great evening after the rain to see birds on Dryden Lake. Three caspian terns (I think) plus two other terns that novice me cannot identify, an (American) bittern buried in the reeds on the north point (only my third ever), three presumably young wood duck males, three green herons perched in trees, two great blue heron, seven RT hummingbirds battling and diving over the butterfly bushes (the most this summer!), several Baltimore oriole families (I assume families, 11 birds in all, all shades of orange to dull yellow, swarming grape jelly, the hummer feeders, ripping off panicles from the butterfly bushes and seeming to chase the hummers(?); orioles also spent time pecking at the cups in the Silphium perfoliatum.
Four cardinals, four phoebes, 1 kingbird, 1 kingfisher, 2 flickers, 1 downy woodpecker, 9 cedar waxwings, several catbirds stripping elderberries and large numbers of really adorable (sorry but I think they are beautiful and interesting ) immature Eur starlings feeding on the Rhys typhina drupes - so much fun to watch them tumbling about! Goldfinches still flying off with old cotton batting - isn't it late for nesting, even for them? Those were my highlights. So much activity. Lots of youngsters everywhere. Beautiful evening with so much birdsong, hard to come indoors. Nita Irby Dryden -- 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/ --
