Correction: period five should be: 7:35-7:50: 8 southbound, 3 northbound
Suan On Sun, Nov 10, 2019 at 8:06 PM Suan Hsi Yong <suan.y...@gmail.com> wrote: > For my first Loon Watch at Taughannock this morning, I had no idea what > turnout to expect. 0 seemed an understandable likelihood. Instead, about 20 > people showed up, including some "civilians" who saw this announced in the > Ithaca Times calendar. > > Air temp was around freezing, winds were moderate from the south, > 10-15mph. The good news: the hills shadowed us from the wind, so it was > relatively comfortable. The bad news, this was headwind for the southbound > loons, so the loon count was low. My tally of migrating loons is as follows: > > 6:35-6:50: 1 > 6:50-7:05: 7 > 7:05-7:20: 0 > 7:20-7:35: 1 southbound, 1 northbound > 7:35-7:50: 3 southbound, 3 northbound > 7:50-8:05: 4 southbound, 2 northbound, 1 u-turning back north > 8:05-8:20: 4 southbound > > This count does not include about 5 loons fishing in the nearby waters, > including one working very close giving good naked-eye looks. Almost all > southbound loons flew low, almost skimming the surface of the water, > presumably to minimize headwind, while those flying back north flew higher. > Most flew individually, with a few loose pairs. > > An early highlight was an adult bald eagle that flew in and perched up > close, triggering some nervous quacks from the mallards in the stream. > Later we watched a young herring gull with a fish being chased and > harassed by an adult herring gull, soon joined by a ring-billed, while a > loon on the water seemed to follow along, perhaps hoping to pick up a > dropped quarry. A rattling kingfisher, a flock of cedar waxwings, and a > red-tailed hawk harassed by crow and gull rounded out the morning's > sightings. Here's the e-bird list maintained by Jody: > https://ebird.org/checklist/S61345988 > > Thanks to all who showed up, especially those with scopes willing to share > as mine gets repaired in the shop. > > Suan > > > -- 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/ --
