This morning I watched for migrating Common Loons. I was more timely and successful than the day I started significantly later than Jared & Scott who watched from Taughannock Falls SP, and it was certainly better than the day Jay reported multiple flocks of 50 over Danby but I neglected to watch at all.
Today I spent from 6:53 until 8:10 at the north end of the NYS-89 bridge over the Flood Control Channel in Ithaca. Wind was from the NW according to the flag atop Barton Hall. The temperature started in the mid-30sF according to the outdoor thermometer at my house nearby. The sky was partly cloudy with no precipitation. Local apparent sunrise was at 7:16. The flight may have already been underway when I arrived and started looking, and I saw a near-constant passage of groups of loons until 7:18, but mostly singles and some significant gaps thereafter. Discounting the 3 northbound loons who may have been counted in some previous southbound group, and assuming they did not change their minds again and join some later southbound group, I think my total was 219 Common Loons. As is typical, many loons were high and distant. I found and counted them by scanning with binoculars. A few particularly distant birds I double-checked the ID with my scope, but this was cumbersome, and I feared missing birds if I spent too much time scoping. Most loons passed considerably east of me, particularly in the early part of my count. Later, an increasing portion traveled over downtown or even almost overhead, but I did not see any passing to my west today. My notes are below: 7 S 655. 7 S 656. 7 S, 2 SW, & 1 N 657. 15 S 659. 20 S 701. 24 S 702. 30 S 704. 7 S, 1 SW, & 2 N 705. 4 S 706. 20 S 709. 17 S 711. 7 S 712. 22 S 714. 5 S 716. 12 S 718. 1 S 719. 3 S 721. 1 S 725. 1 S 727. 1 S 735. 1 S 757. 1 S 759. 1 S 800. 2 S 804. - - Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
