I just took a nice brisk walk from the Finger Lakes Welcome Center (Geneva) along the bike path (which is well plowed) down to the boundary of boulders between Seneca Lake State Park and Lakefront Park. There were thousands of waterfowl and maybe a few hundred gulls hanging out. The bulk of the birds were close along the retaining wall along the shore, and were definitely more concentrated down around the State Park beach area (to the east). I didn’t have binos with me, and my intention was not birding, but rather to get out with my dog and destress a little! Of course I could not NOT look 😊
Here’s my eBird list if you’re interested: https://ebird.org/checklist/S101160359 There were a few birds of interest to me: a Belted Kingfisher, and 2 grebes (I think). I listed them as Passerine sp. with a note attached. I couldn’t tell exactly what they were, but they looked grebe-y and were popping up and down in the water. My intuition tells me not Pied-billed. I saw that Horned and Red-necked were possibilities and actually all 3 species have been seen on the lakes, but not at the north end of Seneca. Is that because they haven’t been seen? Or because no one has reported them? Not sure, but I didn’t feel comfortable making a hard guess. Also probably close to a dozen Great Black-backed Gulls. At other times of year, I usually see just 1 or 2, although they are seen regularly. I also noticed that the sunset was noticeably later this evening. I’ve been working from home the last week or so, and not commuting during dusk, I guess I haven’t paid attention! Felt great even despite it being 13*F. -- Alyssa Johnson Environmental Educator (m) 315.576.5754 (w) 315.365.3588 Montezuma Audubon Center PO Box 187 2295 State Route 89 Savannah, NY 13146 Montezuma.audubon.org Pronouns: She, Her, Hers -- 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/ --
