On the morning of March 18, Josh Snodgrass & Mark Syvertson saw an Osprey by the marina at Allan H Treman State Marine Park at the southwest corner of Cayuga Lake in Ithaca. Mark took a fantastic photo, which you can see using the links below, of the Osprey carrying a large fish. They said an immature Bald Eagle harassed the Osprey but did not mention the outcome. I walked around the park that afternoon, and did not see any Osprey. Maybe it moved on, or maybe it was still somewhere around the south end of the lake out of my view.
On the 22nd I walked around Allan Treman Park and only as I was leaving did I notice an Osprey. It was perched in a favored snag near NYS-89, to the west of the platform in the SW part of the park north of the maintenance building. I took an identifiable but otherwise unremarkable photo, which I added to my eBird report. I didn’t see the Osprey move or associate otherwise with that or any other nest. Yesterday (the 23rd) I walked around Allan Treman Park again, and did not see any Osprey. The nests had snow on them. This morning (the 24th), a few minutes ago, I glanced out the window and saw a familiar large bird with long, narrow, angled, round-tipped wings. Raising binoculars, I saw the chocolate brown top of wings, back and tail, the white head with well-defined dark mask, and the white breast, belly, and wing linings. Aside from its different shape, it was also a far cleaner-colored bird than the unkempt, motley immature Bald Eagles. My first-of-year yard-bird Osprey was flying slowly north against the light wind and looking down, hunting for fish in the Flood Control Channel. I don’t know whether this is a new arrival or if these 3 observations are all of the same bird, but to me this is a more encouraging behavior than the bird I saw merely perching out of the weather within sight of a nest. Maybe I witnessed a homecoming for this bird. Or maybe I just overlooked it hunting for almost a week, and this river/canal is an obvious place to hunt. Regardless, I’m happy, and I’m going out for a walk now to see if there’s an Osprey around, and if so, whether it’s associated with any of the 4 nests I’ll see. - - Dave Nutter Begin forwarded message: > > Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (1) > - Reported Mar 18, 2024 08:31 by Mark Syvertson > - Hog Hole (Allan H. Treman State Marine Park), Tompkins, New York > - Map: > http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=42.4618954,-76.5190244&ll=42.4618954,-76.5190244 > - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165292688 > - Comments: "Foy for me, perched in tree over marina" > > Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) (1) > - Reported Mar 18, 2024 08:31 by Joshua Snodgrass > - Hog Hole (Allan H. Treman State Marine Park), Tompkins, New York > - Map: > http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=42.4618954,-76.5190244&ll=42.4618954,-76.5190244 > - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S165292685 > - Comments: "Foy for me, perched in tree over marina" > -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
