Thanks, Chris, I went birding at the Hawthorn Orchard yesterday, mid-afternoon, and it was still very active: https://ebird.org/checklist/S232669946. Thanks for the trail clearing you did last year!
Waterproof boots are a must, and I recommend rain pants. Mine got a lot of mud on them from an hour on the wet trails. Diane On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 6:47 AM Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes < c...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > Conditions are shaping up for this spring to potentially be one of the > better spring migrations at the Hawthorn Orchard in East Ithaca in recent > years. This past Friday morning and Saturday morning may be a tell of great > things to come this week as spring migration advances ahead of schedule. > > A few notes: > > — Tortricid moth larvae are already chowing down on the hawthorn leaves > and rolling themselves up into their namesake leaf-rolled daytime harbors. > Flying insects abound, including already present mosquitoes. These food > resources are why birds descend into this location for the day. > > — The area is lush and wet, making some effort quite muddy and drenching, > so wear appropriate mud boots and even rain pants to avoid any unfortunate > soakings. > > — There are NO deer ticks at this location—one hypothesis being that it’s > too wet for their hosts (white-footed deer mice) or the ticks themselves, > and there are few oaks in the main Hawthorn Orchard. > > — This is the first year in well over a decade that this area has not > experienced a pre-migration hard freeze, and that has afforded the plants > and insects here to flourish this year—and in turn provide great cover and > food for neotropical migrants passing through our area. > > — The Hawthorn Orchard hawthorns are already in near full bloom, and the > recent rains have been hugely beneficial. > > Please submit any sightings to eBird and please share sightings here or, > if you are on Discord, to the Cayuga-Lake-Basin-Chat channel. I will be > unable to make regular visits this week, unfortunately, but look forward to > reading about what people are seeing. > > Here are two checklists to skim, one from Friday morning (5/2) > <https://ebird.org/checklist/S231956365> and from Saturday morning (5/3) > <https://ebird.org/checklist/S232469646>. > > Enjoy and good birding!! > > Sincerely, > Chris T-H > 607-351-5740 > > Sent from my iPhone > > > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME.htm> > Rules and Information > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES.htm> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > ABA <https://www.aba.org/birding-news/> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- > -- (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/ --
