With the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) only a week away I spent some time doing a little scouting this morning in the Captree CBC count circle. At Belmont Lake State Park a single Cackling Goose was observed among approximately a thousand Canada Geese. The CG was towards the small end of the size variation that I have observed in the species, with a small bill, squarish head, and white neck collar. The geese use Belmont Lake for roosting purposes, flying out of the pond within an hour or two of first light to feed on neighboring school athletic fields and golf courses. Also present on the Lake were three Wood Ducks. At Southard's Pond (south of Belmont Lake) I observed my FOS Common Merganser in addition to two Wood Ducks. At Lake Capri on Montauk Highway in West Islip there were twelve Redhead and fifteen Green-winged Teal. No Canvasback were noted on any of the ponds - this might be a hard to find species on some CBC's.
Ken Feustel -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
