From an upstate backyard (on the Hudson River about 125 miles north of NYC):
The year started out in darkness, just after midnight, with a chatting of a bunch of Canada geese complaining about something out on the river. A large ship had gone by about 10 minutes earlier, so the ice floes were probably still shifting around from the wake making life uncomfortable for the roosting geese. It was a soft full moon midnight. I tried whistling up a Screech Owl. It didn't work. I was also hoping to hear a Great-horned Owl out there. That didn't happen either. Before dawn, I picked up the cawing of crows via my outdoor sound monitor. Whoopie! [sarcasm] The first of the daylight birds included an adult Bald Eagle flying by (they do this each morning - searching for any overnight deliveries on the ice), a Pileated Woodpecker off in the woods across the river (picked up on the monitor), Blue Jays, Cardinal, White-breasted Nuthatch, White-throated Sparrows, Carolina Wren, and Black-capped Chickadee at the feeders. Rich Guthrie New Baltimore, The Greene County New York gael...@capital.net http://blog.timesunion.com/birding -- 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/ --
