[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Pk Winter Wren, Mt Pleasant, Montezuma
Apologies for the delayed post, as I was distracted by Jay's rare bird alert about the EURASIAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL which was still present when I left NYS-38 Hart Rd at 10:15am. Anyway, this morning in Fuertes Sanctuary / Renwick Woods a WINTER WREN was singing. It was next to the new trail boardwalk between the green suspension bridges which connect Stewart Park and the end of Pier Rd by the golf course. As it sang it hopped from branch to branch of the Poison Ivy whose vines lined the trunk of a tree close to the railing. I did not see any GREAT HORNED OWL today, because as I said I got distracted and didn't look from all angles, but I did see an adult in the base of the cavity near the entrance on 15 March. In addition to the RING-NECKED DUCK flock with various mainly Aythya ducks mixed in at Stewart Park, I saw an immature BALD EAGLE fly by. This reminds me that yesterday I saw an adult Bald Eagle eating a very large fish on a snag opposite the boathouse. Again, apologies for not posting, as I got distracted by work. I pretty well spent today birding. After Stewart Park, Renwick, and George Rd I went to Mount Pleasant from 10:40 till noon, where there were more raptors hanging around locally (5 TURKEY VULTURES, 3 RED-TAILED HAWKS, 2 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS) than migrating (1 COOPER'S HAWK, 1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, 1 unidentified Buteo). There were also ICTERIDS, AMERICAN ROBINS, and EUROPEAN STARLINGS flying various directions, at least 1 KILLDEER flying west, a few smallish flocks of northbound CANADA GEESE, several local and several migrating HORNED LARKS, a local singing EASTERN BLUEBIRD, and a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. I also went around the lake, skipping many stops on account of the late start. I did pause in Union Springs at the Factory Street pond where I saw ZERO birds, no Screechie nor waterfowl, and the Mill Pond on NYS-90 where I saw a few REDHEADS and BUFFLEHEADS and a PIED-BILLED GREBE. The Montezuma NWR Visitor Center pond had 1 immature TUNDRA SWAN, a few CANADA GEESE, and several NORTHERN SHOVELER (21 males, 13 females). There was also an immature BALD EAGLE near NYS-520, and 2 very high NORTHERN HARRIERS. The Wildlife Drive was still closed, and I didn't even look from the tower. Bad birder. All the Osprey nests I saw, including Portland Point, appeared empty. Tschache Pool was still icy but had lots of mostly HERRING GULLS spread out on it. There were also gull on the frozen part of May's Point Pool but I didn't notice anything else on the unfrozen minority as I drove by on NYS-89. Knox-Marsellus is thawed and has lots of waterfowl, including CANADA GEESE, NORTHERN PINTAIL, AMERICAN WIGEON, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. I didn't take enough time to find the rarities, if any, among them (Blue-winged Teal and Greater White-fronted Goose were reported yesterday). The mucklands along NYS-31 also had lots of waterfowl, including thousands of white SNOW GEESE at the west end on the south side, hundreds of TUNDRA SWANS scattered about, thousands of ducks concentrated in various areas, including lots of NORTHERN PINTAIL and AMERICAN WIGEON, some MALLARD, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, at least one NORTHERN SHOVELER, and some CANADA GEESE. Again I didn't find any rarities (Eurasian Wigeon was reported recently), but one could have spent an entire day just searching through them. A similar mix was north of the DEC offices at the end of Morgan Rd. From Carncross Rd is saw 2 adult SANDHILL CRANES feeding and preening together on the south side west of the flooded part. The pond by the parking lot at Martens Tract was frozen, but I did see a GREAT BLUE HERON flying by closer to the Seneca River. Muckrace Flats on Savannah-Spring Lake Rd near Morgan Rd had a family of 2 adult and 2 immature TRUMPETER SWANS and a few other waterfowl, but there was also still some ice. The wetlands where Crusoe Creek crosses the road were also frozen. There was still ice on Cayuga lake south from the dock at Cayuga Lake State Park and south of the Village of Cayuga. I didn't closely examine the many waterfowl by the Village of Cayuga, but there were CANVASBACKS and REDHEADS by the northern part of Lower Lake Rd. I saw 4 non-breeding plumage COMMON LOONS in the Sheldrake area as well as several HORNED GREBES in various plumages. --Dave Nutter
[cayugabirds-l] American Woodcocks, Dryden
I just had a quick woodcock blitz in Dryden. Over the course of 45 minutes or so I found 10 AMERICAN WOODCOCKS in the immediate vicinity of downtown Dryden. I started on Ferguson Road, where I had two calling on Scout Lane off Scenic Way (near the west end of Ferguson.) No luck on George Road or around the wetlands there, so I headed to TC3, where I had at least two to the north of the main drive and another two in the fields to the south, behind the athletics field. Then on Livermore Extension (just south of 392) I heard three calling at once. Finally I heard one on Southworth Road just north of Dryden Lake. I think there would have been more there and elsewhere nearby, but the wind was picking up and it got hard to hear. I would be interested to continue this survey another night, as I was impressed by the densities I was finding. Also, the Common Teal was still present at George Road as late as 6:30PM. Jay McGowan Dryden, NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
RE: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma: shrike, yellowlegs
Regarding the fish-eating mammal observations, I asked my friend who studied mink in grad school (now he works for USFWS), and he says it's most likely a mink. He says mink will often start at the tail end. Robyn Bailey Ithaca, NY PS- This is my first post, so Hello! from a new subscriber. From: bounce-9257212-15067...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-9257212-15067...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Susan Fast Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 8:41 PM To: 'Susan Fast'; CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma: shrike, yellowlegs I went to the noted area to maybe observe crane behavior; but no cranes were about. The area north of Carncross Rd., to the dike, is flooded and had a skin of clear ice this morning. There are scattered goldenrod/aster stalks sticking up, but it's pretty desolate-looking. However, from the road, I noticed a N. SHRIKE flying from stalk to stalk. I saw no small birds there, and the water precluded small mammals (I was wrong here, as somewhat later a STAR-NOSED MOLE swam right in front of me, under the ice. It swam well, and disappeared into a hole in the bank). The shrike appeared to be hunting, but what? I was finally able to see that it was after inch long, cream-colored larvae that were on, not in, the stalks. Occasionally the larvae would fall to the ice, where the shrike would land and gobble. I saw it strike only one larva against a stalk, the rest (about 6) where quickly swallowed. It wiped its bill after each successful capture. The guides say that shrikes do eat insects; I haven't been aware of this before as all the shrikes I seen have been in the winter when insects are scarce. Finally, I heard an odd call. It was hard to distinguish at first as BLUEBIRDS and RING-BILLED GULLS were singing and making lots of racket. I located the source-the shrike was near the top of one of the few trees, and singing! Certainly not melodious, but then crows and jays aren't either (my opinion). Another interesting observation involved fish and a mammal. I walked out on one of the dikes at Martens Tract, and in one particular area, maybe 50' long, found dozens of dead fish, either on the bank or at the water's edge. 90% of the fish were bullheads (3 to 10 long), with a few panfish, and maybe a small carp or two. Most interesting to me was a 12 whole BOWFIN. This is only the second of this species I've ever seen in the wild. Anyway, most of the fish had been partially eaten. My experience with mustelids is that they generally start on the head end, but none of the bullhead front parts were eaten, just the tail end and guts. It appears that either an OTTER or MINK spent the winter in a bank hole here. I could find no evidence to indicate which of the two species it was. Any ideas? Steve Fast Brooktondale From: bounce-9256567-9286...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-9256567-9286...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Susan Fast Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 4:32 PM To: 'Cauyga Birds' Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma: shrike, yellowlegs I spent the morning and part of the afternoon at the Carncross/Martens Tract area. NORTHERN SHRIKE at Carncross with interesting feeding behavior which I may post later. Also a GREATER YELLOWLEGS at the Visitor Center. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
Re:[cayugabirds-l] Eurasian Green-winged Teal, George Road
The teal was still there when I left at 9:45. All the ducks took flight shortly after I posted, but luckily almost all of them settled in again after a few minutes. When I left, the best viewing was from Rt. 38 at Hart Road, where you can pull off on the north side or park on Hart Road and scope from there. Most of the birds were along the shore in the open water there, though when I first found it, the majority of the birds were closer to George Road. In the afternoon when the light has shifted, viewing might be better from George Road. As I mentioned before, Common Teal is currently considered a subspecies of Green-winged Teal, but it is still a very rare bird around here and could well be split before long. They are common in the Old World. I have found this form twice before at George Road, first on 5 March 2004, when the birds was present for a few days and then refound (presumably the same bird?) on April 25; then I found one there again on 27 March 2007. Although it might not stand out if you're not looking for it, this subspecies is pretty distinctive. The most obvious character is that instead of having the small white vertical shoulder bar of our American subspecies, it has a long, bold horizontal white bar along the side where the wing folds. American Green-wingeds can show some white in this area too, but it is never as bold as on Eurasian (and Eurasian lacks the vertical shoulder bar.) Other less obvious characters include bolder pale edges on the face (the green mask has bright gold edges) and a white (not buff) wing-stripe (haven't seen today's bird in flight yet.) Here are a few pictures I got this morning. No matter where you look from the ducks are a little distant, so they're not great, but you can get a good sense of it (and even compare with some Americans in some shots.) Scroll on from this photo to see more. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-J_DMNrzf5l0piRft4IwHw?feat=directlink Other new arrivals at George Road were a male Bufflehead and a second female Redhead. I will post updates in the coming days if this bird sticks around. Good luck if you try for it! Jay McGowan Dryden, NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
