[cayugabirds-l] Eurasian Wigeon, Montezuma Audubon Center, 4/1/11
Location: Montezuma Audubon Center (3577C) Observation date: 4/1/11, 1:20-1:35 pm Notes: overcast, 38 F., wind NW 9 mph, 29.48 steady, 90% RH Number of species: 13 Trumpeter Swan 1 south pond (3 visible earlier) Eurasian Wigeon 1 rusty-red head with light crown/forehead stripe, buffy breast fore-flank, gray sides, tail like Am. Wigeon; north pond with the Am. Wigeon American Wigeon 45 north pond, south shore Mallard 4 fly-by Northern Pintail 1 south pond (22 flew by earlier) Green-winged Teal 4 Common Merganser 4 flying Great Blue Heron 2 Ring-billed Gull 4 Downy Woodpecker 1 Black-capped Chickadee 5 Red-winged Blackbird 17 House Sparrow 2 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) seen earlier at the MAC: Canada Geese, Osprey, 2 Red-tailed Hawks (at/around the old owl nest; possibly a nestling), crows, bluebird, grackles, cowbirds, goldfinch (Sorry for the late post; I first sent this yesterday afternoon, but it apparently evaporated into cyberspace) Dave Spier http://montezumabirding.webs.com -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] set digest
set digest -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma etc. 2Apr11
I went up the lake this afternoon with Sarah McLean, Nate Williams, Hope Batcheller, Tim Healy, Gaelyn Ong, and Caleb Arellano. Highlights included the continuing (presumably) COMMON TEAL at the visitor center pond, 4 basic-plumage DUNLIN at the shorebird flats along the wildlife drive and a male EURASIAN WIGEON at the Audubon Center (which subsequently flew off with most of the wigeon.) East Road had a male Blue-winged Teal and 300 Snow Geese, and Ospreys and Tree Swallows were everywhere. Earlier in the day I saw the GREATER SCAUP x RING-NECKED DUCK hybrid offshore at Stewart Park. Good birding. Jay McGowan -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] SFO Group 2, George Rd, Dryden Lake, Schug Trail
This morning I led SFO's Group 2. The theme was wetlands, so our first stop was at the seasonal pond in the field along NYS-38 by George Rd just northwest of the village of Dryden. Among the numerous CANADA GEESE we found multiple GREEN-WINGED TEAL and RING-NECKED DUCKS, pairs of MALLARDS and of AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, and single males of REDHEAD and BUFFLEHEAD. A pair of KILLDEER dropped down from the sky, spent awhile along the icy shore, then flew off. After seeing a couple of EASTERN MEADOWLARKS in flight we started seeing them in the field as well, at least three, and possibly as many as six, all told. One of them sang while facing us, showing his bright yellow breast and belly. When he stopped singing and turned around he became nearly invisile in the dead grass. There were plenty of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS singing, too, but we found no Savannah Sparrows yet. A single probable TREE SWALLOW flew past, but distantly, and too quickly to be seen well, a situation which recurred at Dryden Lake. By the time we left George Rd most of the geese had dispered from the area. Three TURKEY VULTURES flew west fairly low and flapping a lot, probably just leaving a roost, as we saw two more of them very low when we drove south through the Village of Dryden. Dryden Lake had CANADA GEESE lining the east shore, several each of COMMON MERGANSERS and HOODED MERGANSERS, a pair each of MALLARDS and WOOD DUCKS, and single males of RING-NECKED DUCK and BUFFLEHEAD. The middle half of Dryden Lake is still frozen, and the greater variety of birds were in the northern waters. Some of our highlights were along the Jim Schug Trail, the converted railroad grade which runs along the southwest side of Dryden Lake and for miles in either direction. Railroad grades tend to make nice patches of wetland habitat where they interrupt drainage along a valley. We parked at the Chaffee Rd trail crossing near the northwest end of Dryden Lake. Just north of here Virgil Creek goes through some lovely habitat of mixed forest, brush, and a narrow weedy floodplain. I was hoping for more variety of sparrows, and I am confident there will be more in coming weeks, but we did hear several versions of SONG SPARROW songs. In one mixed species foraging flock we encountered a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET among BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES and DOWNY WOODPECKERS. Further south in another flock we all eventually got to see a BROWN CREEPER. Nearby a pair of WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES was checking out a potential nest cavity high up on a tree trunk. One of them clung for a long time to the tree just below an old hole and repeatedly peered inside. Eventually we understood why it didn't enter, when its mate emerged, and they flew off together As we returned to Chaffee Road we all saw and heard an EASTERN PHOEBE which was heard earlier by several people in our group with better hearing than I. In past years Phoebes have frequented the area between the stream and an old barn just north of this trail crossing, but this bird flew southwest to another farmyard along NYS-38 where an open roofed structure doubtless provided good nest sites. Today's sunny calm weather was far more pleasant than either today's forecast or last week's reality, and the addition of such spring birds as Eastern Meadowlark, Eastern Phoebe and fleeting glimpses of Tree Swallows made us feel that Spring is slowly progressing. --Dave Nutter
[cayugabirds-l] Cayuga Lake and Montezuma: COMMON TEAL and EURASIAN WIGEON
Went to Montezuma Wetlands Complex today via the west side of Cayuga Lake. There were quite a few BUFFLEHEAD all the way up the lake visible from Rte. 89. Lower Lake Road continues to have decent numbers of Aythyla species but numbers seems to be down some from a couple weeks ago. Also I saw no CANVASBACKs today here which was unlike a couple weeks ago when this specie was very common. SCAUP (both lesser and greater) and REDHEAD were the most common with decent numbers of RING-NECKED DUCKS. I also picked out one HORNED GREBE and several AMERICAN WIGEON at this stop. I also saw a distant small group of ducks that looked like scoters but it was too far for me to be sure. Next stop was the Montezuma Visitor's Center and the highlight for me was the COMMON (EURASIAN) TEAL of which others have seen recently (see Jay's post below). This is the first time I have ever had this sub-species (or species??) and the bird was distinctively different than the numerous GREEN-WINGED TEALS. It lacked the vertical stripe on the sides and had a thin white horizontal line along its back. It also had a more distinct brown/orange stripe on its face. I got a couple digiscoped images of which you can see here http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/5583621842/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/5583034745/ Also at the visitor's center pond were numerous NORTHERN SHOVELERS, GADWALL, a few NORTHERN PINTAIL, and TRUMPETER SWAN. Along route 20 near the refuge I had 2 OSPREY flying around low above last year's nests. Next stop was East Road. I was there around 1 pm so I believe I preceded Jay's group. It is interesting that I had NO TREE SWALLOWS here which was surprising to me. I did eventually see some but along Route 90 near Aurora. I did have the same SNOW GEESE here, along with RING-NECKED DUCKS, CANVASBACK, REDHEAD, SCAUP sp (male and female) and a small raft of around 10 RUDDY DUCKS including a couple beautiful males. There were also BLACK DUCK, MALLARDS, and 2 DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANTs. I had two flyover HORNED LARKS and one singing one. There was one GREAT BLUE HERON and numerous gull sp. in the distance. Next stop was the MAC and I did find the EURASIAN WIGEON that Jay, Gary and Dave Spier posted on below. This was a very beautiful bird and I was fortunate to get one decent image among the many that I took. See below. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/5583622488/ Dave Nicosia Johnson City, 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Purple Finch
We had a male PURPLE FINCH come to our feeders on March 25. It didn't stick around, and we haven't seen this species since. Thinking that others had already seen them, we didn't bother reporting this sighting. Larry -- W. Larry Hymes 120 Vine Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 (H) 607-277-0759, w...@cornell.edu -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] MAC Eurasian Wigeon
The Eurasian Wigeon is still at the back , north, pond of the MAC complex. Gary -- 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/ --
