[cayugabirds-l] post front arrivals
I visited the white lighthouse jetty from 7:30-7:45AM this morning. No active migration of waterbirds was noted but I did find a RUDDY TURNSTONE and SOLITARY SANDPIPER near the beginning of the jetty on the east side. I note also that the city golf course has areas of standing water hosting many grazing waterfowl (including 15 Blue-winged Teal). Conditions look good for grounding interesting waterbirds on the lake vicinity this next day or so. Bill E -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Sapsucker Woods 6Sep2011
The Wilson Trail at Sapsucker Woods was very active this morning and just now at lunch. Several large warbler flocks were working their way through the woods, some near the Lab building and others closer to the Sherwood Platform. Species included BAY-BREASTED, BLACKPOLL, CAPE MAY, HOODED, WILSON'S, Blackburnian, Pine, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Yellow, Black-and-white, American Redstart, and Common Yellowthroat, as well as lots of Red-eyed Vireos, several Warbling vireos, and several Eastern Wood-Pewees. -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Myers this afternoon
I was at Myers from 3:00 to 4:00 this afternoon. I haven't entered my list into eBird yet, but here are the highlights: Bonaparte's Gull Caspian Terns (2) Shoveler Sanderling White-rumped Sandpiper Semi-palmated Sandpipers (2) Least Sandpiper The Sanderling worked its way all the way around the point and was heading up the creek when I left. Was two feet in front of me at one point! The other peeps were on the sandbar in the creek. Anne Marie Johnson -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[cayugabirds-l] CayugaRBA FRANKLIN'S GULL, (not Little,
CayugaRBA FRANKLIN'S GULL, (not Little, sorry) Red lighthouse jetty --Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Franklin's Gull, Stewart Park
Adult FRANKLINS GULL still on red lighthouse jetty from Stewart Park. Jay -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Least Bittern -- Hog Hole
Jessie and I went Hog Hole this evening, not knowing of all the fun at Stewart Park. In addition to excellent views of the adult Franklin's Gull, we had what was in many ways almost a bigger surprise -- an adult male Least Bittern that we saw in flight! I considered this to be one of my more overdue Tompkins county birds, which I knew I would eventually hear flying over some evening (having heard recordings of several that Steve Kelling has had over his house). But to see it while in flight while it was still light enough to see very well, was certainly a big surprise. From my eBird notes: Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) 1 ***Presumably a rare but regular migrant in the county, but infrequently detected away when not heard as a nocturnal migrant. County bird for both CLW and JHB. Found at 7:44pm when it came flying out from the behind the trees on the NW side of Hog Hole, where it was almost certainly roosting in the cattail marsh for the day. Very good views in flight. First noticed floppy quick wingbeats, very different from Green Heron, with wingbeats much deeper and quicker. Legs appeared to be somewhat longer. Adult male with black crown and upperparts. Wings showed bold and extensive buff contrasting boldly with rest of upperwing (unlike uniformly, or nearly uniformly dark upperwing of Green Heron). Not too often that we get two county birds in one day! Cheers, Chris Wood eBird Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] CayugaRBA FRANKLIN'S GULL, (not Little,
Clearly it is not sufficient merely to memorize the expected birds. One should carry a field guide or memorize the whole thing, and I did not today. I was biking east in Stewart Park on the path near the lakeshore this afternoon when I saw an adult gull (white tail, belly, breast, neck; generally plain under the wings) overhead flying toward me above treetop level. It was small compared to the Ring-billed Gulls, with wings more extended straight, and had shallow but not rapid wingbeats. But what really caught my eye was it had a mostly black head. Fortunately it circled around the area of the ball field, tennis courts and pavilions 3 times, and I was able to get binoculars on it several times when it showed between trees before I lost it somewhere near the swan pond. I saw tiny black wingtips, each with a white "mirror" spot, set off from the rest of the wing by a band of white (i.e. classic FRANKLIN'S GULL, and, had I only remembered, wrong for Little Gull). The tops of the wings and back were a uniform gray which I thought initially was too pale for Franklin's, but the undersides of the wings were not dark like Little should be. Knowing I wasn't sure of the species yet, but that it wasn't a Bonaparte's or even a Laughing Gull, but something really unusual, I tried to get the word out. I gave the wrong species, but at least I qualified it as a "possible Little Gull". When Paul Anderson arrived with the Sibley Guide installed on his iPhone, I checked it out and realized my error. I told him and Gary Kohlenberg, and Jay McGowan, and Livia (sorry, I don't recall your last name), and Tim Lenz to look instead for Franklin's Gull. We had been checking the skies, the lake, and the jetties for awhile, but figuring Franklin's is a somewhat land-loving species, I went biking around the local parks and playing fields where Ring-billed Gulls often gather. This afternoon the fields mostly had people instead. I'd worked my way all the way around to Treman Marina when I got Gary's call: Tim had found the Franklin's Gull on the Red Lighthouse Jetty. This was fortunate for me because I actually had a closer, better view from the lakeshore at Treman. When at rest or with a dark background, instead of backlit in gray skies, the wings and back were clearly a dark gray, as they should be on Franklin's, and set off fore and aft by the broad white of the neck and of the white stripe near the wingtips. The wingtips themselves were small and black. Although the front of the crown and throat were white, the rear of the crown and the cheeks were black with a sharp line of high contrast to the rear, less so in front. It was gray enough around the eyes to set off the white arcs above and below. The bill and legs were black. As a helpful hint when searching for a Franklin's Gull among a jostling crowd of our usual riff-raff of Caspian Terns, Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Great Black-backed Gulls (each in various plumages of course, and each large enough to completely block the view) the Franklin's Gull has legs which are only half as thick as those of Caspian Terns. The profile, as Gary pointed out is also different from the Laughing Gull which we recently saw. Laughing Gull is very long and slim, with a long flat head, as if someone grabbed the bill and wingtips of a sitting bird and stretched it. While the Franklin's bill may not have been much different, its head was rounder and its body more compact and round, with wings not extending so far back. The Franklin's Gull stayed on the exposed weed-covered portions of the Red Lighthouse Jetty for quite awhile, occasionally moving aside when other Larids wanted its spot or got too aggressive. Then it went for a swim to the east for awhile, joined by a few Ring-billed Gulls. Eventually it swam back to the Red Lighthouse Jetty, climbed up and rested among the other Larids. I lost track of it at 7:42 when it shuffled several steps behind other birds. The light was pretty dim by then, and I had moved further away to be able to watch for incoming egrets (7:51). I think the bird was seen by Tim Lenz, Gary Kohlenberg, Paul Anderson, Jay McGowan, Livia _, Kevin McGowan, Bob McGuire, Meena Haribal, Chris Wood, Jessie Barry (who found it independently), and several others (please let me know who else). It's the third Franklin's Gull that I've been aware of in the Cayuga Lake Basin, and the first that I've seen. --Dave NutterOn Sep 06, 2011, at 06:27 PM, 6072292...@vtext.com wrote: CayugaRBA FRANKLIN'S GULL, (not Little, sorry) Red lighthouse jetty --Dave Nutter -- On Sep 06, 2011, at 04:54 PM, 6072292...@vtext.com wrote: Possible LITTLE GULL Stewart Park --Dave Nutter -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
