[cayugabirds-l] Open waters, new osprey platforms & feathers

[job121830]

Two new osprey platforms have been placed atop elec. poles: one across from Union Springs High School driveway at the water plant. Another is north of the RR track at the 2nd fire lane. Can't think of the name on the driveway sign or what the firelane no. is. Maybe there are only crossed oars on the sign.Down Backus Rd. in Hibiscus Harbor is a nest in a bad location, ... on top of a polewhich has 2 transformers on it. Some sticks actually rest on the transformers. With leaves off trees, now is the time to be looking for such nests & to let Candace Cornellknow about them since she is co-ordinating such information.Open water north of the RR bridge/Harris Park is refuge for great nos. of ducks & swansbut few geese at this time. A few tiny areas just south of Harris Park had some open water with mostly common mergansers. The channel from the RR bridge to the lock is mostly open & full of ducks. I saw many common & red-breasted mergs, goldeneye,redhead, canvasbacks, redheads & scaup. Whatever else was there, I didn't take time tolook ... oh yes, maybe 60 + swans & less than a doz. Canadas. What amazed me was the great number of ducks right at the lock & also on the river south of 5 & 20. In Auburn I saw many ring billed (garbage) gulls over the Bed, Bath & Beyond mall parking lot but only two north of Cayuga. Saw no evidence of eagle activity on the nest at Mud Lock. Out on the ice at Mud Lock I saw a female common merganser that looked disoriented withfeathers that appeared to be quite water soaked. She didn't look healthy. Along Rte. 90 north of the Lettie Cook Woods entrance were 2 dead deer lying together along the shoulder, the first road kill I've seen in maybe 2 mos.. Becky released a male skunk fromher neighbor's live trap this evening. :>) He stomped his feet repeatedly at her & curled his tail up over his back but she said sweet nothings in his ears as she covered the trap with a blanket,put him in her car & took him away from the very worried neighbor.Tomorrow, despite all I have to do that is more important, I hope to go to Oswego & look for the magnificent male harlequin on the Oswego river below the bridge. Hopefully he will spend anotherday there.Fritzie, Union Springs

--
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!
--

[cayugabirds-l] Fish Crow smarts

[Donna Scott]

Years ago I joined my parents at their favorite hotel on Sanibel Island near 
Fort Myers Florida. One day my father and I were walking through the parking 
lot below the second floor balcony where there was a maid's room-cleaning cart 
next to the railing. 
All of a sudden coffee stirrers, sugar packets, and creamer packets rained down 
on our heads!
We looked up to see a Fish Crow on the cart raiding the rooms' coffee supplies! 
it was helping itself to the sugar and flinging the other stuff over the 
railing!

Another day I was sitting on my lounge chair out on the beach and a person a 
few feet away had left their beach supplies and snacks on the sand by their 
lounge chair while they took a walk. 
One item was one of those brick pack boxes of juice with the little straw that 
you punch through the small round aluminum hole to get the juice. 

a Fish Crow flew down & stood by the box & pecked the small aluminum round spot 
until it broke. F. Crow tipped the box over so the juice started to run out and 
it stuck its beak there to drink the juice!

Crows love our fast food nation!

Sent from my iPhone
Donna Scott

On Mar 8, 2015, at 11:50 PM, job121...@verizon.net wrote:

> Most interesting to watch as 3 crows kept trying to get a bag containing 
> French fries 
> & other food items from the small trash bin at the front entrance to Wendy's 
> today. 
> Each would grab the bag & try to pull it from the partially enclosed bin. 
> Occasionally 
> one would shake loose a French fry & leave with it. Finally, after about 10 
> min. one 
> managed to sit precariously on the bin lip edge with its head  under the 
> "cover" & got 
> a good grip on the bag & succeeded in pulling it out onto the ground. 
> Whooppee!! 
> Lots of food came tumbling out & the 3 crows were joined by several others 
> who 
> quickly grabbed the treats & flew away  and I didn't have a camera!!! 
> 
> I am often amazed at the cunning & intelligence of crows. "Our" 7 check out 
> my garden compost
> every day, several times a day & also look under the feeders for dropped 
> seed. No matter how 
> careful I am to try to stay hidden in the house while trying to observe them, 
> the sentinel must see 
> me & off they go. Now if only the squirrels were as observant & would leave!
> 
> Several yrs. ago I was in front of the old P & C store in Auburn when I heard 
> the very loud & 
> persistent "call" of a gull. I saw none anywhere around.  NONE!  I happened 
> to glance to the roof 
> of the P & C & there was a crow, mimicking a gull. Next I heard a phone 
> ringing & ringing but no 
> one was in the parking lot. NO ONE!  I glanced up at the crow & saw he was 
> making the noise. 
> Since no other store where he sat on the roof was open, I came to the 
> conclusion he was 
> mimicking the ringing phone in the Sakura restaurant which he could hear but 
> I couldn't. Has 
> anyone else had such an experience?? It left me thrilled & amazed.
> 
> Fritzie Blizzard, Union Springs, NY
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 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!
> --

--

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] Crows raid Wendy's trash can in Auburn 3/8/15

[job121830]

Most interesting to watch as 3 crows kept trying to get a bag containing French fries & other food items from the small trash bin at the front entrance to Wendy's today. Each would grab the bag & try to pull it from the partially enclosed bin. Occasionally one would shake loose a French fry & leave with it. Finally, after about 10 min. one managed to sit precariously on the bin lip edge with its head  under the "cover" & got a good grip on the bag & succeeded in pulling it out onto the ground. Whooppee!! Lots of food came tumbling out & the 3 crows were joined by several others who quickly grabbed the treats & flew away  and I didn't have a camera!!! I am often amazed at the cunning & intelligence of crows. "Our" 7 check out my garden compostevery day, several times a day & also look under the feeders for dropped seed. No matter how careful I am to try to stay hidden in the house while trying to observe them, the sentinel must see me & off they go. Now if only the squirrels were as observant & would leave!Several yrs. ago I was in front of the old P & C store in Auburn when I heard the very loud & persistent "call" of a gull. I saw none anywhere around.  NONE!  I happened to glance to the roof of the P & C & there was a crow, mimicking a gull. Next I heard a phone ringing & ringing but no one was in the parking lot. NO ONE!  I glanced up at the crow & saw he was making the noise. Since no other store where he sat on the roof was open, I came to the conclusion he was mimicking the ringing phone in the Sakura restaurant which he could hear but I couldn't. Has anyone else had such an experience?? It left me thrilled & amazed.Fritzie Blizzard, Union Springs, NY

--
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!
--

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Tufted Duck musings

[Judith Thurber]

Loved it!  Thanks so much.
Judy Thurber
Liverpool

Sent from my iPad

> On Mar 7, 2015, at 5:14 PM, Dave Nutter  wrote:
> 
> Two points of potential interest about Tufted Ducks, in addition to the fact 
> that the short-tufted male continues (as late as 3:30pm) close to the point 
> at the Ithaca Yacht Club:
> 
> I did not see the Tufted Duck in the Ladoga area but I am told that on 22 
> February it was seen to have a normal long tuft. Did other observers see 
> this? Does anybody have photos which might argue for this being the same bird 
> having lost tuft feathers or for it being a different bird based on some 
> other characteristics, such as bill markings? 
> 
> If you are interested in the species in its native climes, albeit not a 
> totally natural situation, below is a link to a half-hour movie, 50 or more 
> years old, from Sweden, which Stefhan Ohlström sent me. The movie is in 
> black-and-white, which works fine for this species, and the narration, 
> without subtitles, is in Swedish, but this also doesn't matter a whole lot if 
> you don't listen Swedish, as the plot is pretty obvious. I will explain the 
> title, "Viggen Viggo". You may have heard of the actor, Viggo Mortensen, who 
> my wife Laurie tells me is an Upstate New Yorker of Danish heritage. "Viggo" 
> is just a Scandinavian first name. But Vigg is the common Swedish name for  
> _Aythya fuligula_, what we call Tufted Duck. The suffix "-en" is the Swedish 
> way of indicating the article "the". So the title means, "Viggo the Tufted 
> Duck," but of course it is more cute in Swedish.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YiJ0b_3H-k
> --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!
> --

--

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] Brown Thrasher

[Gary Kohlenberg]

Hi all,

I walked my usual route down Burns Road today and found a Brown Thrasher 
visiting a feeder at Burns Way. In talking to the homeowner he said it’s been 
at his house all winter with some Grackles and what sounds to me like a Rusty 
Blackbird. I didn’t see these other early birds, but I’ll check again this week.

Gary




--

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] Bald Eagles

[Donna Scott]

...Did later show up to grab one of the dead birds in the ice-chunk/water edge 
of the big ice sheet here at Lans. Stat. Rd. 

An adult BALD EAGLE swooped around to check out the floating body, then grabbed 
it on the third pass. It flew back south a short way & landed on the ice where 
it started picking at the carcass. 

By the time I grabbed my scope & got to back deck & re-found the eagle, it was 
standing near the carcass while an immature eagle stood on carcass pulling it 
apart & eating pieces of it. The adult now & then would eat a little meat that 
got flung onto ice. 

After watching this for awhile, & Wanting to try determining approx. age of 
immature I ran in house for bird book. By the time I did that & 1 other 
unnecessary chore & got back to scope, the adult eagle had disappeared and 2 
immatures were at the carcass, most of which seemed gone (they were at least 
half a mile from me). 

Looking at both Sibley's field guide & Crossley's raptor ID Guide, i would say 
the immatures were 2nd year birds. 

They had dull-whitish feathers on top of heads and in sort of a wedge down the 
back of their necks. Had brown on sides of faces and some white streaks on 
their backs. I did not note how chests/belly looked, but maybe they were 
lightly streaked. 
I do not think they had the lighter eyes and light sides of faces that pix of 
3-years show. 

Sent from my iPhone
Donna Scott
--

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] Ice retreating

[Donna Scott]

Up till yesterday (3/7) with the freezing temps. the miles-long ice sheet in 
front of my house at Lansing Station Rd. had increased in size since I reported 
its extent on Thurs 3/5. 
With today's temps in mid 30s the ice sheet has melted back about 100' along 
the shore here and about 150' out in the middle. Ice is much thicker by shore & 
also by beaches like mine with a solid crib dock, ice is piled up in big heaps 
against the beach & structures. Some pieces of ice look to be 4" thick. 

The waterfowl (Aythyas, C , H, & R Mergs, Tundra Swans, Mallards, Black Ducks, 
CA Geese, & gulls) have been following the retreating ice edges all day & I 
hope they are finding more to eat. 

An immature BALD EAGLE sat in a tree watching them for awhile, but it was being 
closely harassed by 4 of "my" 6 A. CROWS & flew north. 
I had hoped the eagle would drop down to the floating ice chunks at the ice 
edge to get one of the 7 dead birds I saw floating there & get an easy meal. 

Yesterday I also saw a dead duck on the ice at the Lans. Town marina at Myers 
Park. (There was a large area of open water surrounded by ice offshore by 
Myers). i have also encountered several ducks in various roads near the lake. 
They fly away weakly as I drive carefully around them. 
These weather/ice conditions have been hard on the wildlife. 

Looking north, it appears that a big area of liquid water has opened up around 
the Power Plant since I saw most of it frozen over on Thursday. 

Sent from my iPhone
Donna Scott
--

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] new Yard bird

[Susan Fast]

 I have been out 5 times since the end of February, scanning the southern skies 
for migrants of some kind.  So far nothing.  But today I got a new Yard bird 
when I watched a REDHEAD (as in the duck) circling the Firehall 4 times low.  
Not sure it was migrating, but it probably thought the extensive black asphalt 
around the building was water.
Steve FastBrooktondale
--

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] oops Link to Hooded Merganser

[Meena Madhav Haribal]

?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL8mVlXD_4g



Hooded Merganser Preening - YouTube
Hooded Merganser Preening on Seneca River in Baldwinsville NY Feb 28 2014.
Watch now...


Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
42.429007,-76.47111
http://www.haribal.org/
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts
Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf




--

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] Last week's Hooded Merganser video

[Meena Madhav Haribal]

?Hi all,

I have uploaded video of Hooded Merganser of Seneca River, but the sound in the 
background is  of Cayuga Lake Sheldrake point as the original sound was too 
many cars passing by.


Hope you will enjoy in HD.


Cheers

Meena


Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
42.429007,-76.47111
http://www.haribal.org/
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts
Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf




--

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] Tufted duck continues

[Brad Walker]

At yacht club

--

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] Saturday Birding

[Meena Madhav Haribal]

​Hi all,

 Yesterday , I too went looking for birds at IYC, but my goal was to observe 
behaviors. I arrived there and got out and from the top parking area I looked 
at the ducks in the bay and first thing I saw was TUFTED DUCK through 
binoculars. I spent some time watching it and as there was no else and I  could 
hear the ducks calling, I decided I want to record them. So I was getting ready 
with the equipment, when I saw a huge van with lots of stickers of Ibird and 
eBird  and full of Cornellites pulled ahead of me as I was still trying to get 
my recorder out. One by one all jumped out of the van some with large lenses 
and scopes, they all looked very professional. So my chance of quiet recording 
was foiled. So I decided I will stop by on the way back.


I headed up north. On the whim, I decided to go look at the Upper Taughannock  
Falls. And I was happy I did. It was an impressive sight with large pile of 
snow ice build up  and a tiny bit of water still flowing and making loud noise. 
I spent some time enjoying the view and was wondering how it would be when the 
snow melts!


Then, I headed to Sheldrake.  Sheldrake shore was littered with birds.  It 
seems that the large raft of Athya ducks have split into smaller groups all the 
way up to Varick where the ice edge is in the north.  I could see some were 
displaying, some sleeping, some diving actively and others doing nothing.  
Also, there were lots of swans all along the  edges and hundreds of Mergansers 
mostly Red-breasted and some Common.  I was looking for Red-necked Grebes and 
scoters.  I think I saw one Red-necked Grebe, which dove as soon as I saw it 
and then disappeared into water and I did not relocate it again. I also saw a 
CACKLING GOOSE among the Canada.


Then I headed to Seybolt Road in the hopes of relocating some winter rarities. 
I found several paired Horned Larks and several groups of Horned Larks feeding 
along the road. At Cayuga lake State park, I found a Merlin sitting as I passed 
by. I could not stop as another car was behind me. So I turned at a convenient 
location and headed back to get a better look at the Merlin. By the time I 
returned it was gone or I missed seeing it.

I returned the same way I had gone and stopped at the same locations to enjoy 
more of these birds. By the time I came back to IYC, which was hoping would be 
devoid of people, but there were three more cars parked. So I decided to call 
it a day.  As I was I just getting on Rt 89, I found Ann Mitchell heading 
towards IYC.


What intrigued me most is how the ducks, geese and swans sleep. Some of them 
sleep with their eyes tucked inside the feathers and others with, only beak 
tucked inside the feathers and eyes outside.  I saw several hundreds of them 
asleep in the water. But many of them were spinning around.  Something similar 
I watched on Seneca River too where the sleeping mergansers were spinning 
around. They remained almost in the same location in spite of river flowing. So 
how do they do it?  At least mergansers I could see they were paddling slowly 
in spite of sleeping.  My conclusion was probably they paddle with one feet and 
thus they rotate round and round. Same thing happens if we paddle in one 
direction only in a canoe or kayak.  Anybody has any insight about the 
mechanism? It would be cool to learn.


Also another thing which made me think was segregation of Athya ducks. How did 
they split into smaller groups? Is there any particular way they did it? Did 
the birds of the same summering/breeding location group into one group? Or was 
it  randomized? I think geese seem to have some kind of groups and when they 
are feeding or sleeping on the lake they are randomized but when they are 
taking off, specific individuals go off together. I watched this with the 
Sandhill Cranes in Bosque Del Apache as the family groups were taking off from 
the roost early morning, they would call to each other and wait for every one 
in the family to be ready to take off, mostly three or four birds and of them 
often one or two were juveniles. I have some videos of this behavior.

What fun it would be if we could geotag all the birds and learn what they are 
doing!


Now probably I am off to do some more birding!


Cheers

Meena



Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
42.429007,-76.47111
http://www.haribal.org/
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts
Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf




--

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/c