[cayugabirds-l] Raven and goat
While I was doing chores this morning (outside of Mecklenburg) I saw a wonderful interaction between a raven and my goat. I feed the crows, and it's not uncommon for our resident ravens to drop in and have a snack. This morning, as I was filling water buckets, I heard an odd, bell-like voice. It was a raven, sitting on the hayfeeder in the ram/goat pen, about 100' away. My big goat was standing with his front feet on the feeder, reaching up as far as he could, so that his nose was almost touching the raven. The raven was facing him, ruffling up his neck feathers, and gently pumping his wings - not opening them up all the way, just lifting them rhythmically up and down, a few inches away from his sides. He was vocalizing quietly - repeating a single, beautiful, metallic syllable. I watched them for several minutes - the goat fascinated, trying to touch the raven, the raven, just out of reach, talking to him. Then the crows arrived, and the raven flew off. -Liz -- 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] Serendipitous raptor observations- long rambling
serendipity: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for, refers to the fairy tale characters who were always making discoveries through chance. Cayugabirds-l has carried two recent reports of serendipitous raptor observations. A+ ratings: Kevin McGowan posted photo-documentation of an immature Bald Eagle eating a rat observed near the game farm, an unprecedented observation. Diana Whiting posted intriguing photos of a fight between two adult Red-tailed Hawks (both in banders terminology being after second year birds) along Ledyard Rd. where a third bird seen moments earlier. Both instances involved going beyond just serendipity; putting oneself into the locations where the odds were better than average that some serendipitous wildlife event might occur, and even further, by giving attention to surrounding events, and by the Boy Scout prepardness of having camera gear at the ready and also the skill to use it. B- rating:I was coming home from a root canal job that cost $1160 (rest assured this is pre-insurance). Further, having fallen over the dog and into a wooden chair, which I knocked down onto the dog and, on which I landed while it was on the dog, which broke three of the dog's foot bones, which cost $341 so far (of course no insurance), and which led me to wrench my back, bruise my chest and scrape my side just two days earlier, I was not feeling good but was feeling sorry for myself, and being a little ahead of schedule, (well actually not having any schedule), I turned into the Mulholland Widlflower Trail parking space at Giles Street, which put me in a location where some serendipitous wildlife event might be observed. Now my wife and I buy an exorbitant amount of bird seed, sometimes 300 lb weekly throughout several winter months. This feeds chipmunks, red and gray squirrels, mice, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, Mourning Doves, and other raptor food items. This has led to hearing the piteous squeals of a dying prey as an accipiter plucks feathers on several occasions, a sound one is not likely to forget. Unfortunately, in the last two weeks my wife or I have scared an accipiter off a dying prey on two occasions thereby leaving the prey to die an even slower death and the hawk to go off to kill another bird or to starve. As I turned off WSKG, I heard the familiar dying squeals and looked out my window to try to locate the origin. So, I was paying attention and thereby, facilitating serendipity. Almost immediately a small accipiter flew up and landed nearly over the top of my car so that I had to bend forward and lower my head below the top of the steering wheel to see the hawk, which had no prey in its talons, almost over my head - sort of nice if my back hadn't been hurting. I was surprised to hear the continued squeals coming from the ground about 10 yards away. I located the area with stirring leaves, and watched as a Red-tailed Hawk flew up and landed on a fallen log with some bird in its talons, which it preceded to pluck, dismember, and eat. Unfortunately, and this is where Kevin and Diana leave me embarrassed, I didn't have any camera with me, but even worse, I didn't have any binoculars. Lacking any means to verify this story, my serendipitous moment rates only a B-. All I can do is provide a little word picture. You can guess, as well as I, what happened before I arrived. I guess that the most likely event was that the sharpie made a kill and the red-tail stole it. Further happy beginnings are imaginable. Cheers, John -- 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] Called-in possible Arctic Kite
Here at the front desk, got a call from a pretty knowledgeable birder near Danby. He's especially knowledgeable about raptors. On Hill Rd yesterday mid-day. 96B twd Danby, turn on Curtis Rd. At T, turn left onto Hill Rd. Sighting up on the hill. Large, about eagle-sized, white with Arctic Kit-like markings. Am curious what this will turn out to be! -holly -- 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 creeper
We have a nice brown creeper picking through he bark of our spruce trees in Brooktondale...it is the first I have seen in a long time. ...Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre. ~Warren Buffett Thomas Hoebbel Photo~Video www.TH-Photo.com http://www.th-photo.com/ 607-539-6121 -- 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] Gray Catbird, Northeast Ithaca
We just flushed a very early GRAY CATBIRD from the small patch of bare ground at the base of our house on Tareyton Drive in Northeast Ithaca. -- 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/ --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Called-in possible Arctic Kite
I was in the area today (before reading this message) on Michigan Hollow road, and at one point heard a sequence of three broad-wing squeals. They fit in nicely between several blue jay vocalizations, from roughly the same direction, so without visual confirmation, and given the early (?) date, I was chalking it up as a blue jay. But perhaps it came from this arctic kite :-). Suan On Mar 21, 2015, at 11:21 AM, holly adams h...@cornell.edu wrote: Here at the front desk, got a call from a pretty knowledgeable birder near Danby. He's especially knowledgeable about raptors. On Hill Rd yesterday mid-day. 96B twd Danby, turn on Curtis Rd. At T, turn left onto Hill Rd. Sighting up on the hill. Large, about eagle-sized, white with Arctic Kit-like markings. Am curious what this will turn out to be! -holly -- -- 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] Today's CBC Trip
Gary Kohlenberg led today’s successful CBC trip up the lake, and I am sure he will want to do a full report at some point. But for those who might be thinking about going up tomorrow, one of the highlights was a single SANDHILL CRANE. We looked high low around the Carncross Rd area without luck. On the way home, we drove down East Road. As expected, Knox-Marsellus and Puddler’s Marsh were frozen solid (water quite high). But there was a single crane foraging in the field to the east of the road, just north of the gray house that was sold recently. As we approached it, the bird took off, circled the area, and then flew east. Best of luck to anyone deciding to chase it tomorrow. Bob McGuire -- 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] Grackle
Late this afternoon a gorgeous, shiny COMMON GRACKLE visited the ground under my bird feeders. Location: Pleasant Valley Rd in Groton. Marla L. Coppolino Groton, New York USA http://marlacoppolino.com http://www.thesnailwrangler.com/ http://kibibiacres.com -- 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/ --
