[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Park turnstone, Black Tern
A quick stop at Stewart Park just now yielded a BLACK TERN foraging out with the swallows and a RUDDY TURNSTONE on the white light lighthouse jetty. -- 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] 6/20 Cleanup at Salt Point
We're excited about all the developments and community interest at Salt Point this season. We have many new visitors enjoying the area, the north beach vehicle access/parking project is shaping up nicely, and a team from Cargill recently spent a day covering invasive knotweed, planting trees, and moving utility poles. Soon we should see osprey chicks, new Leopold benches, and a carpet of wildflowers along the water's edge. The Town of Lansing Parks Recreation Department and many volunteers contribute significantly to the improvement of the area, but we still need help to keep Salt Point beautiful and accessible to all (including wildlife!). Please join us Saturday, June 20, 9 a.m. to Noon for Volunteer Day at Salt Point. You're welcome to join us for all or part of the morning. A sample of the tasks we're planning: 1) Trash pick-up and removal 2) Knotweed control 3) Trail maintenance 4) Tree maintenance, incl. trimming watering 5) Weeding 6) Mulching We'll set up an organizing area at the DEC parking lot (on the left as you enter Salt Point Rd., just before the railroad tracks). Please bring gardening tools, gloves, buckets, etc. We'll have water and light refreshments. If possible, please email RSVP to our Volunteer Day Coordinator, Katrina Binkewicz, klb1...@hotmail.commailto:klb1...@hotmail.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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Wanted: Merlin nest monitors
Unlike many raptors, Merlins select nest sites in the immediate vicinity of a great deal of human activity. Merlins do not seem to be too disturbed by human presence at perhaps 40 m from the nest, and in monitoring the nest success of urban-nesting Merlins. I would like to get a reasonably large sample of the prey species brought to the female, (which one person can't do). Eggs may hatch in early June and young fledge in early July. This provides an easy opportunity to obtain obtaining information on the prey brought to urban raptor nests, especially Merlins. Males often bring food to the incubating female, she gets off the nest for her meal, and the male incubates for a few minutes. This provides a chance to identify and record the prey species as the female rips away. This often happens around sunrise, and intermittently throughout the day. I would like to determine when the nest fledges young to the exact day or as close as possible, or when the nest fails to the day, and even why is possible, (which one person can't determine). Monitors would be expected to be able to commit to having a strong likelihood of Visiting the nest area at least once a week until fledging, Visit the nest for approximately an hour, most preferably from ~5:30- 6:30 AM, Provide a scope for determining prey species, Provide digital record of observations at nest each week. Of the four nests (five if you count Dryden) in our imediate area, it may be that two have failed, while the Dryden potential is unknown. Further, the one Merlin nest I monitored last year on Hudson St. also failed. This sample size is too small for statistical analyses, but the first take on the failure rates is that it is high. It contrasts with a high success rate for urban nests in Saskatoon. I don't know why any of the nests failed, since it never happened while I was there. Please contact John Confer at con...@ithaca.edu. Thanks, 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/ --attachment: confer.vcf
