RE: Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count

[Marty Schlabach]

I remember Dorothy MacIllroy describing the transition from the Jan 1 Cayuga 
Lake Basin count to participation in the Christmas Bird Count.  I don’t know 
from where the push came to make the change, but Arthur Allen was resistant to 
making the change.  The Basin count always started on Jan 1, but the dates of 
the CBC did not extend to Jan 1. And of course, a 15 diameter circle did not 
match the Basin.   Eventually, the CBC organizers and Doc Allen compromised.  
The CBC dates were extended to include Jan 1 and Doc Allen agreed to 3 count 
circles to cover much of the Basin, one in the south around Ithaca, one in the 
north around Montezuma and one in the middle, perhaps centered on Aurora.

I wonder if that was ever written about in the Cayuga Bird Club Newsletter?  
I’m pretty sure that was where I heard Dorothy give this history.

Marty
===
Marty Schlabach   m...@cornell.edu
8407 Powell Rd. home  607-532-3467
Interlaken, NY 14847   cell315-521-4315
===



From: bounce-123229686-3494...@list.cornell.edu 
 On Behalf Of Randolph Scott Little
Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 8:58 PM
To: Tom Schulenberg ; Charles R. Smith 
Cc: Paul Anderson ; CAYUGABIRDS-L 
; gregbutche...@hotmail.com; Rick Bonney 

Subject: Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count

Hi Tom, et al.,

Nice that you are really digging into this.  Regarding item 1), I don't 
remember any formal New Year's Day count prior
to the 1963 initiation of the Ithaca CBC.  My impression of the "count" of 
prior years was simply that Doc urged people
to report any and all "first" sightings within the Cayuga Basin, and that each 
year the list would start anew on 1/1.

I am not aware of any organized outing on 1/1, nor do I recall Doc ever talking 
about his own New Year's Day birding.
The turkey dinner is news to me.

May, however, was a different matter.  In addition to the Saturday morning bird 
walks in May at Stewart (Renwick) Park,
Doc was the focal point for the Big Day, which certainly did scour the entire 
Cayuga Basin for 24 hours and included
a morning breakfast at the Allen home on Kline Road.  Participants were mostly 
academics.  I was first invited to join
Doc's team in 1953, and considered that a great honor.  We started at 3AM by 
checking for Barn Owls at a church on
downtown Ithaca's South side.  After breakfast we headed up the lake as far as 
Howland's Island and checked
Montezuma thoroughly.  Ed Seeber, a professor at Ithaca College, was the only 
non-Cornellian that I recall being part
of the organized group.

Regarding item 3), in light of what I already said about not recalling any 
formal group activity on 1/1, I don't think
there was really any "phasing out" by Doc or anyone else.  The keeping of a 
"first sighting" list for the entire Cayuga
Basin continued without interruption.  The Ithaca CBC results simply got the 
basin list off to a running start.  If anything,
it may have relaxed any pressure that Doc may have felt to get the new birding 
year off to a good start.

I hope others who were around then or in the later '60s can provide additional 
recollections or correct my myopia.

Good birding,
Randy
- Original Message -
From: Tom Schulenberg
To: Charles R. Smith
Cc: r...@att.net ; Paul 
Anderson ; 
CAYUGABIRDS-L ; 
gregbutche...@hotmail.com ; Rick 
Bonney
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2019 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count



bits and pieces of the story are coming out, which is great, but I have a few 
more questions:

1) does anyone know when Allen's New Year's Day count was initiated? it takes 
traditions a while to become, well, traditions, but I'm curious to know just 
how early this became a focus of local birding.

2) the CBC had its (modest) origins in 1900, which is to say, before there 
could have been much in the way of birding traditions in Ithaca. and it was the 
brainchild of Frank Chapman, who was well known both to Allen and (especially) 
to Louis Agassiz Fuertes. but I've found no evidence that either Allen or 
Fuertes ever experimented with the CBC, even as others across upstate New York 
began trying out the CBC from very early on. am I the only one who thinks 
there's something odd about this? there's no record of Allen's or Fuertes's 
thoughts on Chapman's CBC scheme?

3) I appreciate all the background on the phaseout of the Basin-wide New Year's 
Day count in favor of the Ithaca CBC. but what's still not clear to me is, was 
it Allen's initiative to make this change? and if so, what lead him to the 
(late) embrace of the CBC? or was this a bottom up process, whereby local 
birders began 

Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count

[Randolph Scott Little]

Hi Tom, et al.,

Nice that you are really digging into this.  Regarding item 1), I don't 
remember any formal New Year's Day count prior
to the 1963 initiation of the Ithaca CBC.  My impression of the "count" of 
prior years was simply that Doc urged people
to report any and all "first" sightings within the Cayuga Basin, and that each 
year the list would start anew on 1/1.

I am not aware of any organized outing on 1/1, nor do I recall Doc ever talking 
about his own New Year's Day birding.
The turkey dinner is news to me.

May, however, was a different matter.  In addition to the Saturday morning bird 
walks in May at Stewart (Renwick) Park,
Doc was the focal point for the Big Day, which certainly did scour the entire 
Cayuga Basin for 24 hours and included
a morning breakfast at the Allen home on Kline Road.  Participants were mostly 
academics.  I was first invited to join
Doc's team in 1953, and considered that a great honor.  We started at 3AM by 
checking for Barn Owls at a church on
downtown Ithaca's South side.  After breakfast we headed up the lake as far as 
Howland's Island and checked
Montezuma thoroughly.  Ed Seeber, a professor at Ithaca College, was the only 
non-Cornellian that I recall being part
of the organized group.

Regarding item 3), in light of what I already said about not recalling any 
formal group activity on 1/1, I don't think
there was really any "phasing out" by Doc or anyone else.  The keeping of a 
"first sighting" list for the entire Cayuga
Basin continued without interruption.  The Ithaca CBC results simply got the 
basin list off to a running start.  If anything,
it may have relaxed any pressure that Doc may have felt to get the new birding 
year off to a good start.

I hope others who were around then or in the later '60s can provide additional 
recollections or correct my myopia.

Good birding,
Randy 
  - Original Message - 
  From: Tom Schulenberg 
  To: Charles R. Smith 
  Cc: r...@att.net ; Paul Anderson ; CAYUGABIRDS-L ; gregbutche...@hotmail.com 
; Rick Bonney 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2019 8:09 PM
  Subject: Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count






  bits and pieces of the story are coming out, which is great, but I have a few 
more questions:


  1) does anyone know when Allen's New Year's Day count was initiated? it takes 
traditions a while to become, well, traditions, but I'm curious to know just 
how early this became a focus of local birding.


  2) the CBC had its (modest) origins in 1900, which is to say, before there 
could have been much in the way of birding traditions in Ithaca. and it was the 
brainchild of Frank Chapman, who was well known both to Allen and (especially) 
to Louis Agassiz Fuertes. but I've found no evidence that either Allen or 
Fuertes ever experimented with the CBC, even as others across upstate New York 
began trying out the CBC from very early on. am I the only one who thinks 
there's something odd about this? there's no record of Allen's or Fuertes's 
thoughts on Chapman's CBC scheme?


  3) I appreciate all the background on the phaseout of the Basin-wide New 
Year's Day count in favor of the Ithaca CBC. but what's still not clear to me 
is, was it Allen's initiative to make this change? and if so, what lead him to 
the (late) embrace of the CBC? or was this a bottom up process, whereby local 
birders began pushing to participate in an activity that they could see going 
on all around them?


  I'm probably decades too late in asking these questions, but I'm going to 
throw them out there anyway, just to stir the pot.
Randy:

Good to hear from you, and thank you for including me in your 
correspondence.  I can contribute "the rest of the story," relating to the 
Ithaca Christmas Bird Count.  My information is based upon my chats with Paul 
Kellogg and Sally Spofford, when I was Paul's teaching assistant for his Summer 
CAU course in the early 1970s. 


Having an Ithaca Christmas Bird Count, following Audubon criteria, was the 
result of a compromise between Allen and National Audubon, facilitated by Roger 
Tory Peterson.  In its beginning, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count did not 
include 1 Jan among the acceptable dates for conducting a count.  Allen agreed 
to initiate a Christmas Bird Count, following the Audubon criteria, if Audubon 
would agree to including 1 Jan within its time period for conducting the 
counts.  Audubon modified its count period to include 1 Jan, and the Ithaca 
Christmas Bird Count, following Audubon criteria, was initiated on 1 Jan 1963.  
So far as I know, the center of the count still was the intersection of Mount 
Pleasant and Turkey Hill Road for the 2017 count (actually conducted 1 Jan 2018 
-see http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/ ).


I was pleased to learn of your role and Dorothy McIlroy's leadership in 
helping to define the original Ithaca Christmas Bird Count circle.  
Incidentally, Allen's earlier 1 Jan counts accepted the 

[cayugabirds-l] Some new 2019 Basin Birds

[Dave Nutter]

Today I saw a female RUDDY DUCK in the SW part of Cayuga Lake from the shore at 
Treman State Marine Park, what I believe to be the first report for the species 
for the basin. 

I also refound the Eastern Phoebe in that park along the mowed path at the 
south edge of the big weedy field. 

Other new reports for the basin include COMMON LOON, which I’d like to hear 
more details about, because it was in Cayuga Inlet seen from NY-89 in Cass 
Park, where there are plenty of mergansers and occasionally cormorants (both of 
which are regularly mistaken for loons), but rarely any loons. In fact the only 
loon I recall there was a Red-throated Loon the year most of the lake was 
frozen.

There was also a report of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS near NYS-13 in Newfield, which 
I’d also like to hear more details about, although there’s more precedence for 
such a sighting. I think last year my first Red-winged Blackbirds were next to 
the marsh by Test Rd at the top of the Cayuga Lake Basin - in January!

- - Dave Nutter
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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count

[Tom Schulenberg]

bits and pieces of the story are coming out, which is great, but I have a
few more questions:

1) does anyone know when Allen's New Year's Day count was initiated? it
takes traditions a while to become, well, traditions, but I'm curious to
know just how early this became a focus of local birding.

2) the CBC had its (modest) origins in 1900, which is to say, before there
could have been much in the way of birding traditions in Ithaca. and it was
the brainchild of Frank Chapman, who was well known both to Allen and
(especially) to Louis Agassiz Fuertes. but I've found no evidence that
either Allen or Fuertes ever experimented with the CBC, even as others
across upstate New York began trying out the CBC from very early on. am I
the only one who thinks there's something odd about this? there's no record
of Allen's or Fuertes's thoughts on Chapman's CBC scheme?

3) I appreciate all the background on the phaseout of the Basin-wide New
Year's Day count in favor of the Ithaca CBC. but what's still not clear to
me is, was it Allen's initiative to make this change? and if so, what lead
him to the (late) embrace of the CBC? or was this a bottom up process,
whereby local birders began pushing to participate in an activity that they
could see going on all around them?

I'm probably decades too late in asking these questions, but I'm going to
throw them out there anyway, just to stir the pot.

> Randy:
>
> Good to hear from you, and thank you for including me in your
> correspondence.  I can contribute "the rest of the story," relating to the
> Ithaca Christmas Bird Count.  My information is based upon my chats with
> Paul Kellogg and Sally Spofford, when I was Paul's teaching assistant for
> his Summer CAU course in the early 1970s.
>
> Having an Ithaca Christmas Bird Count, following Audubon criteria, was the
> result of a compromise between Allen and National Audubon, facilitated by
> Roger Tory Peterson.  In its beginning, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count
> did not include 1 Jan among the acceptable dates for conducting a count.
> Allen agreed to initiate a Christmas Bird Count, following the Audubon
> criteria, if Audubon would agree to including 1 Jan within its time period
> for conducting the counts.  Audubon modified its count period to include 1
> Jan, and the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count, following Audubon criteria, was
> initiated on 1 Jan 1963.  So far as I know, the center of the count still
> was the intersection of Mount Pleasant and Turkey Hill Road for the 2017
> count (actually conducted 1 Jan 2018 -see
> http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/ ).
>
> I was pleased to learn of your role and Dorothy McIlroy's leadership in
> helping to define the original Ithaca Christmas Bird Count
> circle.  Incidentally, Allen's earlier 1 Jan counts accepted the
> delineation of the Cayuga Lake Basin, which was first published as a map in
> Wiegand and Eames, *Flora of the Cayuga Lake Basin, New York*, in 1926.
>
> Let me know the next time you're in Ithaca; maybe we could go birding.  I
> don't do much "bird-watching," but I've been fortunate to have had
> opportunities to study and survey birds in the field for a bit more than 60
> years, now, and am continuing to do so.  Best wishes for the new year.
>
> -- Charlie
>
> ***
> Charles R. Smith, Ph.D., Naturalist and Professional Skeptic
> Senior Research Associate, Retired
> Cornell University, Ithaca, NY  14853-3001
> c...@cornell.edu
>
> "The greatest impediment to progress is not ignorance, but the illusion of
> knowledge."
> from *The Discoverers*, by Daniel Boorstin
>
> "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
> --  George Orwell
>
> “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”  --  Mark Twain
> ***
> --
> *From:* Randolph Scott Little 
> *Sent:* Friday, January 4, 2019 9:32 PM
> *To:* Tom Schulenberg; Paul Anderson
> *Cc:* CAYUGABIRDS-L; gregbutche...@hotmail.com; Charles R. Smith;
> CAYUGABIRDS-L; Rick Bonney
> *Subject:* Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count
>
> Hi Tom & Paul,
>
> You have done some good digging!  A check of my birding log brought
> disappointing results - it only goes back to 1968
> after I had graduated from Cornell and gone on to Ohio.  It may well be,
> and that 1968 timing would have been about right,
> that I included my earlier records in with the materials that I deposited
> in the Cornell Library archives.
>
> Yes, at least through the 1950's and early 1960's when I was in Ithaca,
> Doc Allen always kicked off the new year with
> a checklist of observations in the entire Cayuga Basin.  That watershed
> area served as the basis for the annual listing
> of first sighting dates.  After the Stuart Observatory was built, that
> annual list was kept on a large bulletin board in
> the observatory.  A new list was started 

[cayugabirds-l] Redpolls, Aiken Rd. in Enfield

[Barbara Bauer Sadovnic]

At least 100 redpolls were at the corner of Aiken and Tucker Roads, and in the 
weeds further up Tucker today.  I’ve seen them several times here in the last 
few weeks, but this was the first time they let themselves be photographed 
(badly!) and counted!


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u5m9a7m8lp2zy3a/AADn2OB5yDrEwujPpaaARrmma?dl=0
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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:
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