I saw two Tree Swallows today at Tshache Pool. Why do Tree Swallows come so
early when it is freezing out here? What evolutionary pressures force them to
arrive at the breeding ground early? I was wondering if it has to do something
with availability of nest cavities. Blue Birds seem to have evolved to start
breeding earlier than the tree swallows, so they get the holes earlier. Thus
Tree swallows are loosing out and that in turn makes them come early. If it is
so, it is interesting know, if this is a recent event or happened hundreds of
years earlier.
I have also been seeing in last two or three years Bald Eagles seem to be
usurping the Osprey nest from the previous years. Ospreys seem to be loosing
out and they have to build the nest completely again. So would Ospreys start
coming back sooner?
I missed out on Eurasian Wigeon AT Tshache. Most wigeons were showing only
their butts, only occasionally putting their heads up when I was there. It was
nasty cold up on the tower with wind blowing.
Later, I stopped at Van Dyn Spoor (Wine Dine Spoor?) Rd in the hopes of
recording Sandhill cranes and seeing Short-eared Owls. But the wind put cap to
my first plan. I did hear two Sandhill Cranes vocalizing but did not see. I
waited for Short-eareds. According to Mike Tetlow's post they showed up at
6.00, but did not see anything till 6.45 PM though the Harriers were still
active. Then I ran in to Tony Shrimpton and we were wondering why they did not
show up at 6.00 pm. We thought may be it was a typo or Mike forgot to change
his clock in his car. But anyway, I waited till 7.10 PM. Then Tony suggested
that to see the owls someone has to sacrifice. So I decided to be the sacrifice
and left Tony to watch for the owls. I hope they did show up for him.
I also saw the Northern Shrike. He seemed to be in the same place where I had
seen him in September 2009! Wonder if he spent the whole winter there or did he
move elsewhere and is now stopping on the way back.
Along Rt 89, I must have seen at least seven dead Skunks (I avoided driving
over even the dead ones and I do that for any animals), equal numbers of
Opossums and Raccoons too. Just as I was reaching Ithaca, a car in front of me
stopped with flashers on and I was not too far from him, but moved on to the
other side of the road as no cars were coming, then I saw a raccoon in the
middle of the road. It seemed shocked but not smashed. I was happy to see that
the driver of the car decided to turn around and hope if the raccoon was just
shocked he made it move away from the road. At least there are still people who
care for wild creatures. I also saw at least twenty moths of two different
sizes and one of them smashed into my wind shield. Others managed to survive!
Meena
From: bounce-5460317-3493...@list.cornell.edu
[bounce-5460317-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of John Greenly
[j...@cornell.edu]
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 2:38 PM
To: Cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma tree swallow
Seems like someone must have reported one by now but I can't remember, so:
one TREE SWALLOW yesterday, over the pond on East Rd past May's point.
--John Greenly
--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
--
Cayugabirds-L List Info:
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME
http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES
ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html
3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds
Please submit your observations to eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
--
