When I was out with the dogs at 7 a.m., on the west side of the lake - Elm Beach Road - there were hundreds of small birds flying south along the lakefront, NOT in any formation but scattered so that I could see perhaps 25 at a time about 30 feet overhead. Silhouetted against the grey cloudcover, they were not identifiable, though twice I heard the call of a Goldfinch from overhead, but did not see the typical fly-and-coast pattern of the Goldfinch in the majority. This went on for the half hour that we were outside, and had probably begun some time before we were up. After that the number petered out and that was that.
I don't recall seeing this at any time in our previous eleven years here. Has anyone else observed this? It seems early for migration, and when we walked to the top of the hill at 11 a.m. the usual swallows were lining the utility wires, though the Rough-Winged Swallows who nest in the nearby docks left several weeks ago. Ellie Haith Elm Beach Road Ovid -- 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/ --
