I was with Jill Vaughn and others this past Wednesday on Scofield Rd.,
to look for the Short-Eared Owls. Three came from directly over the
tree farm and stayed towards the west side of the large field. We
watched from near the end of Scofield, close to Buck Rd. There is a
rise in the field, so at times you could not see them. I have been
twice to see them and both times they hung towards the west side of the
field. This past Wednesday, after several minutes the owls went up high
and flew in a westerly direction. I drove west on Buck Rd. towards Van
Ostrand Rd. When I looked out over the west side of the field, where
the owls had been, there were deer, I counted up to 31 - streaming into
the field kinda like a football team. Not sure if there were more
behind them! I continued down to Van Ostrand and saw one owl fairly
high flying in a southwest direction. I crossed VanOstrand and down
Buck Rd. to see if they were over the fields on either side there.
Nothing, so I turned and came back, turned south on VanOstrand but could
not relocate them.
I wonder if the grassy fields where the Lansing trails are might hold
some good prey for them.
Gladys
On 1/18/2015 7:24 PM, Anne Marie Johnson wrote:
This afternoon, we found the TUFTED DUCK from the Treman State Marine
Park. Amazingly, the bird was on the shore side of the long, narrow
raft of mostly REDHEAD, with a few SCAUP mixed in. It was a bit away
from the other ducks, nearly straight out from the northwest corner of
the trail that goes around the park, making it easy to pick out with
its bright white side and black back. It was tucked the whole time,
and there was no breeze blowing the tuft, but we could see a bit of
the tuft feathers occasionally. We also saw two RUDDY DUCKS and two
RING-NECKED DUCKS. There was a pretty good-sized group of CANVASBACK
at the east end of the raft. We did not find the Black Scoter.
My general impression is that there were fewer Redhead at the south
end of the lake than there were yesterday. And almost all of them were
on the west side of the lake.
At Lagoda Park near Myers, we found another large raft of mostly
Redhead. This flock wasn't as big as the flock in Hog Hole but was
still substantial. There were COOT with this flock. Between the flock
and the shore, we found two WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS. Toward the marina we
could see a number of TUNDRA SWANS as well as one NORTHERN PINTAIL.
Also in the area was one BLACK DUCK and one HOODED MERGANSER, along
with lots of Mallards and geese.
We ended the afternoon at Scofield Road to look for Short-eared Owls.
At about 5:20 one SHORT-EARED OWL appeared flying across the road from
east to west. It flew around on the west side of the road very briefly
before heading west out of sight. No other owls appeared before we
left at 5:30. The owl we saw was relatively close to the south end of
the field on the south side of Buck Road. If we had been any further
north, I doubt we would have seen the owl.
Tim and Anne Marie Johnson
--
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 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/
--