Late into a lazy morning I started my day's bird list by looking out the living room window and noticed, in addition to the numerous gulls in the air (many kettling possibly southbound Ring-billed Gulls, as Ken Rosenberg described), a COMMON LOON in direct southerly flight high against the clouds. I decided to watch for more, and in the course of an hour counted 57 loons which were southbound in about a 10:1 ratio over northbound. One of them actually circled as I watched, then continued south, so it's possible all, even the handful I saw going north, eventually went south today.
In the early afternoon Laurie and I took a walk in Cass Park as far north as the rink. Especially fun for me was seeing a pair of PILEATED WOODPECKERS just north of Union Field clinging to the trunk of a tree but leaning away to daintily pluck Poison Ivy berries which dangled nearby. Cayuga Inlet hosted several interesting waterfowl. Although eBird was most impressed by my count of nearly 200 HOODED MERGANSERS in a flock swimming near the Farmers' Market, I was more intrigued by the presence of a sleeping pair of COMMON GOLDENEYE near the border of Newman Golf Course and Jetty Woods (unusual off the lake), 2 female NORTHERN SHOVELERS near the Boatyard Grill (unusual away from the lake or the shallows), and a single DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT diving just north of the NYS-89 bridge (still present despite the cold, but no longer visible from my yard when I arrived home, it was teasing me for not noting a yard-bird date for it yet this year).
In the early afternoon Laurie and I took a walk in Cass Park as far north as the rink. Especially fun for me was seeing a pair of PILEATED WOODPECKERS just north of Union Field clinging to the trunk of a tree but leaning away to daintily pluck Poison Ivy berries which dangled nearby. Cayuga Inlet hosted several interesting waterfowl. Although eBird was most impressed by my count of nearly 200 HOODED MERGANSERS in a flock swimming near the Farmers' Market, I was more intrigued by the presence of a sleeping pair of COMMON GOLDENEYE near the border of Newman Golf Course and Jetty Woods (unusual off the lake), 2 female NORTHERN SHOVELERS near the Boatyard Grill (unusual away from the lake or the shallows), and a single DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT diving just north of the NYS-89 bridge (still present despite the cold, but no longer visible from my yard when I arrived home, it was teasing me for not noting a yard-bird date for it yet this year).
--Dave Nutter
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