Cayugabirders, I visited Stewart Park this afternoon between 3 and 4:30 and also had a nice variety of species. While many of my counts are similar to those Chris et al. made earlier, I did note a few big differences in the afternoon. These were a big flock of 74 Hooded Mergansers near the Fall Creek outlet, an adult Golden Eagle circling the waterfowl flock, and 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the ice. Given some of the bigger duck numbers reported in the morning, I suspect there was quite a bit of turnover throughout the day.
Location: Stewart Park, Ithaca Observation date: 3/11/10 Notes: excellent afternoon birding at Stewart Park, Ithaca (57 degrees F, 10 mph SE wind, mostly sunny) Number of species: 41 Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 650 American Wigeon - Anas americana 20 American Black Duck - Anas rubripes 30 American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid) - Anas rubripes x platyrhynchos 2 *uncommon - males Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 250 Northern Pintail - Anas acuta 2 Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca 12 Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris 16 Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola 17 Common Goldeneye - Bucephala clangula 8 Hooded Merganser - Lophodytes cucullatus 74 *high, careful count - large flock in the mouth of Fall Creek, displaying and fishing Common Merganser - Mergus merganser 12 Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura 8 Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis 2 Golden Eagle - Aquila chrysaetos 1 *rare at location - my second at Stewart Park; adult flying south down the lake, circling over waterfowl flock, then moving NE up Rt. 13; photos Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus 2 flyover migrants Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 200 Herring Gull - Larus argentatus 570 Iceland Gull - Larus glaucoides 2 *uncommon - both first cycle, one dark and one light bodied, both had pale white primaries Lesser Black-backed Gull - Larus fuscus 6 *high, ties Tompkins Co. high count in eBird - 4 adults, 2 second cycle (missed the first cycle bird seen here yesterday) Great Black-backed Gull - Larus marinus 85 Rock Pigeon - Columba livia 2 Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura 1 Great Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 1 Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 2 Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus 1 Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus 1 American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 5 Fish Crow - Corvus ossifragus 12 Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 2 White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 1 Carolina Wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus 1 Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 1 European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris 25 Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia 1 Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 1 Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus 35 Common Grackle - Quiscalus quiscula 65 Brown-headed Cowbird - Molothrus ater 1 with Red-winged Blackbird/ Common Grackle flock American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis 2 House Sparrow - Passer domesticus 20 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) -- Thomas Brodie Johnson Ithaca, NY t...@cornell.edu mobile: 717.991.5727 -- 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/ --
