A few observations this morning from northeast Ithaca and adjacent areas:
Pectoral Sandpiper: 2 in the usual field along Hanshaw Road, just west of
the mouth of Sapsucker Woods Road. These are the first I have seen here
since Sunday (16 October), when there were four present (before a dog walker
There is currently an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER in the goldenrod patch between
the frog barn and Sapsucker Woods Road, on the east side of Sapsucker Woods
Road south of the main sanctuary, first found by Tom Schulenberg a little
earlier this morning. It is being extremely secretive and staying below
I just checked the George Road pond. The waterfowl diversity was not
spectacular. I saw several Northern Pintail, ~20 Green-winged Teal, six
American Black Ducks, lots of Mallards, and one Mallard x American Black
Duck hybrid. I did not see any coots, although Kevin saw 10 AMERICAN COOTS,
an
On my route through my regular Mundy walk, I came across a smart looking, fresh
plumaged Eastern phoebe calling, a plump Hermit thrush in the undergrowth
trying to put on more weight, several Yellow-rumped warblers. No OCWA for me, I
was hoping to find one.
I was wondering how much weight they
Migrating birds put on huge amounts of fat. The weights of Hermit Thrushes
skinned here at Cornell range from 23 g to 37 g, about the same as the other
thrush species. The 14 g difference is likely a difference in accumulated fat.
For Swainson's Thrush the range is 23 to 45 g, nearly a
Thanks Kevin for the details of amounts of weight the birds put on migration.
As for today's Hermit Thrush being cold to look plump, it was not definitely
cold. I know they do fluff their feathers even when they are alarmed, bird was
feeding normally. It may not have been the fat, it just
