After finding rough winds and sun glare at other spots, I hit the jackpot at the south end of Lower Lake Rd on Cayuga Lake's west shore. Many thousands of Snow Geese and ducks were in close (<300 yds), with calm water provided by the ice shelf to the north. Snow Geese numbers started around 20,000+ at 3:45pm, flying out over an hour or so, and ending with 2,000 at 6pm. I think they were waiting for sunny skies and perhaps the wind to let up a little. I couldn't find anything unusual in spite of massive numbers of close birds for a single viewing spot.
At 6:15pm I tried the MNWR Visitor Center and could see a good number of distant Red-winged Blackbirds and the west horizon was loaded with long rivers of Snow Geese (est. 5000 in view at once). Most of these should go by Derby Hill, and the Hawk Counter's report indicates it didn't start today so I'm guessing Saturday or possibly Sunday for a big Snow Goose flight there. I think the Snows want sunny skies and don't care about wind direction. Or they may stage first at the Savannah mucklands..... Lots at Harris Park but bad sun glare. 2 Ruddy Duck north of the railroad bridge and still lots in that area today but far south of Mud Lock. I regret not checking the Northern Montezuma spots, which may have the Canada Geese and dabbling duck diversity. Dave Wheeler N. Syracuse, NY Cayuga Lake--Lower Lake Rd (S of Cayuga Lake SP), Seneca, US-NY Mar 8, 2013 3:45 PM - 6:00 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Water kept calm by ice shelf north of position; sunny; Snow Geese mostly leaving 22 species (+1 other taxa) Snow Goose 20000 Max count at start of period, only 2000 left at end of period; estimates Canada Goose 100 Tundra Swan 500 Gadwall 5 American Wigeon 150 American Black Duck 10 Mallard 100 Northern Pintail 500 Canvasback 500 estimate Redhead 10000 max count at end of period; estimate Ring-necked Duck 20 Greater Scaup X Lesser Scaup X Greater/Lesser Scaup 5000 or more; estimate only Bufflehead 2 Common Goldeneye 5 Hooded Merganser 1 Common Merganser 1000 or more; estimate only Bald Eagle 2 Ring-billed Gull 100 Herring Gull 250 Great Black-backed Gull 5 Black-capped Chickadee 1 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13333550 Montezuma NWR Visitor Center, Seneca, US-NY Mar 8, 2013 6:15 PM - 6:30 PM Protocol: Stationary 2 species (+1 other taxa) Snow Goose 5000 Visible in a long river on the sunlit west horizon Red-winged Blackbird X blackbird sp. 500 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13333712 -- 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/ --
