Hi Cayugabirders! Last year was the first year in the recorded history of Sapsucker Woods that a Great Blue Heron nested in the sanctuary. We had a fun time trying to guess the hatch date, and held an online contest to see who could guess the hatch date & time correctly. This year we're at it again, and I wanted to make sure that local birders found out about it too! Entering your guess only takes about 30s (faster than filling out the census!), and makes you eligible to win some Cornell Lab prizes. Read on if you're interested!
******************************************************* Alright folks, get yer nest monitoring hats on! It's time for the 2nd Annual Sapsucker-Woods-Great-Blue-Heron-Guess-The-Hatch-Date-Competition! Make an educated guess by following the link below and make yourself eligible to win some great Cornell Lab schwag. Contest is open until the end of next week, so get your guess in (only one guess per person, please). Looking forward to seeing your guesses! https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cmRhY1R5dWZpQ2wxWjMwVnBvQ1JYRmc6MA CONTEST INFO: Incubation probably started sometime between Monday, March 29 and Monday, April 5. Whoever guesses closest will win a free copy of "The Bird Watching Answer Book" by Laura Erickson (http://bit.ly/9npqQA). You'll need to provide your email so I can contact you if you win to get your address. If multiple people pick the same time, the winner will be determined by whoever entered the guess first. The next closest guess will receive a copy of "An Evening in Sapsucker Woods," narrated by Cornell Lab founder Arthur Allen (http://bit.ly/ajRzJi). Finally, since we cannot see directly into the nest, the winning "hatch time" will actually be considered the earliest time that myself or anyone working at or visiting the Lab reports seeing evidence of hatching (e.g. visual confirmation of hatchling, removal of eggshells from nest, adults bringing food to nest). I visually check the nest 4-5 times/day between 8 am and 5 pm, as do many of our staff, so the first report could happen at any time! Good luck, and good birding : ) ****************************************** Charles Eldermire Public Education Outreach Associate Manager, Sapsucker Woods & Johnson Visitors' Center Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd. Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 254-1131 (607) 254-2111 [fax] birds.cornell.edu<http://birds.cornell.edu> twitter.com/sapsuckerwoods<http://twitter.com/sapsuckerwoods> facebook.com/<http://facebook.com/> -- 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/ --
