I statused the Savannah Mucklands and north end of Cayuga Lake on Tuesday afternoon before the return to winter.
Mucks (east end) - still frozen Mucks (west end) - dabblers and Canada Geese but poor numbers and little diversity for the date. More Pintails than on previous visit but otherwise little evidence of migration and few birds that weren't there two weeks ago. Lots of birds flying about but nothing like it should be. Only two Snow Geese. Cayuga Lake (west shore to Lower Lake Rd) - frozen as far as could be seen from Lower Lake Rd. Ice fishing still viable so I don't think it's opening imminently. Mud Lock - north end entirely frozen. Open water near the railroad bridge with birds. I didn't scope them. Harris Park - two small open spots mostly near the railroad track and halfway across. Packed with birds but distance and heat shimmer a major issue. Increase in Ring-necked ducks. Several Green-winged Teal were the only dabblers that didn't winter there. Several hundred gulls but nothing unusual. Aythya ducks coming in from the south but no roost flight of geese (the small number I saw were traveling west and not stopping). Mucks (sunset) - I thought there might be a roost flight of geese but there was not. My guess is they are going to Seneca Lake at Geneva. Two late and distant Short-eared Owls. Regarding the spring Snow Goose movement, we normally enjoy a pre-flight staging period on Cayuga Lake and at the Mucklands. We may be mostly losing that this year or it may be very short in duration. Snows mostly seem to avoid crossing Lake Ontario, presumably because they have no interest in stopping on it, and sometimes "come back" when they encounter frozen water and farm fields to our north. Much, if not most, of the Cayuga Lake Snow Geese overfly Derby Hill so we should know more before long. David Wheeler N. Syracuse, NY -- 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/ --
