I went up to Northern Montezuma area to see if the sandhill pair has returned. No sign of them, but I did find a single SANDHILL CRANE hunkered down in the tall grasses off the end of Morgan Rd. It appears to be an immature, as the light-colored area under the eye is dirtyish and not bright white as seen in breeding plumage. It later moved to corn stubble south of Carncross Rd. where it wandered about, appearing disconsolate and staring off to the south, hoping for compatriots. Other sightings for the day included 5 GREAT BLUE HERONS, 6 N. HARRIERS, a pair of BLUE-WINGED TEAL, 7 MEADOWLARKS, hundreds of PINTAILS, and a singing HORNED LARK. The scads of SNOW GEESE continue at the north end of the lake. The illustrative behavior moment occurred at the end of VanDyne Spoor Rd. The wandering tribe of immature BALD EAGLES moved in and settled on the ice. There were 9. I then noticed a mink humping over the ice and headed toward the destructive force of 9 rapacious beaks, and 18 crushing talons. Nothing happened; it went on by. Maybe the eagles were drawing straws. Finally one of them flapped twice and glided silently after the mink. I thought, poor mink. But just as the eagle reached its prey, the mink whirled and leaped at the bird. The eagle veered off and landed on the ice a short distance away. I thought, that couldn't happen again--but it did! Exactly the same sequence with a second eagle. The unscathed mink finally reached the shore. Tough little bugger.
Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/ --
