Saturday nine of Ithaca’s best, most enthusiastic, birders joined me
for a jaunt up the lake. When I left the house to meet at the Lab the morning
was so snowy it seemed like a replay of February. When we arrived at Myer’s
Point the heavy blowing snow limited visibility to about 100 yards off-shore.
Small flocks of Blackbirds moved overhead, mostly GRACKLES. There was a calling
KILLDEER and a juvenile ICELAND GULL in the mixed Gull flock on the spit.
REDHEAD, CANVASBACK, RING-NECKED, MALLARD, A. BLACK DUCKS, COMMON MERGANSERS,
BUFFLEHEAD, CANADA GEESE, and C. GOLDENEYE made up the bulk of the waterfowl
along with a pair of WOOD DUCKS. Three WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS fed very close to
shore providing excellent viewing. A run over to the Marina side added A. COOT,
HOODED MERGANSERS, LESSER and GREATER SCAUP and Red-winged Blackbird. The south
wind was too brisk for a long session here.
We thought Salt Point would allow better viewing of the cove which
wasn’t visible in the blowing snow. This was the best spot for comfort serving
up 2+ RUSTY BLACKBIRDS in a mixed RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD / COMMON GRACKLE flock.
Susan and others managed to get the Rusty’s in their scope for nice satisfying
views. The NW point had a group of 20 TUNDRA SWANS, 3 WOOD DUCKS and 4
GREEN-WINGED TEAL mixed in with the same menu of ducks as the previous stops. 2
RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS got added to the list along with a good assortment of
terrestrial birds. A KILLDEER again here with an AMERICAN PIPIT feeding along
the shoreline. We had at least one SONG SPARROW in the shrubs with Cardinal,
House Finch, Chickadees, Blue Jays, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpecker. I always
think I shortchange myself by not stopping here more often. It can have the
best diversity of the three typical Myer’s stops.
It was now time to head north spending quality time drying out and
warming up in the car. The snow was wet and so were we with foggy optics. I was
excited to try and find an Eastern Meadowlark along Lake Road in Aurora. We
weren’t able to pick up one on arriving, but had good view of HORNED LARKS with
male and female NORTHERN HARRIER. From here we dropped down to Long Point S.P.
There, on the north side, away from the wind, was a mixed assortment of ducks
like on previous stops. There was a tight flock of six WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS,
several HORNED GREBES bobbed in the waves and big groups of RED-BREASTED,
COMMON and HOODED MERGANSERS. Two COMMON LOONS were spotted, but no
Red-throated Loon although we had a report of some from a birder on Lake Road.
We made one more stop, at the Aurora boathouse, before attacking
Dorie’s for snacks. The same mix of AYTHYA as Long Point with more Horned
Grebes. The Grebes were very distant so we couldn’t pull out an Eared Grebe if
one was present. There was one BALD EAGLE near the nest and another flying back
down the lake.
Dorie’s was wonderful as usual so we arrived in Union Springs recharged
and checked the ponds. Factory Street was skimpy, but did have GADWALL, Redhead
and Ring-necked Duck. No Shovelers or Blue-winged Teal as we had hoped. The
Cheese Factory pond was fairly active with both Scaup, Bufflehead, Ring-necked
Duck, Redhead and the surprise lingering 2 RED-NECKED GREBES. I was thrilled
they were still here sporting their near breeding plumage. It’s not often you
can see this species so close and contained on Cayuga Lake.
As the lake was still frozen solid this far north Frontenac Parks’s
small open water area was very busy with TUNDRA SWANS, GADWALL, A. BLACK DUCK,
MALLARD, NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, CANVASBACK, REDHEAD, both SCAUP,
RING-NECKED DUCKS with some COMMON MERGANSERS. A KILLDEER walked the ice edge
for tidbits and our first TURKEY VULTURE of the day meant it was clearing up to
just rain.
On to Harris Park in Cayuga where the open strip of water was jamb
packed with good numbers of waterfowl. Here we added AMERICAN WIGEON and a
surprise LONG-TAILED DUCK playing hide and seek among the crowded ice channel.
This is one of my favorite ducks to see at any time.
Towpath Machine was snowed in so we snuck in behind Beacon Feed
Boatworks to scan the open channel of water. As can often be the case here
large numbers of Swans gather. We saw 4 MUTE SWANS, but the huge flock of
TUNDRA SWANS was distant and hazy so picking out Trumpeter Swan didn’t work. We
cut this stop short because I was hoping we could find Sandhill Cranes farther
north of Montezuma.
Lunch at Nice n Easy launched us on to Morgan Road where Cranes had
been reported. The days first E.BLUEBIRD and A. KESTREL joined the total just
before the parking area. We scanned hard, but couldn’t find any Sandhills.
There were two nice ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and an adult BALD EAGLE. Another Eagle
sitting on the ground gave me hope for a Golden Eagle with some tantalizing
clues, but it was just too hidden and far to be sure. We drove over to
Carncross Road hoping for a better view. All we saw here were Bald Eagles
including a 1st year bird. I think that was the same mystery bird we studied.
At this point it was 2:30 so we called it an official day and split up to head
back to Ithaca. Paul, Klaus and Jay headed home, but a few of us couldn’t give
up quite yet on Sandhill Crane. Donna headed to the MAC. Bob, Ken and Diane to
East Road. and Susan, Ann and myself to the mucklands Just as we pulled in to
the potato barn Bob called to say they had one Crane in the Knox-Marcellus
field. It flew, but they tried to keep a lasso on it until we arrived. As we
passed the crop-dusting airport the SANDHILL CRANE passed overhead flying
lazily to the north on a trajectory to Armitage Road. This was a great, near
miss, ending to a fun day of birding, with friends that continue to inspire.
Gary
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