[cayugabirds-l] Finger Lakes Birdquest reminder
Hello all (and apologies for cross-posting), I'm forwarding this message that Mark Chao posted earlier this month. Please consider taking advantage of this nice opportunity to get out in the field with Mark, and visit some beautiful locations. One heads-up...the deer tick population at Lindsay-Parsons Preserve in West Danby is quite high. Please take appropriate precautions! * The fifth annual Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest (SBQ) will take place over Memorial Day weekend, May 29-31, 2010. The purpose of the SBQ is to celebrate our local breeding birds and the Land Trust's role in preserving their vital habitats. During the weekend, I'll be birding Finger Lakes Land Trust preserves, keeping a count of species I observe, and collecting pledges per species. All proceeds benefit the Land Trust. In this way, other birders and I have found over 115 species (including 22+ warbler species) and have raised over $17,000 on past SBQ weekends to support the Land Trust's work in protecting some of the most scenic and biologically important lands in our region. Please contact me off list if you would like to make a pledge toward my tally this year, or if you are interested in birding and raising pledges yourself. In addition to counting species and raising funds, I'll also be leading bird walks at four Land Trust preserves over the weekend. Saturday, May 29 8:00 AM McIlroy Bird Sanctuary Summerhill (Cayuga County) Sunday, May 30 8:00 AM Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve West Danby Monday, May 31 6:30 AM Goetchius Wetland Preserve Caroline Monday, May 31 8:30 AM Park Nature Preserve Dryden All walks will depart promptly from the parking areas of the respective preserves. For directions, see http://fllt.org/protected_lands/index.php. All walks will last approximately two hours, except the one at Goetchius, which will be shorter. The bird walks are free, but donations to the Land Trust are encouraged. Whether you decide to make a donation or not, I would be delighted if some of you would consider attending one or more of these walks. I think that there is no better birding in our region than at these preserves in late May. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks for your consideration! Mark Chao Ithaca markc...@earthlink.net -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Star Stanton Hill
I walked up, around, and down Star Stanton Hill this morning, mainly on Trail Y-2. At the top, it was a different experience from what I usually find. The hard freeze of a couple weeks ago killed the newly emerged sugar maple leaves, and it took out most of the leaves of the red oaks as well. Even the trembling aspen had significant leaf die-off. As a consequence, it was bright and airy on the trail; even Dryden Lake was visible. Problem was that the warblers were not there. This is usually a good place for hooded warblers, etc., but I heard only 1 song from 1 CANADA. The RED-EYED VIREOS, VEERYS, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS, AND SCARLET TANAGERS were there in their usual numbers, however. I'm not sure whether the cold killed the caterpillars and other bugs the warblers feed on, or whether the insects had nothing to eat and succumbed. Maybe there is just not enough cover for the small birds in the treetops. The white ash has leafed out well, but this is probably because their leaves had not yet emerged when the cold hit. It was so quiet at one point coming down that I heard the complete song of a BLACKBURNIAN. My hearing is so bad that this is the first time that I can remember hearing it-I didn't know what it was until I located it foraging. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Etna, Genung, McIlroy (FLLT SBQ), Sat 5/29
On Saturday morning, eleven birders joined me for a walk at the Dorothy McIlroy Bird Sanctuary in Summerhill. As Karen kindly mentioned earlier, this was the first of four free public walks over the weekend as part of the Finger Lakes Land Trust Spring Bird Quest (SBQ). Including stops at the Land Trust's Etna Nature Preserve and the Genung Nature Preserve in Freeville, as well as the group walk, Bob McGuire and I found 60 species in a morning of pretty relaxed birding. See below for highlights from all three sites. Mark Chao ___ 1. Etna Nature Preserve Route 366 near Route 13, Etna 6:35-6:45 AM and 11:20 AM 19 species, including YELLOW-THROATED VIREO The Yellow-throated Vireo was quite a nice surprise, singing from somewhere across Fall Creek. Almost equally gratifying were easy encounters with House Wren, House Finch, and Downy Woodpecker, which, despite their ubiquity around town, have been very difficult to find during past SBQs. 2. Genung Nature Preserve Route 38, Freeville 6:50-7:05 AM and 11:15 AM 27 species, including PINE WARBLER, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, and BLUE-WINGED WARBLER Last year I missed Pine Warbler here, but today, Bob and I found it smoothly trilling right along the road, just where I had found it in May in past years. We did not walk the trail loop. 3. Dorothy McIlroy Bird Sanctuary Lake Como Road, Summerhill 7:30-10:30 AM 48+ species, including NORTHERN GOSHAWK, RUFFED GROUSE, YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, ALDER FLYCATCHER, WILLOW FLYCATCHER, EASTERN KINGBIRD, WINTER WREN, EASTERN BLUEBIRD, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, OVENBIRD, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, and PURPLE FINCH. Before our group walk began, Bob and I heard a rather distant warbler singing up the slope and across the road from the beginning of Lane A by the road. The song consisted of four or five straight high notes, with no emphatic ending. I thought that this might be a very late boreal warbler (it sounded more like Cape May than Bay-breasted), but we couldn't confirm it by sight. In the sanctuary itself, we missed a lot of the songbirds that I would have expected, including Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, and Canada Warbler. Still, I thought that the birding was nonetheless quite excellent. The greatest highlight was surely the Northern Goshawk. As we were just gathering in the parking lot, it rose up above the treetops and offered a brief but electrifying view of its steely gray underside and broad-winged shape. The bird then descended into the very center of the preserve and sounded several call notes. It was the first time I've ever heard the famed nesting call of this species -- pure and proud as a clarion but so penetrating as to be a little unsettling. Now I understand why many field guides say that the call sounds wild. Also around the parking lot, we had scope views of a pair of Eastern Bluebirds tending a nest box and glimpses of two Yellow-billed Cuckoos (one flying across, one briefly perched in a gap in the foliage). In the woods, viewing was difficult as expected, but the Winter Wren's repeated singing kept us plenty entertained. Right by the platform, we saw five chickadees fledging one by one from a nest. They looked like adults except for their slightly shorter tails, yellow gapes, labored flight, and generally clueless demeanor. We also saw an active kingbird nest about 25 meters in front of us. We couldn't see much of the young in the cavity, except the rounded tops of their little heads. -- 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/ --
