Re: [cayugabirds-l] Use of GPS Coordinates

2011-12-18 Thread Linda Orkin
Hey All, I'm no expert and perhaps that makes my two cents more valuable. All I seem to need are the numbers and the first decimal point to be able to successfully plug the locations into both my car GPS and my iPhone. It would seem that anyone that needed a more sophisticated way of listing

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Use of GPS Coordinates

2011-12-18 Thread Judy Read
Probably more important than DD (degrees decimal) or DMS (degrees minutes seconds) is that all submitted data uses the same system. Most common are NAD 27 and WGS 84. Everyone taking GPS coordinates in the field needs to use the same data system when submitting the DD or DMS to you. But back

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Decimal degrees

2011-12-18 Thread Carl Steckler
What it really boils down to is how accurate you want to get. I f you start at the extreme 1 second is approximately 90 feet give or take depending on your location. That means that one minute is roughly equal to 5,400 feet and one degree 324,000 feet. So if you take 1/10th of a degree you get

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Decimal degrees

2011-12-18 Thread Geo Kloppel
The metric Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates were pretty convenient for pinpointing locations on printed USGS topos, as UTM grid ticks are shown in the margins. The block grid of the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas follows UTM. I still have a few USGS sheets on which I

[cayugabirds-l] Iceland Gull Compost Piles

2011-12-18 Thread bob mcguire
John and Karen Confer and I spent a sunny hour at the compost piles this morning from 8:30 to 9:30. The Iceland Gull recently seen by Dave Nutter and others was present from the beginning. As the morning progressed, scores of additional gulls streamed in from the direction of the Lake. We

[cayugabirds-l] GPS Coordinates

2011-12-18 Thread bob mcguire
OK, OK!! We will go with the decimal degrees format. It does appear to be the most straight forward. Thanks for all of your responses. Now, get outside and enjoy the day! Bob -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME

[cayugabirds-l] Ithaca Christmas Bird Count on the Radio tonight. And can someone remind me what our count week is please?

2011-12-18 Thread Linda Orkin
Hey Everyone, Just got confirmation of this a little while ago. I will be speaking on WVBR tonight at 6:40. I think it will mostly be about the Christmas Bird Count and perhaps a little bit about the club. (I hope) I invite you to tune in if you have the time. Shin Hollow Radio Shin Hollow

[cayugabirds-l] CayugRBA SNOWY OWL far south

2011-12-18 Thread 6072292158
CayugRBA SNOWY OWL far south of NYS-31 in mucklands, Montezuma 340pm --Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm

[cayugabirds-l] Goshawk??

2011-12-18 Thread Caroline Manring
I was just walking on Hopkins road near the Medical Center and a large raptor went over south to north, leaving a large stand of trees to head for another, bigger one across a field. I had no binoculars, and it was fairly far off (at least 300 yards at its closest) --It appeared very dark (the

[cayugabirds-l] Snowy Owl, etc.

2011-12-18 Thread Dave Nutter
This afternoon I took a relaxed trip up the west side of Cayuga Lake to the mucklands along NYS-31 west of the Village of Montezuma. I did not fortify myself with scrapple per Steve Fast's recommendation, but perhaps my overly-spicy Italian sausages from yesterday had some lingering effects,

[cayugabirds-l] Hog Hole yesterday -- Thayer's Gull, 4 geese sp.

2011-12-18 Thread Christopher Wood
Sorry for the late post. Yesterday evening I went to Hog Hole where the Thayer's Gull was resting on the docks in the marina. Other highlights below. Hog Hole Ithaca, Tompkins, US-NY Dec 17, 2011 4:01 PM - 4:51 PM Protocol: Traveling 0.9 mile(s) Comments:     I came here to see if there were any

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Use of GPS Coordinates

2011-12-18 Thread Elaina McCartney
Another use of these coordinates is tagging photography--taking a picture of a bird with a gps-capable camera produces the coordinates where the bird was sighted (actually, where the birder was standing when the bird was sighted). Looking on flickr, I see the flickr map function uses the decimal

RE: [cayugabirds-l] Use of GPS Coordinates

2011-12-18 Thread Jody W Enck
Hi Bob, Great question as I know different folks relate differently to numbers. My personal preference is the decimal degrees for lat-long. That is what I have my hand-held GPS unit set to. Jody Jody W. Enck, PhD. Research Associate, Human Dimensions Research Unit Department of

[cayugabirds-l] Decimal degrees

2011-12-18 Thread Chris Pelkie
I would STRONGLY advocate for decimal degrees. That does not mean degrees plus decimal minutes by the way. I'm engaged in building a database for our worldwide deployments of acoustic listening devices and believe me, the 17 different ways people write down locations are a nightmare to encode

[cayugabirds-l] R-w Blackbird

2011-12-18 Thread Annette Nadeau
The Red-winged Blackbird (male) I reported earlier in the week is at my feeders this morning here in Brooktondale. Annette -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Use of GPS Coordinates

2011-12-18 Thread J. Gary Kohlenberg
My most common use is to plunk the DD decimal degrees coordinates into Google Maps on my phone. It works 100% of the time. My GPS mapping program uses DD or DMS. The other GPS driving applications I use, GPS Drive and MapQuest, always seem to get confused so I have to enter locations in

[cayugabirds-l] spectacular viewing Stewart Park

2011-12-18 Thread Kenneth Victor Rosenberg
If anyone is heading downtown in Ithaca, I recommend a stop at Stewart Park - with the bright sun and calm lake, the thousands of geese, ducks, and gulls, offer an unusually spectacular view. Many of the birds are in very close. Among the thousands of CANADA GEESE, MALLARDS, and the common 3

[cayugabirds-l] Towhee

2011-12-18 Thread Marilyn Ray
Folks...We have been having visits from a male Rufous-sided Towhee over the last several weeks. He is landing on our deck and enjoying the seeds dropped from several feeders. We have lived in this house on the Ithaca edge of Brooktondale and had feeders out for over 25 years, and only once

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Towhee

2011-12-18 Thread Linda Orkin
It is rare but not totally unheard of. There are some Nov. Dec and Jan ebird reports for them And yes, Towhees are in the sparrow family, so feed on the ground. This is cool, do you have any idea if you are in the count circle for the Christmas Bird Count. You can check that out on our bird club

RE: [cayugabirds-l] spectacular viewing Stewart Park

2011-12-18 Thread Susan Fast
I guess the other 99+% of the geese are no-good? -Original Message- From: bounce-39017438-9286...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-39017438-9286...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Kenneth Victor Rosenberg Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 2:29 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l]

RE: [cayugabirds-l] Towhee

2011-12-18 Thread Kevin J. McGowan
Eastern Towhee is indeed an unusual bird around here at this time of the year. It has been recorded on the Ithaca Christmas Count 17 of the last 48 years. Rarely do we ever record more than one, although last year we had two. High count was six in 1982. Kevin From:

Re: [cayugabirds-l] CayugRBA SNOWY OWL far south

2011-12-18 Thread Kenneth Victor Rosenberg
Another (or the same?) SNOWY OWL was just reported flying across Tschache Pool at Montezuma NWR. They're coming Ken Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) k...@cornell.edu On Dec 18, 2011, at 3:40 PM, 6072292...@vtext.com

Re: [cayugabirds-l] CayugRBA SNOWY OWL far south

2011-12-18 Thread Tim Lenz
This snowy owl is probably the same bird and is now in the back of tschache pool next to a tiny polynya filled with terrified coots! On Sunday, December 18, 2011, Kenneth Victor Rosenberg k...@cornell.edu wrote: Another (or the same?) SNOWY OWL was just reported flying across Tschache Pool at

Re: [cayugabirds-l] spectacular viewing Stewart Park

2011-12-18 Thread Dave Nutter
Keep an eye out for a gorgeous male WOOD DUCK at the south end of the lake. I saw it off Stewart Park on Wednesday 14 December. Sorry I forgot to post it, as that was a busy taxi day. On 10 December I also saw a flock of about 20 NORTHERN PINTAIL off Stewart among the CANADA GEESE. They took