[cayugabirds-l] Northern Goshawk, Short-eared Owls, etc.
This morning after dropping Brendan and Laurie at their schools (too cold to walk, they said) I had no obligations, so I went birding for the entire rest of the day. What? Me? Compulsive? >From East Shore Park I saw GREAT BLACK-BACKED and HERRING GULLS hunkered on >the ice. If there were lighter gulls I couldn't distinguish them from the >lumps of ice in the shimmer. There were few ducks to be seen, mainly COMMON >MERGANSERS. I saw no Peregrine on Bradfield. I found no Northern Shrikes in Tompkins County, so I headed north. I still didn't find any, but I found other stuff. A walk along Salt Rd in Summerhill revealed COMMON RAVEN noises, about a dozen BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, and one each of RED-TAILED HAWK, BLUE JAY, AMERICAN CROW, and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. I found no winter finches at Summerhill or the nearby feeders. As I drove off on Dresser Rd I slid to a stop at the sight of a fairly close, low, and openly perched adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK. Despite not having time to get my binoculars up, I saw the massive body with longer-than-buteo tail, the evenly whitish underside as it sunned itself, the dark cap and white brow, and when it turned and flew, the plain blue-gray back, wings and tail. I wandered west toward Long Point, where from Lake Rd (Ledyard) I saw my first 2010 basin AMERICAN KESTREL on a roadside wire. As I tried to photograph it it flew, but not from me (yet). It dropped to the ditch and caught a small rodent. After subduing it, the Kestrel carried its prey up to the wire, and then over toward posts by the vinyard. Then I finally got some crummy photos. At the entrance to Long Point State Park I found several EASTERN BLUEBIRDS and a NORTHERN FLICKER (more crummy photos to add to my 2010 crummy photo collection). There were lots of CANADA GEESE and MALLARDS and a few AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS lounging on the shore. In the bay to the north were a few COMMON GOLDENEYE. Aurora Bay was surprisingly watery. The Redhead flocks which had recently covered so much were gone today. An EASTERN SCREECH-OWL was sunning itself in the Union Springs Factory Street pond box, and there were a handful of REDHEADS, GADWALLS, and MALLARDS below. The Mill Pond had mainly MALLARDS and a few BUFFLEHEADS. I passed my second male AMERICAN KESTREL on a roadside wire on NYS 90 north of Union Springs. >From Harris Park in the Village of Cayuga I finally found 3 MUTE SWANS in the >polynya beyond the breakwater. In the bay north of the railroad tracks there >were scores of TUNDRA SWANS, but I was not confident picking out Trumpeter >Swans among them today. There were no swans evident at Mud Lock, nor did I >see any Bald Eagles there. I did find an adult BALD EAGLE perched near the nest on Armitage Rd. A dark ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was trying out perches along the edge of the frozen pond below the Knox-Marsellus overlook on East Rd. Two immature BALD EAGLES were perched by the Clyde River near the dam by May's Point. West of the intersection of NYS 89 and Wyers Point Rd I saw my third male AMERICAN KESTREL of the day. Why did it take me a month to find any inside the basin, then suddenly I see so many? Finding myself halfway down the west side of the lake around sunset, I checked out the area in Ovid around the intersection of Center Rd and Co Rd 129, but found no owls. However, at 5:30pm from Rock River Rd I saw 3 SHORT-EARED OWLS. First I saw 2 flying fairly high together, then they settled down and flew lower, and I saw a third in the distance. One of them came very close to the road and made a sudden dive into the weeds where it sat half hidden but turning its head rapidly and frequently. After a few minutes it carried its small-mammal prey to a slightly more open area nearby, and I could watch through my scope as it tore bites. I was surprised, as I thought owls tended to swallow such things whole. I also took some really miserable photos as the light disappeared. --Dave Nutter -- 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] Syracuse RBA
RBA * New York * Syracuse * February 01, 2010 * NYSY 0102.10 Hotline: Syracuse Rare bird Alert Dates(s): January 25, 2009 - February 01, 2010 to report by e-mail: brinjoseph AT yahoo.com covering upstate NY counties: Cayuga, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) (just outside Cayuga County), Onondaga, Oswego, Lewis, Jefferson, Oneida, Herkimer, Madison & Cortland compiled:February 01 AT 6:00 p.m. (EST) compiler: Joseph Brin Onondaga Audubon Homepage: www.onondagaaudubon.org #190 -Monday February 01, 2010 Greetings! This is the Syracuse Area Rare Bird Alert for the week of January 25 , 2009 Highlights: --- NORTHERN GOSHAWK RED-SHOULDERED HAWK ICELAND GULL LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL GLAUCOUS GULL HAWK OWL (Extralimital) COMMON RAVEN YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER SAVANNAH SPARROW FOX SPARROW SONG SPARROW Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) and Montezuma Wetlands Complex (MWC) 1/27: A SAVANNAH SPARROW was found with Tree Sparrows in the Mucklands along Rt. 31. Madison County 1/26: Two ICELAND GULLS and one LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL were found at the Madison County Landfill on Buyea Road. On the 28th. the 2 ICELAND GULLS were relocated. Onondaga County 1/27: 6 COMMON RAVENS were seen at the Andrews road feeder canal near Rt.481in Dewitt. 1/28: 1 COMMON RAVEN was found at the Carpenter’s Brook Fish Hatchery. 1/31 A SONG SPARROW was seen near Simm’s Store on the Erie Canal near Camillus. On Laird Road on the Erie Canal a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER and a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK were found. 1/31: As of Sunday 1/31 the YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was still being seen at 242 Thurber Ave. in Syracuse. A group of birders tried but missed the bird today (2/1) but it still may be in the area. Oswego County 1/29: 1 ICELAND GULL was seen in Oswego Harbor and 2 ICELAND GULLS were seen at Lock 3 in Fulton. 1/30: An adult GLAUCOUS GULL and 2 ICELAND GULLS were seen at Lock 3 in Fulton. A NORTHERN GOSHAWK was seen near Pennelville. 1/31: 1 GLAUCOUS GULL was seen on the ice in Oswego Harbor and another was found upriver at Lock 6. An ICELAND GULL was seen above the falls in Phoenix. Herkimer County 1/30: A FOX SPARROW is still frequenting a feeder near Ceder Lake. Extralimital - 1/31: A NORTHERN HAWK OWL continues to be seen on Prospect Street in the village of Champlain in Clinton County near the Canadian border. --end transcript -- Joseph Brin Region 5 Baldwinsville, N.Y. 13027 U.S.A. -- 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] Bald Eagle
An adult Bald Eagle just flew south over my office window! A pair of Red-tails seem to be in the vicinity too and seem to be going to Vet tower often. may be they are thinking of making it a home! Meena Meena Haribal Boyce Thompson Institute Ithaca NY 14850 phone 607 2541258 webpage: http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ http://haribal.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/wildwest+trip+August+2007+.pdf Current Loc: 42o 25' 44.48" N, 76o 28' 16.90" W Elev 816 ft or 248.7 m Formerly: 19o 0' 41,65" N, 72o 51' 13.02" E Elev 33 ft or 10m -- 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/ --
Re:[cayugabirds-l] Evening Grosbeak
The previously mentioned Evening Grosbeak showed up at my feeders for a short while again this morning at about 9:30. Bill Baker - This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ -- 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] Redhead raft
A huge raft of mostly Redheads is assembling near the southwest ice edge north of Hog Hole. Elaina -- 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/ --
