date:20120210

Re: [cayugabirds-l] 2 or 3 Grebes??

2012-02-10 Thread Kenneth Victor Rosenberg

amorphous Aechmorphorus?


Ken Rosenberg
Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
607-254-2412
607-342-4594 (cell)
k...@cornell.edu

On Feb 9, 2012, at 10:20 PM, Gary Kohlenberg wrote:

I cruised up the lake after work to see the big Aythya flock and hopefully the 
Grebes. The Aythya flock was present and very impressive with the reddish light 
of sunset bringing out the colors.
I shared the spectacle with artist and photographer Bill Roberts of Aurora and 
the campground owner Carl Rindfleisch. As much as I dislike counting large 
numbers of amorphous seething life I estimated 16,500 birds with 93% of them 
Redheads.
Both WESTERN GREBES swam together on the far side of the flock. In the short 
time I was able to watch them they were always very close to each other. If the 
distance were shorter I could have gotten decent photos of the pair as did Jay 
and Tom. I also think that the lighter of the pair looks most like the one I 
observed at Treman Marine.
If they stay here through the weekend we may get a definitive answer to the 2 
vs 3 mystery. Some timely text messages and calm water should help. My bet is 
on two.
Gary


On Feb 9, 2012, at 7:17 PM, Dave Nutter wrote:

For what it's worth, this afternoon I scanned the lake from Treman Marine Park 
with very good viewing conditions - calm, sun behind me, air temperature 
somewhat above water temperature, and saw  ZERO grebes of any kind, although I 
did see 1 RED-THROATED LOON and at least 4 COMMON LOONS

I think the lighter of the two grebes Tom photographed at Twin Oaks looks like 
the one I saw in the southwest area of the lake. I saw a similarly extensive 
and bright white patch on the secondaries, and noted pale flecks on the flank. 
The whitish loral spot on the lighter Twin Oaks bird was present on both the 
Myers bird and the one in the southwest part of the lake.  Points in favor of 
Western Grebe for the bird in the southwest part of Cayuga Lake include: broad 
dark hind-neck (photo by Gary Kohlenberg), vocalizations (notes by Gary 
Kohlenberg), dull bill with dark line on top and below. I have no experience 
with these birds in winter, so I'm not trying to argue one way or the other, 
just summarizing some points. I'll be surprised if there are actually 3 birds, 
but then again I'm surprised by just one!
--Dave Nutter

On Feb 09, 2012, at 06:40 PM, david nicosia 
mailto:daven1...@yahoo.com>> wrote:

It is apparently inconclusive if there has been 2 or 3
Western-type Grebes on Cayuga Lake. Tom Johnson's
question of Western X Clark's Grebe is
intriguing since one of the two birds he and Jay
had looks similar to the one at the southern end
of the Lake that I photographed on Saturday.
When I saw Chris Wood's photos, his bird struck
me as being darker like the other bird Jay and
Tom had. Anyway...

Chris Wood's are here: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/6673386795/in/photostream/

Tom's are here:   http://www.flickr.com/bonxie88

Mine are here: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/6818823433/in/set-72157629174516367/

Are they the same birds? or impossible to tell?

In any event, 2 western grebe's or 1 western
and 1 western x clark's is amazing3 of these
birds is unfathomable!

Dave Nicosia


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[cayugabirds-l] Castelli's Marina in Union Springs

2012-02-10 Thread John and Fritzie Blizzard

Over the yrs., with no problems that I know of, many have birded & walked at 
the marina here in Union Springs. 

Last yr. the marina was sold & re-named Frontenac Marine. I was there on Tues. 
& Wed.  no problem. Yesterday, when Becky & I went down, a boat had 
been parked across the driveway. Today a yellow NO TRESSPASSING sign was up. 

Soo  Do your birding from Frontenac Park where the boat launch is. 

On a happier note, Becky & I tried again today to see the w. grebes from the 
home of a friend about 10 a.m.. The T. swans & great rafts of ducks were well 
north of Yawger Creek & Twin Oaks. We finally had to give up to run errands but 
a flyover adult B. Eagle was a treat.

After lunch we went back to Twin Oaks where we met up with Dave Wheeler from 
Syr. & the Clements from Elmira. Only thing of interest was a MINK on the ice 
in the "inner harbor." It dove several times through the slush ice & came up 
with some creature that it ate. That was a treat . to the mink & us. Becky 
got a picture of it.

 Dave followed us out a new un-named road at the RR tracks ... too far north & 
the birds were in a siesta mode but Dave managed to spot the very distant 
western grebes. So, we led him back to the home of our friend, closer to the 
rafts. There he re-found them amidst that mass of feathers & we finally got to 
see the elusive, beautiful grebes. Becky had seen them often in her 32 yrs. in 
CO, both Western & Clark's. I saw a Clark's there in '02.

Dave took pictures so hopefully he will post them. The rafts were moving back 
south, apparently due to 2 big pieces of noisy equipment working on the lake 
shore. 

So tonight several more of us can go to bed feeling triumphant that we saw what 
we had diligently sought. With thanks to all,

Fritzie Blizzard & Becky Sewell















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[cayugabirds-l] Fairhaven to Sodus Bay- Trumpeter Swan, King Eider

2012-02-10 Thread Michael and Joann Tetlow

 Today Sterling pond in Fairhaven SP was mostly open with 4 Hooded
Mergansers and 6 Ring-necked Ducks being the highlights.  Just like the
pairs of Canada geese at just about every pond, iced over or not, 2
Trumpeter Swans were on a small pond at the corner of Larkin Road and
Cemetery road in Wolcott.

Large numbers of Redhead, Greater Scaup and White-winged Scoters were
spread out from Sodus Point to Eagle Island with lesser numbers of Long
Tailed Ducks, Common Mergansers, Lesser Scaup, Canvasback and Coot. 6
Gadwall were south of the Ridge Road bridge on the SE edge of the bay.  

Even though the scoters were all in the bay, the female King Eider was
still close in the outlet opposite the parking lot with the large
concentration of Long-tailed ducks.  At 4pm,  4 Common Loons that had been
scattered around the bay swam and dove their way out to the lake for the
night.  Mike Tetlow 

 


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[cayugabirds-l] Top of the lake visit

2012-02-10 Thread K. Hartquist

I stopped at many of the places Anne Marie did, only at different times (except 
for the Western Grebes at 10:30ish.) What truly amazes me is how much of a 
"snapshot" each of our visits really is and how much can change by the time the 
next birder arrives at a spot. What is there when we aren't looking?

After my Twin Oaks stop, I headed south to Aurora (Wells college Boathouse), 
where Anne Marie had just been but I found 13 HORNED GREBES. It's certainly 
possible one could have been eared, but they were pretty far out and I saw 
nothing different enough to consider. There were also about 250 COOTS and a 
mottled CROW, numerous white blotches, the rest seemed sort of brownish instead 
of jet black. (Couldn't get a pic before it left.) Across the lake and a little 
south from Aurora were 1000s of SNOW GEESE. Visible in scope with many coming 
in, but impossible to see the depth of the long line from that far.

After this stop, I decided to go back up north and around to the west side. On 
a whim, I stopped again at Twin Oaks. This time, no obvious Western Grebes. The 
geese had scattered, the redheads (etc.) were still  thick in the distance 
(north). They were likely with the redheads, but impossible to pick out. I 
didn't spend as much time since I had seen them earlier. There were also two 
BALD EAGLES - one adult, one juvenile - feeding on something on the shore. (not 
a grebe, the eagles were there earlier too.)

At the very north end of the lake, off River road? (I'm not sure where best to 
see this section, or what you call it), there were lots of various ducks and 
geese. RINGNECKS, WIGEON, CANVASBACK, GADWALL, to name some.

Finally I got to Dean's Cove which seems to be across the lake from Aurora and 
now those snow geese were back across the lake on the east side! From Dean's 
cove, I saw 7 REDBREASTED MERGS and 2 COMMON LOONS close in.

A fun day on Cayuga lake today,
Kim Hartquist
Rochester
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[cayugabirds-l] turkey vultures

2012-02-10 Thread Donna Scott

Around 3 PM today (Fri., 2 10 12): Two big kettles of 65+ TURKEY VULTURES over 
the south side of Kendal grounds (off Triphammer Rd., south of NY Rt. 13), and 
further south, maybe over the part of Cayuga Heights that adjoins the north 
side of Cornell campus.
Over 40 of them were flying over me in the Kendal grounds; the other kettle was 
more distant and much higher in the air.
I had hoped to see the one with the white feathers, but didn't see it.

Donna L. Scott
Lansing Station Road
Lansing, NY 14882
d...@cornell.edu
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[cayugabirds-l] Around the lake

2012-02-10 Thread Anne Marie Johnson

I did some birding around the lake today, mostly at the north end. The 
theme for the day was TUNDRA SWANS, with lots of them in most of the places 
I stopped. COMMON MERGANSERS were also well represented in many places, as 
were COMMON GOLDENEYE.


Highlights included a GREEN-WINGED TEAL just south of the Cayuga Lake State 
park, viewed between houses along the road between the boat launch and Rt. 
89. That stretch of the lake hosted a nice mix of ducks including GADWALL, 
AMERICAN WIGEON (just a few), CANVASBACKS, and RING-NECKED DUCKS mixed in 
with lots of geese and swans. There was also a nice group of Canvasbacks 
between Harris Park and Mudlock on the east side of the lake. And lots of 
Ring-necked Ducks were south of the point in Sheldrake, as well as two 
pairs of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS.


I found no owl in the boxes in Union Springs and no Lesser Black-backed 
Gull in Dean's Cove. At the Wells College boat house, I found three Horned 
Grebes, a few goldeneye, and little else. Quick scans through geese found 
no Cackling.


From Twin Oaks Campground, the mostly Redhead raft was too distant for me 
to make out what other species were there. Fortunately, the celebrity 
grebes were closer to the campground and mostly stayed on the campground 
side of the swans and geese.


Anne Marie Johnson


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[cayugabirds-l] Crow Presentation tomorrow (Saturday) Location Change

2012-02-10 Thread John and Sue Gregoire

Due to a scheduling conflict, Kevin's crow program will be at the Montour Falls
library tomorow. That building is next door (east) of the former location. 
Starts at
1 PM. For those coming from Ithaca, be sure to visit the falls to the west of 
Main
St.

John
--
John and Sue Gregoire
Field Ornithologists
Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory
5373 Fitzgerald Road
Burdett,NY 14818-9626
 Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/
"Conserve and Create Habitat"




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[cayugabirds-l] Sharpie West Hill

2012-02-10 Thread Stephanie Greenwood

Had a not very productive morning birding only to return to my house and 
find a beautiful adult Sharp-shinned Hawk out my back window. I knew I 
should have stayed home


--
Stephanie Greenwood
Ecovillage at Ithaca
221 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607 273 1179
607 280 1050 cell







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[cayugabirds-l] FW: Sodus Bay Correction

2012-02-10 Thread William Roberts

Correction: As you might have discovered, I incorrectly listed 55 Trumpeter 
Swans in Sodus Bay. It should have read 55 Mute Swans.  Mea culpa. 
Bill RobertsAurora

From: bluehorsestu...@hotmail.com
To: cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu
Subject: Sodus Bay
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:19:46 +

Tom Riley of Niles, New York and I had the pleasure of going to Sodus Bay on an 
absolutely beautiful day with perfect conditions. We discovered a flock of 
approximately 300 Long-tailed ducks  in the channel adjacent to the lighthouse. 
The ducks were very active moving about from one side of the channel to the 
other. There were a few White-winged Scoters and a Greater Scaup mixed in with 
the flock of Long-tailed ducks. No King Eider present.
We counted approximately 55 Trumpeter Swans around the edges of the of the back 
or the inland part of the Bay.
The final stop at Twin Oaks Campground added significantly to what was already 
a great day of birding. As Gary Kohlenberg reported we had the pleasure of 
witnessing a birding spectacle with over 15000 Redheads and a pair of Western 
Grebes for good measure. The Aythya flock was like watching a kinetic sculpture 
as the birds were either rising or descending or they were constantly swarming 
into various formations.
Bill RobertsAurora

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Midnight crow cries

2012-02-10 Thread geokloppel

Bright moon then. Maybe the crows spotted prowling raccoons?

Geo  

> Yesterday night, almost around 00.00 hours (because 12.00 bus just passed my 
> house), the crow family that nests in my back yard spruce/pine started 
> calling. 

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[cayugabirds-l] 2 Western Grebes Twin Oaks Campground

2012-02-10 Thread Kim Hartquist

Anne Marie Johnson and I watched them for about 30 minutes around 10:30am. Both 
grebes spent much of the time resting with head and neck tucked in. Easily 
missed if scanning for long white necks. They were not quite with the redhead 
mass, but instead loosely with some geese when we left.

Kim Hartquist
Rochester
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[cayugabirds-l] Midnight crow cries

2012-02-10 Thread Meena Haribal

Yesterday night, almost around 00.00 hours (because 12.00 bus just passed my 
house), the crow family that nests in my back yard spruce/pine started calling. 
Commotion was on for about 4 to 5 minutes. I did not hear anything else. I 
suspect that an owl was on prowl. Sure at this time of the year there won't be 
any snakes out to steal eggs or catch females. In recent days they have been 
sneaky. In the past years I have seen a couple of dead crows.  Any idea if 
anything else, what could bother them?

I was just looking out of office window and I could see gulls heading to 
Cornell dump. I noticed they go mostly in groups 20 to 30, may contain 
Ring-billed, Herring and Great-black backed. At times I have noticed some of 
the groups are pure young birds. So it is intriguing who are members of these 
group?

Meena


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[cayugabirds-l] Crows

2012-02-10 Thread Mark Miller

I didn't mean to start any battles, I was just relaying the info from the NYS 
Hunting Regulations (www.dec.ny.gov). Although I have hunted in the past (not 
for a few years), I have never shot a crow and was taught that you always eat 
what you kill. I grew up in a single income family of 8 and we often ate 
rabbit, squirrel, & venison that we hunted. I realize that there are many 
non-sportsman (slob) hunters out there, but fishing & hunting is a very 
regulated industry and is valuable in maintaining healthy population levels, 
not to mention bringing in major funding for wildlife and conservation (a 
non-resident fishing, hunting, & trapping license, with all permits was $665.00 
last year). FYI - the only deer I ever killed was with a 1970 Chevy Nova, 
another reason I prefer hunting seasons.

As to the crows in Geneva, I enjoy driving along the lakeshore on 5&20 around 
sunrise/sunset and seeing the trees solid black with about 10,000 crows, but 
then again, I don't live there.

I would suggest that everyone should at least browse through the state fishing 
& hunting regulations (available at Wal-Mart for free or on-line), if only to 
understand what the regulations are and why. It will also give you a better 
understanding of what changes are needed (such as wider use of non-lead shot). 


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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Crow hunting regulations

2012-02-10 Thread Dave Nutter

"Devastation" makes it sound like the birds are knocking down buildings and people are dying. I think the word to describe crows' noise and droppings is "nuisance". And the term "murder" for a crow flock is a tad biased. I've also heard the term "congress" which is perhaps less derogatory.. or perhaps not. --Dave NutterOn Feb 09, 2012, at 09:05 PM, Mark Miller wrote:

In NYS the crow season is Sep 1, 2011 to Mar 31, 2012
(all of upstate and Long Island, excluding NYC) but only on Fri, Sat, Sun, &
Mondays. There is no daily limit or possession limit. They are also exempt for
HIP registration and may be hunted with rifles and use of electronic calls.
(from the NY hunting & trapping 2011-2012 regulations).
These are about the most lenient rules of any game
species, but if you happen to be from Geneva or Auburn it's kind of hard to find
anyone "pro crow" due to the devastation they cause. The rules are designed to
help maintain population levels at healthy limits. Just FYI, I had a flock
(murder) of about 1000 crows flying over me in the town of Waterloo about 7
AM this morning (96A/East Lake Rd).
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