[cayugabirds-l] Red-breasted nuthatch

2013-03-17 Thread Marla Coppolino
There have been more species of birds at my feeders this weekend than any
other!  Today there is a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH visiting my feeders for the
first time, as well as a FOX SPARROW, lots of COMMON REDPOLLS, AMERICAN
TREE SPARROWS, along with all the regulars.  Some of the recently returned
regulars also, like RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.

Marla

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Marla L. Coppolino
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USA

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http://kibibiacres.com
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Email: marlacoppol...@gmail.com

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[cayugabirds-l] Snow Geese on Cayuga Lake last week-end a video link and possible Auroras possible to night

2013-03-17 Thread Meena Haribal
Hi all,

I thought some of you might enjoy this video of thousands of snow geese that 
assembled at the north-end of Cayuga Lake. Some of you witnessed the sight and 
for those who did not get chance might love to watch this. Around 0.50 minutes 
in the video, the snow geese take to air, but before that there is so much 
murmur in the air. Best if you view it in HD format resolution.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFBDiXyfdIkfeature=youtu.be



Also today night  if the sky remains clear it is possible to view both 
Pan-STARRS comet and Auroras in the evening sky. So keep your eyes peeled to 
western and northern skies.

Right now at least it is a clear weather in Ithaca.



Except for a Great Black-backed Gull that passed over my house that was visible 
from my home-office window today no other bird activity to report.



Cheers

Meena



Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
http://haribal.org/
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/


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[cayugabirds-l] Sandhill cranes

2013-03-17 Thread John and Fritzie Blizzard
Kathy Strickland  I saw 4 SANDHILL CRANES at Morgan Rd. last evening  one 
SHORT-EARRED OWL near the river on Carncross Rd.. Saw many ducks, esp. in the 
May's Pool inlet canal along Rte 89. Pintails abound! Still LOTS of snow 
geese in the air.

I drove across the new bridge onto Howlands Island but really recommend that 
others not try to go until the mud dries UNLESS you have 4WD. I have a Subaru 
but even so, the rutted, bumpy mud really grabbed the tires  there's no place 
to turn around until you get to the end of the road.

In the afternoon John  I went to the Sherwood Rd. farm pond east of Rte. 34 to 
look for snows  blues but found only ice. On over on Owasco Lake we found 1 to 
2,000 snows  blues. 

Bill Hecht said many snows are still on the Cayuga lake out from Cayuga Lake 
St. Park. He also reported 2 eagles in the trees near his house south of 
Cayuga, south of the RR tracks on 90. Kathy  I saw one in the tree near the 
new nest at Mud Lock.

Time to watch for the 1st ospreys! Saw our 1st FLICKER here Sat..

Fritzie/Union Springs
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[cayugabirds-l] Hooded Mergansers on Fall Creek near Flat Rock

2013-03-17 Thread Nari Mistry
There was a trio of beautiful Hooded Mergansers on Fall Creek near the 
suspension bridge at Flat Rock, when we crossed at about 12:45pm after a long 
walk. Two males were escorting an elegant female, flashing their hoods in the 
sunlight and displaying non-competitively.
Beavers have been cutting down a lot of beech and other small trees all along 
the north bank of the creek.

Nari  Gin Mistry




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[cayugabirds-l] Cooper's Hawk having probably red squirrel for lunch in my yard

2013-03-17 Thread Meena Haribal
As I am typing this there is Cooper's hawk having a meal, I would not call it 
enjoying as he is very alert, lots of people and cars passing by on Honness 
Lane.

I saw him half an hour ago under the Norway Spruces. First when I saw him, I 
thought it was a bunny as I saw one yesterday morning eating greens in my yard. 
But he looked different then it dawned on me that it was a hawk. I got my 
binoculars and watched him for quite some time. Now I am recording him on the 
video through my bedroom window glass. Not so great. Don't dare to open window 
as he might fly away. First  7 minutes he just sat and looked left and right. 
Then started tearing his meal. Actually, by the time I saw the meal it was 
barely visible except for some red meat and a stomach, but occasionally saw the 
tail, looked like a red squirrel. I am letting the digital media roll and see 
if I can get some unusual shots.  He is visible from my home-office window too. 
Now suddenly he is in full sun! More alert!



If I get anything good I will post it!



This is first time I am watching a hawk eating meal in my yard and that to has 
caught a natural meal!



Cheers

Meena



Meena Haribal
Ithaca NY 14850
http://haribal.org/
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/


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[cayugabirds-l] Sapsucker Woods, Sun 3/17

2013-03-17 Thread Mark Chao
At around 2:45 PM on Sunday, Tilden and I saw what I identify as a female
southern HOARY REDPOLL, in the feeder garden at the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology.  We first noticed this bird because of its paler gray-toned
back (not brown like nearby Common Redpolls).  We confirmed larger size,
vague and reduced flank streaks, no pink plumage at all, and white undertail
coverts with three short, almost invisible black lines as if drawn by a
sharp pencil.  The bird retreated somewhere for a few minutes, but Tilden
immediately spotted it when it reappeared.  During our second viewing, we
reconfirmed all the above-mentioned features, plus a white rump.

 

PINE SISKINS, a couple of SONG SPARROWS, and other expected birds were in
the garden too.  (I also heard a rumor from Holly Adams that an experienced
birder also saw a FOX SPARROW here on Friday or Saturday.)

 

We also enjoyed watching a pair of HOODED MERGANSERS diving together under
the ice on the pond (Holly says one emerged with a frog the other day), and
a Black-capped Chickadee that foraged for half a minute at our knee level,
about one meter away from Tilden.  We watched a snowflake settle on this
bird's forehead, remain there for a few minutes like a jewel, and then
finally melt away.

 

Mark Chao


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[cayugabirds-l] Red-shouldered Hawk

2013-03-17 Thread Ann Mitchell
There are two Red-shouldered Hawks on Hunt Hill Road off Ellis Hollow Road.  I 
had great looks at one and heard two a little later.

Ann Mitchell
Sent from my IPhone
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[cayugabirds-l] Goetchius shrike, Lake Rd. Harriers.

2013-03-17 Thread John Confer
Going up and back on the east side of Cayuga Lake, besides the wonderful 
waterfowl, we noted 3 No. Harrier over the grassy fields on Lake Rd. near Rt. 
90. Two close together were an after second year male (gray ghost) and the 
pale brown ASY female. A couple hundred yards away we saw a second year bird 
(russet chest). Wouldn't it be nice if the adult male+female stayed around.



At Goetchius I saw the No. Shrike using the same perches frequented in the 
past. This was my first observation in about two weeks. I had thought that it 
had left on its northward migration, but I guess not. Birds are full of 
pleasant surprises.



Made the trip with Bob and Sally Love and a young couple from Spain. (Sorry I'm 
so bad with remembering names).The later were quite familiar with Spanish 
birds, but not our birds. It is so much fun to see our common birds through the 
excitement of good birders seeing them for the first time and comparing them to 
Spanish birds.



Cheers, John Confer



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[cayugabirds-l] Around the Lake

2013-03-17 Thread bob mcguire
Laura Stenzler and I spent today circling the lake clockwise. Stewart  
Park had considerable new ice and a greatly reduced waterfowl  
population including numerous Hooded Mergansers  and couple of Common  
Goldeneys.


We drove up the west side directly to Lower Lake Road, hoping to find  
Snow Geese close in (and a Ross's with them). From Woolfy's, the geese  
were way out - approximately half way across. Then of thousands of  
them still around, but we did not linger to count. There was a good  
variety of waterfowl at that end, including Redheads, Ring-necked  
Ducks, Canvasbacks, both Scaup, all three Mergansers as well as a few  
Goldeneye, Tundra Swans, and a small flock of Ruddys.


We drove through the Mucklands, noting the low water level in the  
fields (no Pintails, Mallards, or Black Ducks). There was some open  
water at Knox-Marsellus, and we found a large group of Northern  
Pintails. Tschache also had open water, and we scoped through a large  
number of American Wigeons but had no luck with Eurasian.


Back down the east side of the lake, we stopped at the new development  
just opposite Letty Cook Woods and spent a good hour picking through  
the dispersed raft of ducks: similar species to the west side and no  
Eurasian Wigeon. The raft of Snow Geese was slightly closer to us at  
that point, but still too distant to make out any small geese. Shortly  
before we left, Dave Nicosia arrived with his group. I'll be  
interested to hear if they found anything new.


Off the boathouse at Aurora we found a single Eared Grebe but no  
Horned Grebes.


And the highlights of the day were a fly-over Peregrine Falcon at the  
Montezuma Winery and a pair of Wood Ducks swimming across Factory  
Street pond in Union Springs.


Bob McGuire



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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Around the Lake

2013-03-17 Thread david nicosia
Went birding up the east side of Cayuga Lake and Montezuma and vicinity with my 
friends Melissa Penta and
Renee DePrato. 

We didn't have luck finding any Ross's Geese either as the huge raft of snow 
geese was too distant as we only went 
up the east side of the lake. We saw probably a couple thousand wigeon between 
Cayuga Lake and Montezuma 
and vicinity and just could not make out any into Eurasians. Conditions in many 
places were bad for viewing...
lots of wind and cold. BRR. 

From the east side of Cayuga Lake, just before the railroad tracks north of 
Union Springs across from Letty 
Cook Woods (where we met Bob and Laura) is where the best aythya raft is with 
the huge raft of
snow geese farther out. We had the same as Bob and Laura here plus BUFFLEHEAD, 
and NORTHERN PINTAIL

We did not get any horned or eared grebes at all today.  We had only had one 
PIED-BILLED GREBE from
the end of Van Dyne Sporer Road. 

Mud Lock had several TRUMPETER SWANS. 

Tschache Pool was loaded with waterfowl. Loaded. Mostly RING-NECKED DUCKS, and 
loads of AMERICAN WIGEON. 
The wind and the cold made it almost unbearable from the tower to sort through 
the wigeon. Eyes were tearing up so
much, and the wind was shaking our scopes and I believe the tower a little. 
Conditions were very difficult to find anything
unusual that was distant. We did get on a group of TUNDRA SWANS distant and 
there was also GADWALL, Scaup sp. 
some NORTHERN PINTAIL, BLACK DUCKS, MALLARDS, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. We could 
only stand the wind
and cold for maybe 15 minutes so we moved on. We did not spend as much time as 
we would have liked here. We
probably missed some here.   

May's Point was also loaded. I have never seen so many NORTHERN PINTAIL in my 
life. They were everywhere with
many many AMERICAN WIGEON too and quite a few GREEN-WINGED TEAL. The shear 
numbers were impressive. 

From East Road we had around 50 TUNDRA SWANS on the ice and many more NORTHERN 
PINTAIL. 

In Savannah, from Savannah Spring Lake Road at the Muckrace Flats we had 10 
NORTHERN SHOVELERS.  there
were again more pintail, wigeon and green-winged teal here. 

Carncross, Morgan and Van Dyne Sporer Roads also had tons of NORTHERN PINTAIL 
as well. This was a Pintail
day for sure. We also had many many AMERICAN WIGEON, plus quite a few 
GREEN-WINGED TEAL, HOODED and
a few COMMON MERGANSERS. We counted 53 TUNDRA SWANS in the field to the right 
of Carncross Rd and 
79 more from Morgan Rd looking toward Van  Dyne Sporer rd.  There were many  
AMERICAN COOTS at the 
end of Van Dyne Sporer Rd. In all places, there were many blackbird flocks, 
mostly RED-WINGED but also 
COMMON GRACKLES. Did not scour through these for Rusties or by chance a rogue 
yellow-headed blackbird.
Just before sunset, the trees in the woods along Van Dyne Sporer road were 
becoming  full of blackbirds and they 
still were flying in when we left.

But the bird of the day for us was a lone SHORT-EARED OWL that flew toward us 
and almost overhead from the
end of Morgan road just at sunset so we still had good lighting. This was a 
great view and fairly close. In all we 
totaled 61 species which was definitively worth it, given the cold and windy 
conditions 
  
Dave Nicosia 
 



 From: bob mcguire bmcgu...@clarityconnect.com
To: cayugabirdlist cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu 
Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2013 6:13 PM
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Around the Lake
 
Laura Stenzler and I spent today circling the lake clockwise. Stewart Park had 
considerable new ice and a greatly reduced waterfowl population including 
numerous Hooded Mergansers  and couple of Common Goldeneys.

We drove up the west side directly to Lower Lake Road, hoping to find Snow 
Geese close in (and a Ross's with them). From Woolfy's, the geese were way out 
- approximately half way across. Then of thousands of them still around, but we 
did not linger to count. There was a good variety of waterfowl at that end, 
including Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Canvasbacks, both Scaup, all three 
Mergansers as well as a few Goldeneye, Tundra Swans, and a small flock of 
Ruddys.

We drove through the Mucklands, noting the low water level in the fields (no 
Pintails, Mallards, or Black Ducks). There was some open water at 
Knox-Marsellus, and we found a large group of Northern Pintails. Tschache also 
had open water, and we scoped through a large number of American Wigeons but 
had no luck with Eurasian.

Back down the east side of the lake, we stopped at the new development just 
opposite Letty Cook Woods and spent a good hour picking through the dispersed 
raft of ducks: similar species to the west side and no Eurasian Wigeon. The 
raft of Snow Geese was slightly closer to us at that point, but still too 
distant to make out any small geese. Shortly before we left, Dave Nicosia 
arrived with his group. I'll be interested to hear if they found anything new.

Off the boathouse at Aurora we found a single Eared 

[cayugabirds-l] birding and beer

2013-03-17 Thread Tobias Dean
At the Ithaca Beer company last night I spotted something up high, I had my
binocs. and rushed outside and saw 3 Sandhill cranes heading north up the
Inlet Valley. At first I thought they might be herons but there were 3
flying tightly together and they were way bulkier than herons. I have only
seen them once before in Northern Ontario.
The brewery has a great outdoors patio looking south across a farm
field, with a pond that will be filling in. Should be a good birding spot
while enjoying good beer.
Toby

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