Re: [cayugabirds-l] Black-headed Grosbeak

2015-07-17 Thread Melanie Uhlir 
I hadn't seen one for a long while and couldn't find any pictures in my 
bird guide. I was having to get ready to go do Shakespeare so I didn't 
have time to do a more thorough search. And it didn't look like any 
immature male I'd seen in the past. It really was a ringer for the 
illustration of the Black-headed female. But now I'm pretty sure it must 
have been just a new male Rose-breasted. I had seen young ones in sort 
of a speckled version of the adult male plumage before but never one in 
this particular plumage. It was very pretty.

Melanie

On 7/17/2015 7:12 PM, Dave Nutter wrote:
> Why not immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak?
> --Dave Nutter
>
> On Jul 17, 2015, at 03:18 PM, Melanie Uhlir  wrote:
>
>> I just had what looked for all the world like a female Black-headed
>> Grosbeak at my feeder. At first I thought it was a Rose-breasted, but
>> the markings on its head were much brighter than those of a female
>> Rose-breasted and, more to the point, there was a very noticeable
>> orange-y wash on its breast. Has anyone else ever seen Black-headed
>> Grosbeaks around here?
>>
>> A short while before that I had both a male Purple Finch and a male
>> House Finch perched on the feeder demonstrating their differences in
>> plumage. A male Goldfinch completed a very bright little group.
>>
>> Melanie
>> Wood Road, Freeville (Wood Road south of the swamp)
>>
>> --
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[cayugabirds-l] Our Big AviCaching Day

2015-07-17 Thread Lee Ann van Leer 
Everyone should try Avicaching!

Last month I decided to try see how many eBird Avicaching spots I could
visit in one day.
Kevin (McGowan) thought it sounded like a fun plan too. He joined forces
with me at the end of June for a test run of this endeavor.

We decided to try to maximize for points and # of spots instead of species.

Results: 33 spots  (in about 14 hours).
 216 points


It was definitely an exciting adventure of a new kind. Since we were going
for # of spots instead of species we didn't have to worry about the weather
reports as much and indeed it was overcast and rainy for part of the day.

It ended up taking a lot more planning and strategy than we had anticipated
but it was well worth it.  I am very glad we were using Kevin's Subaru and
not the old van I am driving these days as I don't think my vehicle would
have made it to the spots that are on dirt/gravel roads.  We drove at a
rather leisurely pace and did take nearly an hour lunch break since this
was supposed to be the "test run" of our endeavor. I'm not sure if we will
ever try to beat our own record of 33 spots in a day. I know others have
done Big Avicaching days but I think they were going for # of species.

The only unusual bird we heard was a NORTHERN BOBWHITE which was likely a
released bird.

We enjoyed finding many bird nests, including a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER
nest.
Fledglings of many species abounded including Willow Flycatchers.

We used the eBird App to enter in data as we went. However there were a few
locations that neither Verizon or AT&T could pick up a signal. For those
locations we made a voice record of the birds we saw and entered it in to
eBird later. Our GPS unit came in very handy for navigating to all these
places.

The most interesting aspect was seeing parts of the Cortland and Tompkins
that neither of us had ever been to. My dapple dachshund, Sashie, joined us
and likely enjoyed having 33 new roadside spots to sniff (on leash). There
are some very peaceful wooded spots that we definitely want to visit again.

I am looking forward to hearing about some of YOUR avicaching adventures.
Please feel free to contact me off list.

Lee Ann van Leer

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Black-headed Grosbeak

2015-07-17 Thread Dave Nutter 
Why not immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeak?

--Dave Nutter


On Jul 17, 2015, at 03:18 PM, Melanie Uhlir  wrote:

> I just had what looked for all the world like a female Black-headed
> Grosbeak at my feeder. At first I thought it was a Rose-breasted, but
> the markings on its head were much brighter than those of a female
> Rose-breasted and, more to the point, there was a very noticeable
> orange-y wash on its breast. Has anyone else ever seen Black-headed
> Grosbeaks around here?
>
> A short while before that I had both a male Purple Finch and a male
> House Finch perched on the feeder demonstrating their differences in
> plumage. A male Goldfinch completed a very bright little group.
>
> Melanie
> Wood Road, Freeville (Wood Road south of the swamp)
>
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> 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html
>
> Please submit your observations to eBird:
> http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
>
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[cayugabirds-l] Black-headed Grosbeak

2015-07-17 Thread Melanie Uhlir 
I just had what looked for all the world like a female Black-headed 
Grosbeak at my feeder. At first I thought it was a Rose-breasted, but 
the markings on its head were much brighter than those of a female 
Rose-breasted and, more to the point, there was a very noticeable 
orange-y wash on its breast. Has anyone else ever seen Black-headed 
Grosbeaks around here?


A short while before that I had both a male Purple Finch and a male 
House Finch perched on the feeder demonstrating their differences in 
plumage. A male Goldfinch completed a very bright little group.


Melanie
Wood Road, Freeville (Wood Road south of the swamp)

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[cayugabirds-l] Avicaching update—10-16 July

2015-07-17 Thread Ian Davies 
Hi Cayugabirders,

Another week through July, and we’re that much closer to fall migration. 
Following Wednesday’s cold front, the past couple days have felt positively 
Septemberesque. This weather event has manifested in the birds as well, with 
more shorebirds filtering through the area and some of the local breeders 
beginning to wrap up their season.

This is a time of year where many birds are undergoing post-breeding 
dispersal—movements following the breeding season that are often little-known. 
Birds that have been quiet over the past month have started singing a little 
bit more, and the woods are still alive and bursting with late-summer vigor. It 
is a good time of year to be out and about in nature. In fact, it is a good 
time of year to be out Avicaching!

Over this past week, 10 different birders went Avicaching 
(http://ebird.org/content/ebird/avicaching/), reporting over 70 species 
including Black-billed Cuckoo, Vesper Sparrow, and 13 warblers—not too bad for 
the heat of mid-July. Check here for a full list of the 154 species recorded at 
Avicaches so far: http://tinyurl.com/avicaching. Top Avicachers this week 
included Gary Kohlenberg and Chris Wood, tallying an impressive 66 and 60 
points respectively. Lee Ann van Leer still leads the playing field, but that 
could change at any moment.

This week the number of points earned by visiting an Avicache has changed, with 
some single locations being worth 15 points each. This means that if you 
haven’t given Avicaching a try yet, the time has never been better. If you get 
out there and visit 10 locations, you could be in third place overall—with the 
third highest chance to win a pair of free Zeiss binoculars! Check out the full 
Avicaching site for more details: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/avicaching/. 
I’ll see you out there!

Best,
Ian

--
Ian Davies
eBird Project Assistant
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/




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