As Jay mentioned, I (finally!) had a chance to go and see the hybrid Blue-winged x Cinnamon Teal today. There was terrific selection of ducks and the light was beautiful. The impoundment by the Visitor Center also had a nice selection of shorebirds including Long-billed Dowitchers, Dunlin, Lesser Yellowlegs and a single Pectoral Sandpiper. Complete list with some comments on the teal here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25734295 I should note that one of the the Eurasian Wigeon that we saw was a FEMALE. This is the first female I’ve seen in upstate New York, despite quite a bit of looking. Cheers, Chris From: <bounce-119870513-20506...@list.cornell.edu<mailto:bounce-119870513-20506...@list.cornell.edu>> on behalf of Jay McGowan Reply-To: Jay McGowan Date: Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 4:45 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] hybrid teal, Montezuma; lake birds Hi all, I finally got back up to Montezuma to look at the continuing teal yesterday. Better views revealed, as Dave posted, that the bird does indeed have distinct black speckling on the breast and side feathers, quashing any lingering doubts I might have had that it is anything but a hybrid BLUE-WINGED x CINNAMON TEAL. Please, if you submitted this bird to eBird, I encourage you to change your sightings to Blue-winged x Cinnamon Teal (hybrid) so I can validate the sightings. This is a disappointing outcome for many of us excited about keeping track of lists, but it is indeed still a very rare bird, so I will happily add it to my list of duck hybrids for the year (8+ combinations) instead. Better teal photos here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25724973 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25725335 Otherwise, a male EURASIAN WIGEON was the only other duck of note in the area. Puddlers was full of geese, including over 100 Snow Geese, but as always was unpleasantly difficult to get to with the continuing deterioration of Towpath Road. Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitchers, and a Pectoral Sandpiper continue at the Visitor Center. Chris Wood reports that the teal is still present today, along with two male Eurasian Wigeon. I spent the morning today scoping Cayuga Lake from Long Point State Park and various points in Aurora. Loons were out in force, with a count of 1345 from the bluffs at the north end of lake road and many more in both directions. Despite these concentrations, I was unable to find any different loons, even a Red-throated, among them. Gull numbers were also good, with many hundreds of Herring Gulls forming dense feeding frenzies out on the lake, especially off the Mackenzie-Childs bluffs. Up to eight Bonaparte's Gulls joined these flocks, as well as a single 1st-cycle Lesser Black-backed. Otherwise, a Red-necked Grebe off Long Point and a White-winged Scoter off the Lake Road bluffs were about the only different species I was able to turn up. Lake Ontario yielded Sabine's Gull, jaegers, and more today, so I had high hopes for something on our lake, but no luck. -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu<mailto:jw...@cornell.edu> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
