[cayugabirds-l] Crow behavior - hunting toads

[Geo Kloppel]

My granddaughter and I counted 65 toads in the water along our pond’s dike this 
morning, mostly pairs in amplectus. We guessed that we’d missed quite a few 
that were hidden in the overhanging herbage, so maybe 100 toads in all. They 
make quite a chorus!

This afternoon I was watching a Crow on the dike, and got a look at its method 
for catching toads. It landed a couple feet back from the water’s edge, and 
walked slowly through the grasses, brambles and dead stalks, right up to the 
edge. Then it reached down and plucked out a pair of clasping toads, a big 
female with a smaller male on top. Quickly the Crow hopped backwards with a 
wing lift, secured its grasp on the prey, and then flew back with the massive 
load about six feet into the mowed strip, where it could proceed to kill the 
two toads without risk of their escaping into the water. At that point I had to 
leave, but I returned half an hour later to see what might remain. In past 
years I would have found a corpse on its back with its belly torn open, and 
many more like it up and down the dike. This year the corpses are not there, 
but when I reached the location of the kill, there was a telling amount of 
blood on the grass. So this tradition of toad-killing at my pond has not 
ceased, it has only evolved a new wrinkle: now the Crows retire with the kill 
to some less-frequented location!

-Geo

Geo Kloppel
Tupper Road
West Danby
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Re:[cayugabirds-l] Cayuga Bird Club Field Trip to the Park Preserve tomorrow

[Paul Anderson]

A fine time was had this morning on this field trip. We met at the CLO 
parking lot, and while waiting there we were treated to a nice view of a 
Common Raven being harassed by crows and blackbirds. It landed on one of 
the utility poles and croaked its displeasure.

On the way to the preserve we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on the ground in 
a field on Freese Road, where it was being mobbed too. At the same point 
one of our party observed a Bobolink and a flyover Pileated Woodpecker.

At the preserve we started at the SW entrance and did the loop down to 
the creek including the ravine. Our first observation was of singing 
Towhees and a distant Prairie Warbler. Large numbers of American 
Goldfinch were present near the entrance. A few Juncos kept making 
appearances. Further in we heard and saw first Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 
then some Golden-crowned. Several White-throated Sparrows were singing 
lustily. An enthusiastic Ovenbird popped into sight and sang. A couple 
of Field Sparrows sang too. Two Broad-winged Hawks flew over.

As we entered the woods leading down to the creek we heard 
Black-throated Green, and probable Magnolia (we never got visuals). At 
the creek we struck out on the Louisiana Waterthrush we had hoped to see.

We bumped into a couple of other birders who had seen a Black-throated 
Blue and a Blackburnian, and heard a Winter Wren at the ravine. We did 
not succeed in repeating their success, but were compensated by the 
sight of a pair of Hermit Thrushes.

Back at the entrance we decided to go to the other parking area and do 
the boardwalk. There we added Solitary Sandpiper, Chestnut-sided, Common 
Yellowthroat, and a flyover Cooper's Hawk.

As a bonus, on the way back we bumped into John Fitzpatrick on Mt. 
Pleasant Road who pointed out the location of Horned Larks. A lovely 
male Harrier was there too. A bit further up we got out of the car when 
we heard a Savannah Sparrow, and then got great scope views of a singing 
male Bobolink at the very top of a tree.

Thanks to everyone who participated. It was well worth the effort.

-Paul


On 5/4/2018 7:49 AM, Paul Anderson wrote:
>
> I'm leading a field trip tomorrow to the Park Preserve. Details are on 
> the calendar at http://cayugabirdclub.org and below.
>
> The 300 acre Park Preserve offers a mix of habitats from conifer 
> plantations to hardwoods and ravines. Magnolia Warblers, Indigo 
> Buntings, Prairie Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrush are just a few of 
> the birds that breed here. Bring insect repellent for those deer 
> ticks! We'll meet at the North parking lot of the Cornell Lab of 
> Ornithology at 7:00 am for carpooling (SFO field trips will also be 
> meeting at 7:00 am). Contact me at 607 216-5389 or fish...@gmail.com 
>  if you have questions.
>
> -- 
> Paul Anderson, VP of Engineering, GrammaTech, Inc.
> 531 Esty St., Ithaca, NY 14850
> Tel: +1 607 273-7340 x118;http://www.grammatech.com  

-- 
Paul Anderson, VP of Engineering, GrammaTech, Inc.
531 Esty St., Ithaca, NY 14850
Tel: +1 607 273-7340 x118; http://www.grammatech.com


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[cayugabirds-l] Cayuga Bird Club field trip to Finger Lakes National Forest

[Joshua Snodgrass]

Hi all,
Tomorrow, Sunday, May 6th, I will lead an all day field trip to the Finger
Lakes National Forest. We will meet at the parking lot at Teeter Pond on
Seneca Rd at 7:30am.
The Finger Lakes National Forest has a great variety of habitats, from
grasslands and grazing areas, to scrubland, wildlife ponds, mature
deciduous forests, transitional habitat, and hemlock filled ravines. Great
opportunity to see neotropical migrants, warblers, thrushes, vireos, as
well as breeding grassland birds. We will visit a selection of these
habitats, including several eBird hotspots.
This will be an all day trip in rustic habitat, with plans for a lunch
break. Some of the trails may be muddy, depending on weather, so dress
accordingly, and bring insect repellent. All are welcome, regardless of
experience. Come explore New York's only National Forest, and some great
habitat between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes!

Directions from Ithaca: Take Rt 96 north to Trumansburg, turn left on rte
227 after the post office, then turn right on Searsburg Rd. (county rt 1).
Follow Searsburg Rd. for 4-5 miles to Potomac Rd. and turn right. Head
north until you hit a T intersection with Seneca Rd. Turn left at the T and
Teeter Pond will be on the left after a 1/2 mile or so.
If coming from the north or west, I recommend traveling from 414 to
Searsburg Rd to Potomac Rd. to Seneca Rd. as some of the more direct roads
are pretty bad seasonally. There is an eBird hotspot for this location. For
easy access to map/directions visit https://ebird.org/hotspot/L940987
Please reach out to me with any questions. 570-362-2548 or respond to this
email off list.

Hope to see you there!
Best,
Josh

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[cayugabirds-l] Ruddy Turnstone, Geneva

[Jay McGowan]

A Ruddy Turnstone is currently on the beach by the bridge north of the
Ramada in Geneva.

Jay

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[cayugabirds-l] Aurora

[Linda Post Van Buskirk]

Morning dog walk yielded an orchard oriole and a solitary vireo seeming to 
dispute over ownership of a particular branch on a cottonwood tree.  Field 
sparrows and towhees are abundant this year, as usual.

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[cayugabirds-l] Shindagin Hollow picking up

[Anne Marie Johnson]

Things are picking up in Shindagin Hollow. A CANADA WARBLER is back on 
territory along the narrow, steep stretch of road leading down to the 
hollow, and the LOUISIANNA WATERTHRUSH is back at the intersection past the 
pond at the bottom of the hollow, near the small gorge with the bridge for 
the FLT. There were OVENBIRDS singing everywhere, and a good number of 
other warblers were singing as well. Seeing them, though, was a challenge 
at best, even with barely any leaves! I did manage to see a BLACKBURNIAN 
and a MAGNOLIA around where the FLT crosses the road at the bottom and a 
CHESTNUT-SIDED, along with another BLACKBURNIAN, at the Canada Warbler 
spot. Also, there appears to be a BROAD-WINGED HAWK nest at the Canada 
Warbler spot. Steve Fast mentioned nesting activity when I ran into him 
there on Tuesday. That day I flushed a Broad-winged from there, and this 
morning I heard one calling there. My checklist from this morning is below.


Anne Marie Johnson
Caroline

Shindagin Hollow SF--Shindagin Hollow Rd., Tompkins, New York, US
May 5, 2018 7:13 AM - 9:04 AM
Protocol: Traveling
4.63 mile(s)
36 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  4
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  2
Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus)  1
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)  1
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)  1
Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria)  2
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)  1
Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus)  3
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  3
Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius)  2
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)  1
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  12
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)  3
Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina)  2
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  3
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)  1
Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla)  11
Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla)  1
Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis)  1
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)  6
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)  1
Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)  1
Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia)  1
Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca)  2
Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica)  3
Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens)  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)  1
Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens)  3
Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis)  1 Seen and heard, same spot as 
Tuesday.
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)  1
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)  3
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  3
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)  1
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  4
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)  1


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[cayugabirds-l] color clash

[Bill Mcaneny]

About 8am today, I put out a dish of grape jelly on the off-chance there was
an Oriole in the neighborhood.  By the time I got in the house, a male
Oriole was sipping the jelly.  A second Oriole appeared seconds later,
followed by a RB Grosbeak, followed by a goldfinch in glorious color.  All
were on the feeder at the same time.  Meanwhile, a FOY Brown Thrasher landed
atop the nearby rail fence.  . An eye-popping show of brilliant colors.  

Bill McAneny, TBurg


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[cayugabirds-l] Tennessee, blackburnian warblers

[Laura Stenzler]

Good morning,
Lots of new arrivals this sunny morning on Hunt Hill Rd, Dryden. 
Tennessee warbler, blackburnian warbler, black throated blue warbler, Louisiana 
waterthrush and wood thrush. Woo hoo!  We have 3 or 4 orioles eating jam, 
oranges and suet. Also hummingbirds and rose breasted grosbeaks visiting the 
feeders . And, we still have 4 siskins!

Laura

Laura Stenzler
l...@cornell.edu
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