Greetings birders, There will be public night flight call listening session tomorrow night (Friday) near the Hartung-Boothroyd Observatory atop Mount Pleasant Rd., a few miles east of Ithaca from 8:30pm to 11pm or later.
The forecast is for a clear sky with north wind 5-10 mph. Birds will be high but we’ll have microphones and other tools to help tune in. I expect a steady flight of Bobolink & Veery, as well as lots & lots of warblers. Based on this time in past years, 30% of the warbler calls will be about equally from American Redstart, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and Ovenbird. 20% (1 in 5) will be what are often referred to as “zeeps”, short modulated (slightly buzzy) calls from a complex of species very difficult to distinguish by ear (mostly likely tomorrow night are Magnolia & Blackburnian, but also Yellow, Blackpoll and maybe even Cerulean). Less common will be the distinctive night flight call of Canada Warbler (~ 1 out of every 30 warbler calls) and the more difficult but still distinctive Mourning Warbler (~1 out of every 50 warbler calls). You can hear these calls online at: http://oldbird.org/pubs/fcmb/species/warblers/warblers.htm There will be many of other species in the mix tomorrow night and maybe the first Tompkins County record of Upland Sandpiper in more than a year. We usually have this listening session in September, but tomorrow night is really looking good, with shades of once in a lifetime, and of course it’s a Friday night! More info posted tomorrow. Bill Evans -- 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/ --
