[cayugabirds-l] Stealth Duck (and ID quiz)

So I was eating lunch at Stewart Park in the beautiful weather, casually watching lesser scaups and redheads loafing about as close to shore as I've ever seen, and a muskrat swimming past even closer. I picked up my binoculars to get a closer look at the muskrat, and instead saw a duck! crouched

[cayugabirds-l] Merlin @ Giles St

Sitting high on a tree behind 140 Giles, just off Hudson. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.Northeas

[cayugabirds-l] Yard birds: winter wren, purple finch

Two new yard birds for me this morning in Commonland: a winter wren singing rather loudly (thus presumed close) outside my window which faces the woods, and a purple finch heard singing while a female sat feeding on sycamore seeds. A red-breasted nuthatch had been a feeder regular for a couple w

[cayugabirds-l] Tick

After the CBC Stewart Park cleanup this morning, I was surprised to find a tick crawling on my fleece. Not the sign of spring I was looking for. On the way home I stopped by the Stewart Avenue bridge over Fall Creek where a redtail was incubating on the nest in the north cliff looking east from

[cayugabirds-l] Snowstorm @ Potatoes Building

Enormous gathering (~10k if not ~100k) of snow geese in the mucklands of Savannah, SE and SW of the "Potatoes" building. Not terribly close to the road, but close enough during a big "repositioning event" to just make you stare in awe. With them are many swans, and a good sized flock of pintails

[cayugabirds-l] Winter wrenS @ Mulholland

Two winter wrens are countersinging at Mulholland/Six-Mile Creek, just past the first bend. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.

[cayugabirds-l] CBC field trip Merlin

Thank, Bob, for leading a great CBC trip today. I'll let others summarize the trip, meanwhile here are a few photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50094151@N03/sets/72157639705563525 Most notably, the falcon near "dog pile road" which we called a kestrel turned out to be a merlin! Suan ___

Re:[cayugabirds-l] Yes Snowy @ Indian Field

Closer view from Poplar Ridge just as it descends, not the greatest spot to pull over. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com > On Jan 5, 2014, at 10:19 AM, Suan Yong wrote: > > Indian Field & Poplar Ridge intersection, about 50 yds south of intersection > looking

[cayugabirds-l] Yes Snowy @ Indian Field

Indian Field & Poplar Ridge intersection, about 50 yds south of intersection looking east, about 100 yds out. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www

[cayugabirds-l] Long Point Short Eared Owls

The Short Eared Owls put on a good show this afternoon in the field around the Long Point winery, with one of the birds favoring a vineyard post as a perch (the NW-most post, occasionally the SW one). The clear skies and low sun made for great photography conditions with the birds getting somewh

[cayugabirds-l] K33 and A21

My Christmas day tour of some recent snowy owl spots - Ovid, Aunkst, Martin, Potatoes - found none, though there was a nice gathering of birders at the Potatoes building braving the cold together. In the Union Springs Mill Pond were two swans with yellow wing tags (K33, A21) as has been reporte

[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Trumpeter?

I was experimenting with digi-scoping on the ~30 mostly-tundra swans sleeping at the edge of the ice shelf at Stewart Park, and when reviewing my photos found the following individual looking rather Trumpeter-like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50094151@N03/sets/72157638899910166 Thoughts? Suan

[cayugabirds-l] Kingsbury Woods

Around noon today I checked out Kingsbury Woods conservation area on Jersey Hill Road. While listening to the radio in the car a Nashville Warbler came down to forage in the bushes right in front of the car, ID-able with the naked eye. A good omen, I thought, along with the yodeling pileateds on

[cayugabirds-l] Larch Meadows

Randomly decided to walk the Larch Meadows trail at Buttermilk Falls, a pleasant trail except for the persistent noise from Route 13. Ran into a nice mixed flock including Nashville, BTGreen, BTBlue, Chestnut-sided, Black-and-white, and possible Parula. Pewees were active and feeding young. Lat

[cayugabirds-l] Nighthawks over Commonland

Just had at least six nighthawks foraging over Commonland (East Hill/Six-Mile Creek), moving to the southeast. After retrieving my binoculars from the house, they were gone. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWE

Re:[cayugabirds-l] Unconfirmed Pileated Nesthole

I'm looking now, without binoculars, at a pileated woodpecker sticking its head out from the hole described below. Can't tell without binos if it's a young or a roosting adult. Suan On May 9, 2013, at 7:35 PM, Suan Hsi Yong wrote: > At the Mullholland wildflower preserve, not far from the par

[cayugabirds-l] SSWainson's Thrush

Becky Hansen and I are looking at a Swainson's Trush at SSW Hoyt Pileated trail a little west of the junction to the north exit to the power cut. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBir

Re: [cayugabirds-l] eBird -- Hawthorn Orchard -- May 10, 2013

My addition to the hawthorn reports is a (the?) yellow-throated vireo which sang from a tall tree across the recway from the SW entrance, flying a couple times but not staying put long enough to get my binoculars on it before flying off. Also a green heron calling from the small pond. I saw a

[cayugabirds-l] Hawthorn yellow-throated vireo

Hawthorn had a yellow throated vireo near the north entrance in the corner beyond the softball field. Also two black-throated blues, several redstarts (foy for me), a brown thrasher, blue-headed vireo, yellowthroats, a yellow warbler singing strange songs almost goldfinch-like. Not too much acti

[cayugabirds-l] L-P YTVireo, Kingbird

"The" yellow-throated vireo was singing at Lindsay-Parsons this morning, same area as last year, by the next-to-last open area before the blue trail crossed the woods to the railway tracks - as heard by our SFO group this morning, although only seen poorly and briefly by one student (as a yellow

[cayugabirds-l] Goetchius Solitary Sandpipers

At Geotchius this afternoon were at least six not-so-SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, and no spotteds that I could find. Also, it seems the song sparrows there have a bit of a RWBB* accent, incorporating some "konkeree" in their songs. Did not reliably hear any meadowlarks (still haven't at all this year -

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Mourning Warbler at Hammond Hill

Steve Fast wrote: > Excellent. That would be Trail Y-1 in the area of a blowdown a number of > years ago. Canada warblers and winter wrens should be there also. Winter wren was there, singing and popping up briefly to be seen by some of the ~20 participants of today's CBC field trip. Some also

[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Ave Redtail Chick

At the Stewart Avenue bridge over Fall Creek the red-tailed hawk was feeding a lone chick this evening. Initially there looked to be two furry blobs, but one of them turned out to be a squirrel. A passerby who checks out the nest when he walks by every day said this was the first time he'd seen

[cayugabirds-l] SSW yellow palm, rusty

This morning's SSW walk saw a yellow palm warbler on the island from the pergola (along with two yellow-rumpeds). Later, in the woods, was a large flock of rusty blackbirds, conservatively 50, possibly 100+, subflocks continuously emerging previously unseen from depressions in the woods. Ruby-c

[cayugabirds-l] Gnatcatchers @ Renwick

FOY blue-gray gnatcatcher briefly chased a ruby-crowned kinglet for a good comparison of small eye-ringed flitters. Almost certain that a second individual was about. This is in the eastern end of the woods, near the stone arch. A downed tree and some flooding makes trail conditions less than id

[cayugabirds-l] Black and white warbler @ Mulholland

Black and white warbler singing and foraging in the trees around the Mulholland parking lot, heard then found with Stuart K. Also FOY blue-headed vireos deeper in the woods and up by the second dam, where four ring-necked ducks (3m 1f) continue to linger. Very birdy morning. Suan ___

[cayugabirds-l] La Waterthrush @ Mulholland

FOY louisiana waterthrush is/are singing from two spots along six-mile creek - may or may not be the same bird. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://w

[cayugabirds-l] Winter wren @ Monkey Run South

Our SFO group heard the beautiful song of a winter wren this morning at Monkey Run South (along the muddy "SW loop" trail). I heard one/it yesterday also, but it was abbreviated and sufficiently off that I wasn't 100% sure that's what I heard. Other notable sightings there include a pair of purp

[cayugabirds-l] SFO Montezuma Day II

To help plan our trip around the forecast strong south winds with possible rain, I checked the satellite last night and found the entire national map aglow with migration - actually, starting south of the PA boundary - and by this morning it seemed that a new crew had arrived. We started the da

[cayugabirds-l] SFO Montezuma Day 1

Our group had similar sightings to Bob's (sans grebes), plus: foraging mockingbird at Myers; from the bluffs approaching Aurora from Long Point, tree+barn+NRW swallows, a goldeneye couple, and a large nearly-all-white-looking Glaucous gull first found sleeping by Dave Nutter, later flushed into

[cayugabirds-l] Skydance @ Edwards Lake Cliffs

I had some spare time before pickup hockey at The Rink, so I decided to take an evening walk in the Edwards Lake Cliffs preserve, not really expecting to see anything special. To my surprise a loud peent emanated from the brush next to one of the small open areas, and continued while I tried to

[cayugabirds-l] Female RWBlackbird

Saw my FOY female red-winged blackbird this morning at Commonland. The 100+ ring-necked ducks that were still at the second dam yesterday morning were gone this morning. Saw my FOY sapsucker yesterday near the Giles St footbridge - a brilliant male, yellow belly and all. Suan PS It would be m

Re: [cayugabirds-l] BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS at Sapsucker Woods

On Apr 3, 2013, at 7:07 AM, Chris Pelkie wrote: > Google Glasses are the answer. Check out Eagle Optics' new "Wild Turkey" binoculars, just introduced on Monday: http://youtu.be/a53w35--K8k Suan -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.Northeast

[cayugabirds-l] Phoebe @ Renwick

FOY eastern phoebe at Renwick Woods, foraging silently in a tree by Fall Creek. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/Cayugabir

[cayugabirds-l] Peents @ Hawthorn

Jealous or recent skydance reports but too lazy to drive up to the airport, I decided to try closer to home and walked to the big fields south and east of the hawthorn orchards. A small flock of American tree sparrows were the only noteworthy sightings as I waited in the twilight. At 8pm when it

[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Av Redtail

A redtail hawk was sitting (brooding?) on the nest visible from the Stewart Ave bridge over Fall Creek, on the northside cliff looking east (upstream). This has got to be one of the most incredible nest vantages anywhere, ever. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L Li

[cayugabirds-l] Ring-necked @ second dam

About 300 ring-necked ducks are hanging out in the unfrozen half of the "second dam" reservoir of six-mile creek. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http:

[cayugabirds-l] Tundra Swan @ Stewart

A lone tundra swan is hanging out at Stewart park near the dock. Suan _ http://suan-yong.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeCon

[cayugabirds-l] Swan Pen Merlin

A Merlin has been perched on a snag at the swan pen (the westernmost snag hanging over the water) for at least an hour preening and being cooperative. When I got to the swan pen earlier the willow by the boat house was abuzz with activity (yellow rumps, both kinglets, a mockingbird, 40+ waxwings

[cayugabirds-l] Mall Merlin

At 4:45 as I drove south along Tripphammer past the mall I noticed a medium sized raptor perched on snags across from the car wash. I pulled into the car wash and with my binoculars ID'ed it as a merlin (bluish-gray back, weak mustache). When I switched from binoculars to camera it flew away. S

[cayugabirds-l] Black Crowned Night Heron @ Swan Pen

There's a juvenile black-crowned night-heron standing fairly close to the trail at the swan pen (aka Fuertes sanctuary). Also around was a white-crowned sparrow, ruby-crowned kinglet, yellow-rumped warbler. Evidently, only hyphenated birds are allowed there at the moment. Elsewhere along the St

[cayugabirds-l] Freese Rd - clay or odd chipping?

At 11:50 or so at the NE corner of the Freese rd gardens, a sparrow popped up that had a streakless breast and the look of a breeding chipping sparrow but a little bit off. When I noticed its gray collar I wondered: clay-colored? But in flipping through Sibley I'm finding other sparrows (includi

[cayugabirds-l] Sunday SSW Marsh wren, GCFly?

Last Sunday's morning walk around SSW had a couple of interesting birds in retrospect. First, from the Sherwood platform we heard a few repeated "fweep"s of a Great Crested Flycatcher. eBird wanted a confirmation, which reminded me of the CBC trip earlier this spring to Bear Swamp where we also

[cayugabirds-l] Philadelphia Vireo

Outside my window at Commonland the cottonwood and sycamore hosted a small mixed flock including a PHILADELPHIA VIREO and NASHVILLE WARBLER and a couple more flitting too quickly and dressed too confusingly to be ID'ed by my half-asleep self. Later a strange sparrow sunned itself for a while whi

[cayugabirds-l] Mud Lock duck

I stopped by Mud Lock this morning at 8:30 for a casual scan. Across the channel was presumably one of the scaup that has been reported all summer, hanging out interestingly with a cormorant. When I took a closer look, however, I was perplexed. This "scaup" had femalish colors: brown head, yello

[cayugabirds-l] MARSH wrens, cranes; Catherine rails

Yesterday (Saturday) morning I joined the Montezuma Alliance for the Restoration of Species & Habitat (MARSH*) volunteer group to pull out invasive frogbit from Tschache Pool. The part of the pool we worked, far to the north of the lookout tower and off-limits to the public, was very birdy in sp

[cayugabirds-l] Summerhill broadwing

The forested portions of SSW were full of mosquitoes and other biting things this morning; looking to run away from them I ended up at Summerhill on Hoag Road - still full of bugs but at least somewhat manageable on the road. The first two minutes were most eventful: a winter wren serenading lou

[cayugabirds-l] Von Engeln ovenchick

Late this morning I visited the Von Engeln preserve in Malloryville for the first time. Neat place. While standing at the kiosk a question mark butterfly landed on my fingertip and fed for a good two minutes. A good omen, I thought. Alas my two hands were clasped together at the time, and when I

[cayugabirds-l] SSW Barred Owl

Leading a bunch of kids on a walk this morning, just south of the Podell Boardwalk I heard the loud insistent "chick-b"ing of a scarlet tanager, and was surprised when the brilliant male bird came down low and close enough for great naked-eye looks by most of the kids. It eventually moved a

[cayugabirds-l] Sunday Van Dyne Terns (Black and Least Bit)

Here's a delayed report on a noteworthy visit to Van Dyne Spoor last Sunday at noon (after an unremarkable drive up the east shore of the lake*). The "field" south of the spoor has grown to be a lush wetland habitat - which is to say, poor viewing due to dense vegetation. The one open area is th

[cayugabirds-l] Mulholland pileated nest

Hi all, Earlier in the spring I'd stumbled across a pileated nest hole in the Mulholland Wildflower Preserve, but wasn't sure whether it would disturb them too much to share with the list. I watched excavation, passed a long period of not seeing any activity, had moments of "quick exchange" wh

[cayugabirds-l] Sycamore Wood Ducks

This evening I biked down to the golf course where for the first time in some four or so attempts I heard then saw one yellow-throated warbler, in the sycamores around tee 3 next to the fire training area. That little guy was hard to spot, but gave good looks when found. While waiting for it to

[cayugabirds-l] Y-T Vireo @ Treman Marina

At 6:20 as I paddled up the inlet I heard a yellow-throated vireo sing from just north of the Treman marina in the woods by the water. The song was just off enough that I lamented having forgotten my binoculars, but thankfully this individual was kind enough to come close for a great naked-eye l

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve (FLLT SBQ), Sun 5/27

Mark: > Before meeting the group, I spent 45 minutes birding alone on the west side > of the preserve, near the West Danby fire station. The surpassing highlight > here was an active GREAT BLUE HERON nest above the pond, which the Land Trust > owns, next to the fire house. After the walk a few

Re: [cayugabirds-l] MERLIN (nesting?) in City Cemetary

I've been sitting the last hour here in the cemetary, watching a (presumably) female merlin hanging out on the highest naked snag atop a pine, calling regularly and making frequent flycatcher-style forays. Then, a moment ago, a slightly different call signaled the arrival of a (presumably) male

[cayugabirds-l] Osprey @ Treman platform

An osprey is perched on the platform at Treman/Hog's Hole right now, preening itself. There are a few twigs on the platform, though I don't know if they were put there by bird or human. Suan PS. Stewart park had a green-winged teal couple and a wood duck couple. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info:

[cayugabirds-l] Freese Vesper, Snipe

A vesper sparrow was still across from Freese Road late this morning, flushing up to the lone tree for good looks by SFO groups 1 and 2, rufous shoulder and all. As our group approached the tree, we flushed a snipe from about 10 feet away, who flew a good distance away and melted into the distan

[cayugabirds-l] MAC Purple Martin, Myers black scoters, etc.

It was a great two days of birding for SFO overnight group 1, seeing many of the highlights already described. Sighting I don't remember seeing already mentioned are a male purple martin at the MAC today at noon, and Saturday morning's first stop at the marina with a female goldeneye reasonably

[cayugabirds-l] Sweazey screechless, but...

Checked out the hole at Sweazey Road at 2pm, no screech owl, but when I first approached I thought I saw the corner of some being peek out the hole then disappear back into the depths. I waited around for a few minutes but it did not reemerge. So, to the question of where else the owl may be spe

[cayugabirds-l] OOB Geneva Female Eider

En route to Rochester I stopped at Geneva (Seneca Lake SP) at 3pm to scan the lake from the first bench east of the entrance station. SE of there was a lone female eider (king, I'm pretty sure, based on its relatively small head size, though I didn't check the field guide there, and it was too f

[cayugabirds-l] Salt Point shrike

I drove to Salt Point around 2pm, parked at the northernmost gravel loop and was surprised to see a N Shrike at the tip of a bush by the water's edge some 30 feet away. I should've driven away and parked elsewhere, instead, my egress from the car caused it to fly down to the next bush (meanwhile

[cayugabirds-l] Renwick owl tree is down

I don't recall anyone reporting this, but I was surprised to find that the owl tree in Renwick woods is down. You can follow the trunk to a cavity (possibly the nest hole) now a sorry looking flooded basin. Before making this sad discovery, upon entering the woods from the north, I was surprise

[cayugabirds-l] Aurora Red-Headed WP

The red-headed woodpecker looks to be nesting in the earlier mentioned sycamore tree - I see it entering and staying in for minutes at a time (incubating?). It's not the big obvious hole on the trunk, but a small neat round hole on one of the branches. If you walk south along 90 from the Poplar

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Mann Library Black-throated blue

For the plantations bird walk this morning (8-9am) we were along Forest Home Drive above Beebe lake and heard a black-throated blue coming from the direction of Mann, but also a cerulean a couple trees east of it. Too high up for visuals, alas. Also heard on that walk were a blackpoll, magnolia

[cayugabirds-l] SFO Arnot

Today, 16 diehard SFOers took part in the full-day trip to Arnot Forest. Arriving at Greensprings Cemetary as the first drizzles started to fall, the feeders hosted a number of wet rose-breasted grosbeaks (both M&F), some white-crowned sparrows on the ground, and female purple finches for good

[cayugabirds-l] Yes Snipe

The snipe is still huddled there right now at the golf course across from Stewart Park, in the one tiny sliver of non-snow-covered frozen muck. Just look for the ski tracks circling back to various camera angles, getting way closer to the subject than I should have. I hope it survives the coming

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Dozen COMNIG flew south, 4

Thanks for the alert, Dave, without which I would not have kept my eyes to the sky and sighted the eight or so nighthawks working over my place in Commonlands this evening at 7:30, a couple low enough to discern the white wing patch with the naked eye. They presently made their way SE, more or l

[cayugabirds-l] Crazy Canadas

Yesterday (Sat) afternoon I was at Stewart Park watching a flock of ~40 brants circle and eventually land and settle in just beyond the canadas. Suddenly, seemingly at an untold signal, the canadas shifted into a state of itchiness, flapping their wings frequently, scratching frantically, m

[cayugabirds-l] 20+ Wood Ducks @ Stewart

I'm counting 22 wood ducks in the pond at Stewart Park, including 10 beautiful mature males. Suan -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.e

Re: 2 plovers, 1 peep at Myers this a.m.

Same three birds today at the Myers spit, were there when I arrived at 10am, still there now at 4:30, after the kiters came and left. The semi was doing the "jimmy-legs", tapping the ground quickly with one leg, presumably to scare up some grubs? Suan On Aug 26, 2009, at 4:11 PM, Paul Hur

<    1   2   3