Re: [cayugabirds-l] Blackbirds along Hanshaw Rd
A week ago Sunday, that is 23 September, I was at the Freese Road Community Gardens early in the morning and a flock of Icterids I estimated at 1500 birds commuted overhead from the valley of Fall Creek north-northwest and landed just across from the bee lab in the field on Freese Road. They stayed there awhile, presumably eating corn, then commuted back overhead the way they came. This is very close to where Laura's large flock was today. Whenever I looked carefully at the birds in my flock I only found Common Grackles, but because they were molting their tails, there was a lot of variety. Some had short tails like European Starlings; some had medium length tails like Red-winged or Rusty Blackbirds but with bigger head, neck, bill and a blue hood; some had just the normal long central tail feathers and the rest short, something like a mot-mot. I think Bob McGuire saw this same flock the next day. I wonder if this is the same flock. I also saw a small party of Red-winged Blackbirds which seemed not to be with that big flock. Anyway, there are interesting-looking birds around this time of year.--Dave NutterOn Oct 02, 2012, at 05:12 PM, Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu wrote: 5:10 pm, a large flock of blackbirds in the corn along Hanshaw Rd just west of Sapsucker Woods Rd. I'm watching for yellow headed blackbird. I think it's mostly grackles and some rusty blackbirds. Laura Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html'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/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Hurricane Sandy and Birding Potential
I, too, feel sad about the birds harmed by storms, and also those harmed in migration, and those harmed by towers, windows, oil spills, cats, deliberate habitat destruction by humans, unthinking habitat destruction through climate change, natural predation (yes, the shock of witnessing death turns my stomach even when it is to feed another bird), the high mortality of young birds, the lost migrants who may die because they flew the wrong direction or may never refind their breeding range or a mate. Ever since Malthus we've known that vast numbers of creatures die senselessly. I'd go crazy if I dwelled on it all, but I would like to change some of the human causes which the birds seem less adapted for. I suspect many of my fellow birders agree with me, and don't feel it's necessary to add the above as a disclaimer to discussions of these aspects of birding. Meanwhile I do enjoy the living birds I find and even to an extent the dead ones. I certainly enjoy and learn more about birds in their native range and habitat, but I cannot afford to travel to other continents or even to other parts of this continent very often, and I am reluctant to fly anyway because of the high ecological impact,so seeing a rare bird here is a special thing for me.AndI really appreciate the work by Dave Nicosia and the other folks at eBird toward our knowledge of birds' ranges, migration habits, and how they interact with the weather.--Dave NutterOn Oct 27, 2012, at 09:35 AM, Marie P Read m...@cornell.edu wrote:I tend to agree with Steve and Susie, I feel very sorry for birds affected by these extreme weather events, and view birders' excitement over such rarities as the frigatebird that showed up in the Cayuga Basin a couple of years back (and subsequently died) as rather mawkish. Give me a bird in its native habitat any time. Marie (currently in CA watching Pinyon Jays in their native habitat!) Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail m...@cornell.edu http://www.marieread.com ***NEW*** Music of the Birds Vol 1 ebook for Apple iPad now available from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/music-of-the-birds-v1/id529347014?mt=11 From: bounce-69406086-5851...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-69406086-5851...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Susan Fast [sustf...@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2012 6:12 AM To: 'david nicosia'; CAYUGABIRDS-L; 'Bluewing' Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] Hurricane Sandy and Birding Potential Why the unbridled glee over “maximum birds”? Sure, you may get a chance for a few tick marks on meaningless lists, but this storm will be far from an enjoyable experience for millions of birds. Disorientation, cold, wet, lack of food, even survival. Check out what Nature sends our way, but employ a little perspective and empathy for the birds. S. S. Fast Brooktondale From: bounce-69402228-9286...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-69402228-9286...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of david nicosia Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 10:02 PM To: Cayugabirds- L; Bluewing Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Hurricane Sandy and Birding Potential All, The forecast track of Sandy is highly unusual and could make for some very interesting birding in its wake. It will all depend on where the center of the storm tracks relative to central NY. Latest model guidance and the hurricane center's forecast track show that by Tuesday into Wednesday the storm's center will be nearly stalled from north central PA to central NY. The storm rapidly moves west from off the east coast back toward our region Monday/Tuesday and then stalls out and weakens over our area. The storm spends all its time out over the open ocean until its rapid westward motion to our area. Will Cayuga lake/Whitney Point Dam and other inland lakes/rivers see pelagics, tropical-like birds etc?? Tuesday will be bad with high winds and heavy rains given this track...Wednesday conditions improve...so either Wednesday or especially Thursday could present a unique opportunity for mega rarities in our area if this forecast pans out. I can't overemphasize enough to be safe first E Bird has a nice website on all this http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/hurricane-sandy Check it out and let's hope we make it through the storm with minimal damage and maximum birds!!! Dave Nicosia -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basicshttp://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME Rules and Informationhttp://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Subscribe, Configuration and Leavehttp://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm Archives: The Mail Archivecayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html'http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html Surfbirdshttp://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds BirdingOnThe.Nethttp://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to
Re: [cayugabirds-l] has anyone seen Red-shouldered hawk this season in winter?
I think the Red-shouldered Hawk was not found at Sapsucker Woods last winter (2011-12). There are eBird reports from winter 2010-2011, but nothing in 2011 after an immature which Jay saw migrating in mid-November. In 2012 there are only eBird reports for Red-shouldered Hawk from Sapsucker Woods between the beginning of March (migrants) and August. I believe Red-shouldered Hawk was not found on the 1 January 2012 Ithaca Christmas Bird Count, and the first 2012 basin record of which I'm aware is January 29 in Caroline.--Dave NutterOn Dec 30, 2012, at 09:09 AM, Meena Haribal m...@cornell.edu wrote:Hi all,I was curious to know if anyone has seen the wintering Red-shouldered hawk this season. It usually arrives around in November.CheersMeenaMeenaHaribalIthaca NY 14850http://haribal.org/http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/--Cayugabirds-L List Info:Welcome and BasicsRules and InformationSubscribe, Configuration and LeaveArchives:The Mail ArchiveSurfbirdsBirdingOnThe.NetPlease submit your observations to eBird!-- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Hammond Hill State Forest migration watch
The Hammond Hill site appears to be about 4.5 miles ESE of the west peak of Mount Pleasant. Some birds may have been visible from both sites, but at least when I was on Mount Pleasant the geese were headed pretty much north, not tracking from Hammond Hill toward Mount Pleasant, nor aiming from Mount Pleasant toward Cayuga Lake. As Kevin noted, even one high flock of Canada Geese which was pointed W was actually traveling N in the strong winds.The location Chris, Jeff Jessie marked on the eBird report is not the parking lot on Hammond Hill Road, but about half a mile to the southeast atop a N-S ridge with conifers to the north and deciduous forest in all other directions. This ridge is the edge of the Cayuga Lake Basin, so it's lucky the Pine Grosbeak was flying west! Is this site on a trail with a clearing for viewing?--Dave NutterOn Mar 11, 2013, at 08:48 AM, Kenneth Victor Rosenberg k...@cornell.edu wrote:It's interesting to think that our coverage was so good in the Ithaca area that multiple groups were encountering the same birds. At Mount Pleasant, we had 2 NORTHERN PINTAIL in a large Canada flock shortly after 1 PM, and these were likely the same birds that passed over Hammond at 12:50. Then, there were 3 CACKLING GEESE together in another flock about 15 minutes later, so again possibly one of the same flocks. Definitely no good finches or shrikes, though!KENKen Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) k...@cornell.eduOn Mar 10, 2013, at 10:33 PM, Christopher Wood chris.w...@cornell.edu wrote:I spent three hours at Hammond Hill State Forest east of Ithaca this afternoon (starting at 12:10pm) watching migrants. As others have noted, there was an amazing flight of waterfowl throughout Tompkins County and beyond. This flight was strongly dominated by Canada Geese. I was curious how much of a concentrating effect Cayuga Lake had for the geese Would there still be some out to the east or if were they headed toward Cayuga Lake. The numbers of geese were just as high at Hammond Hill as Jessie and I had seen from Monkey Run earlier in the day.In comparing numbers with Luke Seitz and others watching from Cornell campus, it seemed that we recorded very close to the same number of birds. While some of these birds may have been the same, the great majority were probably different suggesting a very broad front given others reported similar numbers in Trumansburg. It would be fun to organize several different stations in the Finger Lakes (and beyond) the next time we have such a flight on a weekend.Jessie Barry and Jeff Gerbracht joined me for part of the time I was here and helped me find much more than I would have done on my own.Highlights included 8 Golden Eagles, 1 PINE GROSBEAK, 1 Northern Shrike, 1 White-winged Crossbill and at least 24 Evening Grosbeaks.Waterfowl made up the bulk of the show: 297 Snow Goose, 26575 Canada Geese, 13 Cackling Geese, 1 Tundra Swan, 1 Wood Duck, 2 Northern PintailA complete checklist with some photos can be found at the link below. I broke counts of Canadas into 20 minute segments for anyone interested (which may just be me!)http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13354236Good birding,ChrisChristopher WoodeBird Project LeaderCornell Lab of Ornithologyhttp://ebird.orghttp://birds.cornell.edu--Cayugabirds-L List Info:Welcome and BasicsRules and InformationSubscribe, Configuration and LeaveArchives:The Mail ArchiveSurfbirdsBirdingOnThe.NetPlease submit your observations to eBird!Cayugabirds-L List Info:Welcome and BasicsRules and InformationSubscribe, Configuration and LeaveArchives:The Mail ArchiveSurfbirdsBirdingOnThe.NetPlease submit your observations to eBird!-- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Long Point Lakewatch
Driving south on NYS-89 this afternoon, coming home from the SFO Montezuma overnight, we saw a single CORMORANT, SP in the water close to shore north of Ernsberger Road, but we did not stop to ID it, which was probably dumb. If anyone wants to track it down, it may still be there and there may be time to double check it before sunset.--Dave NutterOn Apr 07, 2013, at 04:16 PM, "Kenneth V. Rosenberg" k...@cornell.edu wrote:Given the weather and the winds I decided to do a Lakewatch from Long Point State Par, arriving around 8 am. It was almost too windy to stand and look through a scope but I was able to huddle on the lee side of the small lighthouse on the point. the most tantalizing sighting though was distant flock of 5 Cormorants flying fairly high up the middle of the lake. All were adults but the lead bird was 30% larger than the rest- both in bulk and in wingspan. I had the In my scope for about 20 seconds. It it was pretty bouncy and I could not make out any white or other field marks. It's hard to see how that wouldn't be a Great Cormorant, though. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Broad-winged Hawks, etc.
As I walked home from work along Spencer Road around 5:30pm I heard a doubled, high, thin squeal. In either a reflection on my hearing or on my unfamiliarity with calls which I don't hear often, I wondered whether it was a Broad-winged Hawk or a partially-heard Rusty Blackbird. The sky view there was blocked by trees, and these woods were not swampy, but a steep hillside with a stream tumbling down in its own miniature gorge. I didn't find the source of the squeals then, but the next time I heard it my sky was more open, and I saw a Buteo circling over the Titus Flats neighborhood. Binoculars revealed the whitish underside of its body and wings with a narrow dark border, and a gray head/neck/throat. Its tail was too large, proportionately, for a Red-tail, and dark below, broken by two broad crisp white stripes. This was plenty to ID the BROAD-WINGED HAWK, but the finishing touch for me was when it set its wings for a long deliberate glide into the woods of South Hill, so the rear edge of its wings formed a straight line while the forward edge of each wing made a curve: a nice big capital B.--Dave NutterOn Apr 16, 2013, at 06:28 AM, Brad Walker edgarallenhoo...@gmail.com wrote:Hi all,Jay McGowan and I (later joined by Kevin McGowan) did an hour long hawkwatch, that Ken referred to, at Sapsucker Woods yesterday. We had a few BROAD-WINGED HAWKS, several SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS, AMERICAN KESTRELS, NORTHERN HARRIER, BALD EAGLE, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, and COMMON LOON and other migrants.The full list can be found here:http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13757266- BradOn Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 12:29 AM, Kenneth V. Rosenberg k...@cornell.edu wrote:I'm surprised others haven't posted the results of various sky counts today. Mine started with an adult BROAD-WINGED HAWK circling over the Northeast Ithaca neighborhood, and at least 5 more streaming over as I walked from the parking lots o the Lab of O.Heading out for a late lunch and seeing that Mt. Sapsucker was adequately covered (but what did they see?), I grabbed a sandwich and headed behind the Ithaca airport to skywatch. Surprisingly I saw no more Broad-wings, but I did have a migrating RED-SHOULDERED AND A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. The strangest sighting though was a shimmering flock of birds high against the blue sky — I got therein the scope and they were 9 breeding-plumage BONAPARTE's GULLS circling high overhead.Also back near the north end of Mohawk Rd. I saw a male sapsucker that had a clear red spot on the nape — otherwise didm' look too different KENKen RosenbergConservation Science ProgramCornell Lab of Ornithology159 Sapsucker Woods Rd.Ithaca, NY 14850(wk) 607-254-2412(cell) 607-342-4594k...@cornell.edu--Cayugabirds-L List Info:Welcome and BasicsRules and InformationSubscribe, Configuration and LeaveArchives:The Mail ArchiveSurfbirdsBirdingOnThe.NetPlease submit your observations to eBird!Cayugabirds-L List Info:Welcome and BasicsRules and InformationSubscribe, Configuration and LeaveArchives:The Mail ArchiveSurfbirdsBirdingOnThe.NetPlease submit your observations to eBird!-- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
Re: [cayugabirds-l] Renwick versus Fuertes
Yes, Fuertes made great contributions. There's a bronze plaque where a sanctuary was created in his honor shortly after his untimely death - the area now often called the swan pond. Cayuga Bird Club Historian Jane Graves has the documentation of this - contemporary newspaper accounts of the plans and fund-raising for that purpose. Websites are notorious for being inaccurate, and the City of Ithaca website referring to Renwick Wildwood (the name on the concrete arch) as Fuertes Sanctuary is unsubstantiated by any historical record that our historian has found so far.Please use the correct name, not perpetuate the misnomer. If someone sends you a reference to an official renaming of Renwick as Fuertes, please let us know.--Dave NutterOn May 13, 2013, at 05:14 PM, Christopher Wood chris.w...@cornell.edu wrote:Hi everyone,I know this issue has been discussed many times before and I know that opinions are divided. For every email I get that says we should call the woods Renwick, I get three that say we should call it Fuertes.The official website of Ithaca calls the 55 acres south of Stewart Park the "Fuertes Bird Sanctuary". It describes this both in text and on the map. Given the huge contributions that Fuertes made, we (eBird) are happy to follow the official City of Ithaca website and go with calling the 55 acres the "Fuertes Sanctuary".http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/parks/stewartpark.cfmChristopher WoodeBird Project LeaderCornell Lab of Ornithologyhttp://ebird.orghttp://birds.cornell.edu--Cayugabirds-L List Info:Welcome and BasicsRules and InformationSubscribe, Configuration and LeaveArchives:The Mail ArchiveSurfbirdsBirdingOnThe.NetPlease submit your observations to eBird!-- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
