[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Park and Renwick Woods birds

2012-01-10 Thread Nicholas Sly
I birded Stewart Park and Renwick woods from about 8-10am this morning, blissfully unaware of any unusual grebes farther north. In Renwick Woods, I found a GREAT HORNED OWL roosting while being mobbed by three American Crows. The crows gave up without dislodging the owl from its roost. A poor

[cayugabirds-l] Cackling and Lesser Canada - Ithaca

2011-12-24 Thread Nicholas Sly
While birding in the City of Ithaca today, I found a Cackling Goose and what I think is a Lesser Canada Goose (B. c. parvipes) in the Cayuga Lake Inlet. The parvipes was a very small, dark goose that I initially mistook for a second Cackling, until I looked closer and saw that its head and bill

[cayugabirds-l] Eared Grebe still present, but distant

2011-12-09 Thread Nicholas Sly
I scoped from the East end of Stewart Park for Tim's Eared Grebe from 11:15 to 11:45. The grebe was distant to the west: from my vantage point it was between the red lighthouse and the large, tall marker farther out on the lake. Over the course of the half hour it pushed farther and farther

[cayugabirds-l] Cayuga Lake and Montezuma - Ross's, White-rumped, Long-tailed Duck, etc

2011-11-13 Thread Nicholas Sly
I birded Cayuga Lake and Montezuma NWR this morning with Sahas Barve and Ben Freeman. At the Aurora Lake Road Bluffs, we had a flock of 25 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and ~75 COMMON LOONS. The Visitor's Center, Larue's Lagoon, and the main pool were mostly devoid of birds. 4 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS flew over

[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Park at midday

2011-11-06 Thread Nicholas Sly
I didn't really have anything new for Stewart Park today - just the standard assortment of ducks and a few songbirds along the back pond. Here's my complete checklist: Stewart Park, Tompkins, US-NY Nov 6, 2011 12:33 PM - 2:08 PM Protocol: Traveling 1.0 mile(s) 26 species Canada Goose (Branta

[cayugabirds-l] Ontario, Montezuma, Cayuga birds - Ross's Goose, etc

2011-10-30 Thread Nicholas Sly
As a follow up to Tim's post, I just thought I'd share some of the other good birds we had in an awesome all-day trip (Tim, if you're writing a similar follow-up, sorry to cut you off!). As Tim noted, we started at dawn at Broadway Rd on Lake Ontario. Highlight for me was the immature

[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma this morning

2011-10-12 Thread Nicholas Sly
I stopped briefly at Montezuma this morning on the way out towards Buffalo. The Visitors Center and Wildlife Drive held nothing unusual, just small numbers of waterfowl that were buzzed at the HQ by a Peregrine. There were only handfuls of Canada Geese present, and no sign of the White-fronted or

[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Park this morning

2011-10-08 Thread Nicholas Sly
I walked down to Stewart Park and birded it from 8-9 this morning. Here's my full checklist, with some highlights added. A note about the Scaup. A male scaup was sitting on a log just off from Swan Pen, preening and then swimming. I knew a scaup has been hanging around Stewart for a while, but I

Re: [cayugabirds-l] Nelson's Sparrow, Hog Hole

2011-10-08 Thread Nicholas Sly
Justin Proctor and Emilie Ospina joined me in searching for the Nelson's at Hog Hole this evening. We failed to find it, instead finding many Song Sparrows, at least four Swamp Sparrows, a Spotted Sandpiper, and the four Brant back in their usual spot at the entrance to the marina. We also checked

[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma

2011-10-06 Thread Nicholas Sly
I headed up to Montezuma early this morning with a crew of Golondrinas technicians (Justin Proctor, Maria Stager, Emilie Ospina, and Eric Lopresti). We got to Towpath Road while the marshes were still enveloped in the morning fog, so we birded the road for migrants for a while. We had one

[cayugabirds-l] A few Sapsucker Woods birds

2011-10-03 Thread Nicholas Sly
I walked up the Eastern side of Sapsucker this morning. There was a mixed flock at the pond on the east side of East Trail that included one SAPSUCKER, and BLACKPOLL, BLACK-THROATED BLUE, and BLACK-THROATED GREEN warblers. There was also a lot of activity in the powerline cut, where I had more

[cayugabirds-l] Ithaca migrants

2011-10-02 Thread Nicholas Sly
Despite the cold and rain today, I decided to walk all over town in search of birds. Birds were very active all morning, so it was definitely worth it. Sapsucker Woods this morning in between the bouts of rain (7:30am): 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk getting mobbed by jays and crows Flock of 7 Wood Duck

[cayugabirds-l] Sapsucker Woods migrants

2011-09-29 Thread Nicholas Sly
I ran into several large mixed flocks before and after work in Sapsucker Woods today. This morning, the first flock was south of the pond on Wilson Trail. Most of the 10+ warblers were two far and obscured in the canopy, but I picked out one Blackburnian. Near the intersection of Wilson and

[cayugabirds-l] Sapsucker Woods this morning

2011-09-27 Thread Nicholas Sly
Highlights from a walk through Sapsucker from 07:40-8:40, mostly on the East side: Gray-cheeked Thrush - one on East Trail near Frog Barn (91 Sapsucker Woods Road) Northern Parula - one in mixed flock by Frog Barn Blackpoll Warbler - one in mixed flock on powerline cut Black-throated Blue Warbler

[cayugabirds-l] Freese Road - Dickcissel, Lincoln's, etc

2011-09-25 Thread Nicholas Sly
I birded the Freese Road gardens this morning with a number of other birders looking for the Dickcissel and enjoying the sparrow show. I uploaded lousy pictures of the Dickcissel, Lincoln's Sparrows, and others here: http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa220/slybirdsly/Birding/Freese%20Road%202011/

[cayugabirds-l] Freese Road - Lincoln's Sparrow

2011-09-24 Thread Nicholas Sly
I birded Hanshaw and Freese Road this morning. In the fields on Hanshaw south from Sapsucker Woods Road, there were at least 39 KILLDEER mixed among the large numbers of Canada Geese and Ring-billed Gulls. In the Freese Road garden plots, I had one beautiful LINCOLN'S SPARROW, two FIELD SPARROWS,

Avocet still at Mays this morning

2009-08-22 Thread Nicholas Sly
Paul Hurtado and I headed up to Montezuma NWR early this morning. The American Avocet was still foraging straight out from the observation platform at May's Point. I didn't check the time but I think that was around 8am. Other shorebirds included both yellowlegs, Solitary and a Short-billed