Re:[cayugabirds-l] cayugabirds-l digest: July 25, 2020
Re: Sedge Wren, Bluegrass Lane, Ithaca (July 25) Again, kudos to Jay McGowan for finding, photographing and recording this Sedge Wren. I have since learned that my attribution of the 2000 Freese Road Sedge Wrens to Tom Schulenberg should properly have been given to Kevin McGowan. My apologies to both good friends and veteran birders. Good birding, Randy Randolph Scott Little 111 Berkeley Circle Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 Phone: (908)221-9173 r...@att.net or rs...@cornell.edu -- 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/ --
Re:[cayugabirds-l] Sedge Wren, Bluegrass Lane, Ithaca
Great job Jay! We are beholden to the farm practice applied to the fields around the Equine Research facility, wherein crop rotation includes years of "hay field" growth such as seen now west of Bluegrass Lane. In 2000 the field west of Freese Road was fallow and similarly hosted Sedge Wrens, first reported by Tom Schulenberg as I recall. There were two singing wrens there on that occasion, with recordings deposited in the Macaulay Library. Randolph Scott Little 111 Berkeley Circle Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 Phone: (908)221-9173 r...@att.net or rs...@cornell.edu Subject: Sedge Wren, Bluegrass Lane, Ithaca From: Jay McGowan Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2020 11:46:35 -0400 X-Message-Number: 1 Hi all, I found a singing SEDGE WREN at the Bluegrass Lane Natural Area in Northeast Ithaca last night just before dusk. This morning it was singing in the same field again, though often distant and hard to hear from the road. It's in the weedy field on the west side of Bluegrass Lane just a bit south from the entrance/parking area on Hanshaw Road. It seems to spend most of its time in the middle of this field, where it's challenging to hear from the dirt road, but sometimes comes closer. A better strategy might be to walk along the north side of the field (behind all the houses on Hanshaw) and then walk south along the west side of this field, at which point it would be to your east somewhere in the middle section. The area it seemed to favor was at around this point: (42.4650190, -76.4593958), although it would move farther north and south from there as well. Its metallic song is distinctive but not conspicuous, though it does carry a good distance, luckily. It stayed distant last night but this morning I was able to get a look at the bird and a better recording: https://ebird.org/atlasny/checklist/S71773101 Cheers, Jay -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] Niger seed
Goldfinch feeding preferences just might have something to do with the state of niger thistle seed. I have been informed that niger seed has very short shelf life, that it should only be purchased in small quantities, and that feeders should be refilled from the bottom so old seed does not accumulate. Can anyone substantiate this? Good birding, Randy Randolph Scott Little 111 Berkeley Circle Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 Phone: (908)221-9173 r...@att.net or rs...@cornell.edu -- 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/ --
Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count
ncidentally, Allen's earlier 1 Jan counts accepted the delineation of the Cayuga Lake Basin, which was first published as a map in Wiegand and Eames, Flora of the Cayuga Lake Basin, New York, in 1926. Let me know the next time you're in Ithaca; maybe we could go birding. I don't do much "bird-watching," but I've been fortunate to have had opportunities to study and survey birds in the field for a bit more than 60 years, now, and am continuing to do so. Best wishes for the new year. -- Charlie *** Charles R. Smith, Ph.D., Naturalist and Professional Skeptic Senior Research Associate, Retired Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3001 c...@cornell.edu "The greatest impediment to progress is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge." from The Discoverers, by Daniel Boorstin "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” -- Mark Twain *** -------- From: Randolph Scott Little Sent: Friday, January 4, 2019 9:32 PM To: Tom Schulenberg; Paul Anderson Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L; gregbutche...@hotmail.com; Charles R. Smith; CAYUGABIRDS-L; Rick Bonney Subject: Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count Hi Tom & Paul, You have done some good digging! A check of my birding log brought disappointing results - it only goes back to 1968 after I had graduated from Cornell and gone on to Ohio. It may well be, and that 1968 timing would have been about right, that I included my earlier records in with the materials that I deposited in the Cornell Library archives. Yes, at least through the 1950's and early 1960's when I was in Ithaca, Doc Allen always kicked off the new year with a checklist of observations in the entire Cayuga Basin. That watershed area served as the basis for the annual listing of first sighting dates. After the Stuart Observatory was built, that annual list was kept on a large bulletin board in the observatory. A new list was started every January 1st. To this day I keep my annual list on that old basin checklist, which contains Passenger Pigeon but not House Finch, for example. As for the first January 1st count that followed the National Audubon Society CBC rules, I believe Paul is right that it began on 1/1/1963. That was my last Spring in Ithaca, and after considerable discussion with members of the informal Cayuga Bird Club, Dorothy McIlroy convinced me to define a circle, divide it into sectors, assign teams to each sector, and compile the results. I assembled the several USGS topographic maps covering Ithaca and surroundings on the wall in the hallway of my parents' home, and tested various 15-mile circles to try to encompass key places such as Dryden Lake and Taughannock Point. Ultimately I settled on centering it at the intersection of Mt. Pleasant Road and Turkey Hill Road, although admittedly that didn't quite include Taughannock Point. For the following Ithaca CBC, I promised to return over the holidays to participate in and compile the 1/1/1964 count if other Cayuga Bird Club members would set up the teams and plan to take over the whole CBC the next year. (By that time I had become involved in several extant CBCs in central Ohio, and soon started yet another called the Kingston (OH) CBC in an area known for winter Rough-legged Hawks and Short-eared Owls.) I did not stay closely enough in touch with the Ithaca CBC over the intervening years to know exactly when the official center of the circle was shifted, but it is my impression that the shift would not invalidate statistical inferences drawn from both the original and the current counts. Thank you and ... Good birding, Randy Randolph Scott Little 111 Berkeley Circle Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 Phone: (908)221-9173 r...@att.net or rs...@cornell.edu - Original Message ----- From: Tom Schulenberg To: Paul Anderson Cc: Randolph Scott Little ; Upstate NY Birding ; gregbutche...@hotmail.com ; c...@cornell.edu ; Cayugabirds- L ; Rick Bonney Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 8:34 PM Subject: Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count Yes 1963 was the earliest (or at least the earliest that was recorded). All the data from all years can be seen here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19EWVe-v5fKI3s93ciNoNwy2Wpp-GpNg6/view. There were 61 species observed in 1963. Of those, two have not shown up on the count since: Dickcissel and Green-tailed Towhee!
Re:[cayugabirds-l] history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count
Hi Tom & Paul, You have done some good digging! A check of my birding log brought disappointing results - it only goes back to 1968 after I had graduated from Cornell and gone on to Ohio. It may well be, and that 1968 timing would have been about right, that I included my earlier records in with the materials that I deposited in the Cornell Library archives. Yes, at least through the 1950's and early 1960's when I was in Ithaca, Doc Allen always kicked off the new year with a checklist of observations in the entire Cayuga Basin. That watershed area served as the basis for the annual listing of first sighting dates. After the Stuart Observatory was built, that annual list was kept on a large bulletin board in the observatory. A new list was started every January 1st. To this day I keep my annual list on that old basin checklist, which contains Passenger Pigeon but not House Finch, for example. As for the first January 1st count that followed the National Audubon Society CBC rules, I believe Paul is right that it began on 1/1/1963. That was my last Spring in Ithaca, and after considerable discussion with members of the informal Cayuga Bird Club, Dorothy McIlroy convinced me to define a circle, divide it into sectors, assign teams to each sector, and compile the results. I assembled the several USGS topographic maps covering Ithaca and surroundings on the wall in the hallway of my parents' home, and tested various 15-mile circles to try to encompass key places such as Dryden Lake and Taughannock Point. Ultimately I settled on centering it at the intersection of Mt. Pleasant Road and Turkey Hill Road, although admittedly that didn't quite include Taughannock Point. For the following Ithaca CBC, I promised to return over the holidays to participate in and compile the 1/1/1964 count if other Cayuga Bird Club members would set up the teams and plan to take over the whole CBC the next year. (By that time I had become involved in several extant CBCs in central Ohio, and soon started yet another called the Kingston (OH) CBC in an area known for winter Rough-legged Hawks and Short-eared Owls.) I did not stay closely enough in touch with the Ithaca CBC over the intervening years to know exactly when the official center of the circle was shifted, but it is my impression that the shift would not invalidate statistical inferences drawn from both the original and the current counts. Thank you and ... Good birding, Randy Randolph Scott Little 111 Berkeley Circle Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 Phone: (908)221-9173 r...@att.net or rs...@cornell.edu - Original Message - From: Tom Schulenberg To: Paul Anderson Cc: Randolph Scott Little ; Upstate NY Birding ; gregbutche...@hotmail.com ; c...@cornell.edu ; Cayugabirds- L ; Rick Bonney Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 8:34 PM Subject: Re: history of the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count Yes 1963 was the earliest (or at least the earliest that was recorded). All the data from all years can be seen here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19EWVe-v5fKI3s93ciNoNwy2Wpp-GpNg6/view. There were 61 species observed in 1963. Of those, two have not shown up on the count since: Dickcissel and Green-tailed Towhee! -Paul that answer may depend upon how you define a Christmas Bird Count. I don't doubt that the modern Ithaca CBC dates from 1963. but - with the important caveat that it took decades for the CBC to assume its current form, and that early CBCs had few guidelines (and, typically, very few participants) - there were a few earlier Christmas counts from the Ithaca area. before 1963, there were several single observer CBCs from Ithaca that were published in Bird-Lore and Audubon Magazine. the earliest I have found is one by Francis Harper from December 1904, which was only the 5th year of the Christmas Bird Count - a very early contribution. the next one that I know of was in December 1914, by Ludlow Griscom (!), who I believe at that time was a graduate student at Cornell. John P. Young submitted an Ithaca CBC for December 1922. and J. Kenneth Terres submitted four consecutive single observer CBCs from Ithaca, from December 1938 to December 1941. there also was a count submitted from Trumansburg in December 1915, which as far as I know never was repeated. I've long been surprised by the fact that Ithaca did not develop its CBC until relatively late in the game. a possible clue comes from this tidbit in Greg Butcher's and Kevin McGowan's 1995 paper (History of ornithology at Cornell University): "[Arthur A.] Allen started a number of birding traditions in the Cayuga Lake basin, including a New Year's Day Count (split in 1963 to become three Christmas Bird Counts) and a May Big Day count. On New Year's Day, the Allens hosted a turkey dinner for all participants; on the May Big Day, the Allens provided a breakfast at their home and
Re:[cayugabirds-l] cayugabirds-l digest: December 29, 2018
When was the first Ithaca Christmas Bird Count? It may have been 1/1/63, as that is the earliest NYIT CBC that I could find in the National Audubon Society web archive. Perhaps I could find it somewhere in my old files, as I recall working with Dorothy McIlroy to establish the first circle, whose center has since been moved slightly. Good birding! --Randy -- 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/ --
Re:[cayugabirds-l] Renwick versus Fuertes
On May 14, 2013, at 7:24 AM, Diane Morton dianegmor...@gmail.comhttp://mc/compose?to=dianegmor...@gmail.com wrote: I have a copy of a booklet called Stewart Park, Its History, Buildings and Plantings, published for Earth Day, 1990. Here is what it says about that tract of land: When the future of the park was uncertain, fifty-five acres immediately to the south were set aside as a bird sanctuary. Sometime in 1913, the land was presented to the City of Ithaca by Renwick descendants-- it was the last significant portion of the 1790 tract to remain in their hands. The sanctuary was christened as the Renwick Wildwood and maintained by the Cayuga Bird Club. The club developed a system of trails and constructed a concrete arch at the southern entrance in 1917. These projects were funded by the city's Board of Public Works, but executed with volunteer labor. The president of the club at the time was the artist-naturalist Louis Agassiz Fuertes. After his death in 1927, the sanctuary was renamed in his honor. So it would seem that either name could be used, with Fuertes Sanctuary dating from 1927. Diane Morton It was six years after his death, more specifically June 1933, that the sanctuary was renamed in Fuertes' honor. And this re-naming was done by your very same Cayuga Bird Club in conjunction with the Ithaca Rotary Club. (See Boynton, Mary Fuertes. 1956. p.308. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Oxford Univ. Press, New York.) Good birding, Randolph Scott Randy Little -- 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/ --
