Re: [cayugabirds-l] Yellow-throated Warbler -- Monkey Run South

[Sydney F Penner]

At 4:30pm the Yellow-throated Warbler was still around, though not by 
the road. It was in the stand of pines about 200 yards east on the old 
RR grade. I suspect that it's moving back and forth between that stand 
of pines and the stand by the road.


Thanks, Chris, for sending out the note about this gorgeous bird.

Sydney Penner





Christopher Wood wrote:
The Yellow-throated Warbler is still here singing and has been seen by 
everyone who has come to look for it (I believe). It tends to stay 
high in the pines, but occasionally comes down lower.


The best thing to do is to drive to the north end of Monkey Run Road 
and park in the snow plow turnaround area. Listen for it singing.


I was also able to get some better photos, which you can get to below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinicola/

Cheers,
Chris Wood

eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York
http://ebird.org
http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu



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[cayugabirds-l] Shindagin Hollow -- Wednesday morning

[Sydney F Penner]

After a long day of grading papers yesterday, I decided to spend the 
morning today walking a good chunk of the Finger Lakes Trail in 
Shindagin Hollow. I didn't find any mixed warbler flocks, but there were 
lots of rewarding birds nonetheless. Some highlights with a complete 
eBird list at the bottom:


Steve Fast reported a NORTHERN GOSHAWK a few days ago. I suspect it may 
still be around. I didn't see the bird well enough to make a visual ID, 
but heard it repeatedly. It definitely didn't sound like a Cooper's Hawk 
(I've had a pair of those nesting close to our house for a few years 
now, so I know their calls quite well), but it did sound very much like 
recordings of Goshawk that I listened to so I'm pretty sure of the ID.


I got one of my best CANADA WARBLER encounters ever. It was a very 
brash, actively singing bird in the larch stand between the pine trees 
downed by an ice storm a few years back. To my eye it had a shorter 
necklace than usual.


By Shindagin Hollow Rd. there were at least three CUCKOOS: 2 
YELLOW-BILLED and 1 BLACK-BILLED. I watched the Black-billed Cuckoo 
feeding in the maple trees along the road for a while. In the same area 
I also saw my first conclusively identified WILLOW FLYCATCHER of the year.


One of my favourite moments was when I was standing in the hemlock grove 
by the Shindagin Lean-To. I had a BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER above me with 
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH and WINTER WREN singing along the rushing stream 
down below.


Why would I ever want to grade papers again?

Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

Location: Shindagin Hollow
Observation date: 5/19/10
Number of species: 41

Northern Goshawk 1 On the FLT at the ridge looking over Shindagin 
Hollow Rd. Not seen well enough to make confident visual ID, but heard calling 
repeatedly. Pitch (higher) and tone were markedly different from Cooper's Hawks 
that I've heard. Matches recordings of Goshawk that I listened to well. It's 
perhaps also worth noting that Steve Fast recently reported seeing a N. Goshawk 
in Shindagin Hollow.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2 Calling repeatedly near Shindagin Hollow Rd.
Black-billed Cuckoo 1 Observed it feeding in maple trees along 
Shindagin Hollow Rd.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Willow Flycatcher 1 Along Shindagin Hollow Rd. Mostly quiet but gave 
distinctive call a few times.
Least Flycatcher 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 8
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 3
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Winter Wren 3 Not singing as much as a few weeks ago but still heard a 
few songs. Sang partial songs several times.
Veery 3 Lots of calling; some singing.
Hermit Thrush 2 Singing.
Wood Thrush 5 Singing.
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 2
Yellow Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 3 In clearing on Shindagin Hollow Rd.
Black-throated Blue Warbler 5
Black-throated Green Warbler 6
Blackburnian Warbler 2 Found one each singing in two different hemlock 
stands.
Black-and-white Warbler 3
American Redstart 4
Ovenbird 20 Observed more squabbling and chasing than I usually see, 
accompanied by high-pitched, squeaky calls.
Louisiana Waterthrush 2 Singing by the brook along FLT east of 
Shindagin Hollow Rd.
Common Yellowthroat 3
Hooded Warbler 2 In maple stand at top of ridge west of Shindagin 
Hollow Rd.
Canada Warbler 1 Actively singing (and very bold, allowing close 
approach) in larch stand between the pine stands downed in ice storm.
Song Sparrow 3
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 4
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Baltimore Oriole 5 All in clearing along Shindagin Hollow Rd.
American Goldfinch 2

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] terns north from Myers Point, etc

[Sydney F Penner]

A little after 4pm today (May 14), I saw two Forster's Terns at Stewart
Park. They flew over without much pause, headed south.

Sydney Penner




> This afternoon (Friday 14 May) during a brief break in a busy taxi day
> I stopped at Myers Point.  On the spit I found only  ~20 immature
> HERRING GULLS.  As I was leaving, something with narrow white wings
> caught my eye far to the north.  Scoping revealed 7 terns sitting on the
> water together considerably north of Salt Point.  Everytime one got up
> to move it showed the gleaming white upper primaries of FORSTER'S
> TERNS.  When they all took flight I found that all were Forster's, but
> their number had increased to 14.  Another scan and I counted 22 terns,
> not all of which I could ID, but two of which were COMMON TERNS.
> They worked their way north into the shimmer and faded from view,
> which was easier to explain than their appearance.
>
> On a walk at Stewart Park after work I found a female WOOD DUCK
> and her family in the swan pond - a tight crowd of ~10 tiny ducklings
> with yellow cheeks split by a dark line, plus the last two in line with
> entirely reddish brown fluffy heads - MERGANSERLINGS - not sure
> which species.
>
> About yesterday evening's COMMON NIGHTHAWK sighting, sorry
> about the ambiguity of my brief text message.  When an afternoon of
> distracted sky scanning while gardening and lawn-mowing revealed
> no migrating Nighthawks despite the southish winds, I decided I needed
> to leave my yard.  I climbed the nearby bridge of NYS 89 across Ithaca's
> Fllood Control Channel (technically I believe the Cayuga Inlet is on the
> opposite side of Inlet Island).  I scanned the skies without luck until I
> saw the appropriate irregular and somewhat floppy movement for a
> feeding Common NIghthawk low against the sky far to my north.  My
> scope at 60X gave it the right shape, but I never saw the white stripes
> in the wings even though I could tell it was dark overall.  The bird was
> probably over Renwick Sanctuary.  I lost track of it when it dipped below
> the treeline for me.  The only birds I saw going north were individual
> gulls,
> but a handful of BARN SWALLOWS and a CHIMNEY SWIFT headed south.
> --Dave Nutter
>
> --
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[cayugabirds-l] Wednesday morning birding

[Sydney F Penner]

I finally got a chance to get out again and took it, even though it 
didn't look like the most promising morning for birding. And things were 
relatively quiet everywhere I went, but I did end up with a nice tally 
of species by morning's end.


The most interesting things at Myers Point when I arrived a little 
before 8 were 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER, 1 COMMON LOON, 
3 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, and 1 GREEN HERON. There were lots of Baltimore 
Orioles around, but I couldn't find any of the Orchard Orioles that I 
would really have liked to see. When I left about an hour later there 
was a GREBE way out on the lake, but it was too far out for me to be 
able to identify the species.


I encountered very few warblers at Sapsucker Woods, though I did a 
BLACK-THROATED BLUE and a TENNESSEE mixed in with the flocks of 
Yellow-rumped Warblers. The NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH were singing. Much to 
my annoyance, I missed the Wilson's Warblers that others have been 
reporting. There are still some WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS at the feeders. I 
heard an EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE.


Stewart Park was really quiet, at least by the time I got there. The 
most interesting birds were two COMMON LOONS.


Jetty Woods proved to be more interesting. A SWAINSON'S THRUSH was 
foraging on the trail---this time I'm sure about the ID. One of the more 
amusing episodes was when a Carolina Wren starting singing on one side 
of the path only to have a Catbird on the other side of the path imitate 
him in response every time. This went on for quite a while. The 
imitation was quite good, though it definitely has a catbirdy timbre to 
it. There was also a BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON in the woods. Finally, in 
addition to at least two Least Flycatchers, there were at least two 
non-Least Flycatchers. Unfortunately, they never called and so I 
couldn't determine whether they were Alder or Willow Flycatchers.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] Hammond Hill -- Friday morning

[Sydney F Penner]

Trail 1 in Hammond Hill was relatively quiet this morning (at least if a 
forest teeming with Ovenbirds and Common Yellowthroats can be called 
quiet), but I found some really nice birds. Most impressive were the 4 
CAPE MAY WARBLERS (including one right at the Hammond Hill Rd. parking 
area), one CANADA WARBLER, and one singing MOURNING WARBLER.


The complete eBird list is below.

Sydney Penner



Location: Hammond Hill SF
Observation date: 5/7/10
Notes: Trail 1.
Number of species: 38

Ruffed Grouse 1
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 2
Barn Swallow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8
Wood Thrush 2
American Robin 6
Gray Catbird 2
Cedar Waxwing 3
Tennessee Warbler 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 5
Cape May Warbler 4
Black-throated Blue Warbler 4
Blackburnian Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Ovenbird 20
Mourning Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 10
Canada Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 2
Northern Cardinal 2
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)



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[cayugabirds-l] a couple of Hawthorn additions

[Sydney F Penner]

Meena and I heard a warbler at the NE corner of the hawthorns that 
puzzled us at the time, but, having listened to some recordings, I'm now 
reasonably confident was a PRAIRIE WARBLER.


I also saw a couple of thrushes, one of which was clearly a Hermit 
Thrush but one of which I'm still mulling over. I didn't hear it singing 
or calling at all, but I did get a pretty good look at it. Here are my 
field notes:

- distinct spectacles
- grayish overall [meaning head, back, and wings]
- no rufous (except perhaps on tail?)
- some spotting on top part of breast
- spotting not very distinct
- smallish?

The Hermit Thrushes I've seen recently have definitely been more reddish 
than this bird was. A Swainson's Thrush, maybe? It's a bit early for 
them, but not impossibly early. I'd be happy to hear thoughts about what 
it might have been. And anyone birding in Hawthorn might want to keep an 
eye out for a possible Swainson's Thrush. I saw it roughly in the centre 
of the hawthorns.


Sydney Penner

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[cayugabirds-l] Stewart Park

[Sydney F Penner]

Stewart Park was fairly quiet this morning when I was there, but there 
were a few interesting birds. One CASPIAN TERN flew back and forth along 
the shore, providing as good a view as I've ever had. There was a flock 
of eight sandpipers along Fall Creek that must have been LEAST 
SANDPIPERS, though the grayish backs and the amount of white on the 
bottom side kept tempting me to think Semipalmated thoughts.


There were mostly Yellow Warblers around the Swan Pen but also one 
BLACKPOLL WARBLER.


Sydney Penner

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Hawthorn in the morning

[Sydney F Penner]

Meena left for work just a bit too early: two minutes after she left I 
had had my best ever encounter with a singing NORTHERN PARULA. It was on 
the north side just a bit in from the path running along the gully.


Earlier, I also had two SCARLET TANAGERS, one flying overhead and one 
swooping right by my face.


Sydney Penner




Meena Haribal wrote:
Today I decided to walk to work via Hawthorn and spend little longer 
time if I find birds. I did find birds, place was alive with songs 
especially of three species of warblers.

Todyas highlights
White Crowned Sparrow
Brown Thrasher
Purple Finches (two one male and other female plumage don’t know if it 
the was young male as it seemed to be chasing the adult Purple Finch)

Baltimore Oriole (4 or 5)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Nashville (10+)
Yellow-rumped Warblers (50+, I spent quite some time observing their 
food location behavior as I am hoping to write a proposal for NSF)

Tennessee (4 or 5, had variation in songs)
Chestnut-sided (3 or 4)
Black—throated Blue (at least 3 and there was one which sounded like 
BTBW warbler but song was weird)
*Palm Warb**ler* (one heard his song too, he should be called wagtail 
warbler )

*Am. Redstart* (2)
*Magnolia* (2 at least)
*Blackpolls* (2 at least one had a very explosive song, maybe he just 
above my head when I heard him)

*Common Yellowthroat* (5 or 6)
*Yellow Warblers* (5)
And others saw Black-throated Green (Sydney) and Black-burnian (Jon Glase)
*Great Crested*
*Least Flycather*
And finally last bird was a gorgeous view of *Black-billed Cuckoo*.
Meena Haribal
Boyce Thompson Institute
Ithaca NY 14850
Phone 607-254-1258
http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/
_http://haribal.org/_
_http://haribal.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/wildwest+trip+August+2007+.pdf_ 




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[cayugabirds-l] Red-eyed Vireo

[Sydney F Penner]

More good things at home: BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER and two RED-EYED VIREOS. 
I don't recall the latter having been reported yet.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] warblers

[Sydney F Penner]

In previous years I haven't had much luck seeing migrating warblers 
around my home, so I headed out early this morning to hunt some down. I 
didn't find quite as many as I hoped, though a CERULEAN WARBLER at Jetty 
Woods was exciting. Within five minutes of getting back home, however, I 
had stunning eye-level views of MAGNOLIA, NASHVILLE, and BLUE-WINGED 
WARBLERS.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] swallows and terns

[Sydney F Penner]

Today is a marvellous day for swallow watching. I saw lots of swallows 
everywhere I went and all of them were flying low and slow in a most 
cooperative fashion. This morning (7:30-9:15) at Stewart Park I saw (in 
order of frequency) TREE, BARN, BANK, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, and PURPLE 
MARTINS.


Early in the afternoon (12:40-1:15) I went to Myers Point and saw all of 
the above except Purple Martins and added CLIFF SWALLOWS for a sweep.


Question about behaviour: at Myers Point I started wondering if swallow 
species differed in how close to the shore they prefer to remain---is 
there such a difference? It looked to me like the Barn and Northern 
Rough-winged Swallows tended to stay close to the shore with the Tree 
Swallows a bit farther out on the water and the Cliff Swallows even 
farther out. The Bank Swallows seemed to roam all over the place. Was 
this just a fluke or do the species in fact differ in where they prefer 
to hunt for insects?


Stewart Park had quite a few other birds in addition to swallows; of 
particular interest were the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER flying north and 
several COMMON TERNS. The terns flew in and out of the fog bank over the 
water so it was hard to tell exactly how many there were. But there were 
at least three terns and at least two of them were Common Terns. I 
believe Dave Nutter suspected that one of them might be a Caspian, but 
didn't get a good enough look to confirm his suspicion.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850



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[cayugabirds-l] Shindagin Hollow - Thursday morning

[Sydney F Penner]

I had struck out on them so far this year, but within ten minutes of 
arriving in Shindagin Hollow this morning I heard five WINTER WRENS and 
got great views of one of them. I also heard my first WOOD THRUSH of the 
year. There were a number of BLUE-HEADED VIREOS around, but I didn't 
find any warblers.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Pileated Wood peckers

[Sydney F Penner]

Last fall I was surprised to see a Pileated Woodpecker flying in large 
circles about five feet above the ground in front of the A. D. White 
House. It repeatedly came within ten feet or so of the sidewalks busy 
with human traffic.


A couple of weeks ago I managed to sneak up on a Pileated Woodpecker 
drumming on a nice, resonant dead tree in Monkey Run South and to hold 
my ear against the trunk. I highly recommend trying this. It was most 
impressive. The entire trunk -- 15 or so inches in diameter -- shook 
from the drumming.


Sydney Penner




Meena Haribal wrote:


I recently seem to be seeing Pileateds in suburban and urban areas. 
Today I was driving on Spencer road when I saw a Pileated fly on to a 
tree near the car wash. Recently, I have seen Pileateds from the bus 
in East Ithaca area, one at the junction of Honness and Pine Tree 
Road, one on Synder Hill Road, one on Snyder Hill and Sky Vue road. 
Looks like they are moving into more populated area.


A dead trunk on maple on my driveway is being excavated buy a 
woodpecker. There is big hole and large chunks of wood on the 
driveway. Don’t know who is doing it. I know Red-bellied is around the 
yard whole lot of time. I will keep watch.


A robin has built a nest in my yews, must be the same female who used 
to attack me in my garden last year. I was standing in the living room 
inside the house and male saw me and started giving alarm call. She 
popped out of the bush to check out the intruder or danger.


In Mundy the Pileateds are nesting in a large Sycamore this year. A 
few days ago, I saw a male drumming on a dead trunk. When I looked at 
him, I found that the lower part below the lower beak was all red, I 
thought he was bleeding after drumming J) So I looked at him with my 
binoculars that is when I realized that it was his plumage! I had 
never seen this character! I came back and checked the field guide to 
see that the red is nicely depicted in the book! After seeing the 
picture, I felt a little embarrassed that I had never seen this 
character in last 16 years!


But hey that shows there is lots to learn about everyday subjects!

Meena Haribal

Ithaca NY

http://haribal.org/




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[cayugabirds-l] Hammond Hill SF -- Wednesday morning

[Sydney F Penner]

A walk in Hammond Hill SF this morning (10:45-12) didn't turn up the 
Winter Wrens that I was hoping to see, but there were a good number of 
Ruby-crowned Kinglets around. My complete eBird list is below.


Sydney Penner


Location: Hammond Hill SF
Observation date: 4/14/10
Notes: Sunny, calm. Walked on Trail 1.
Number of species: 17

Ruffed Grouse 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 10
Tufted Titmouse 2
Brown Creeper 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7
American Robin 8
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 11
Northern Cardinal 3
American Goldfinch 4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)




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[cayugabirds-l] Little Gull?

[Sydney F Penner]

I saw a gull at Myers Point just before noon that initially struck me as 
an adult LITTLE GULL. I know that one was reported yesterday and so that 
makes me more inclined to think that what I saw was in fact a Little 
Gull. But a couple of points made me start to doubt that identification. 
I got great looks of it and so have quite extensive notes and sketches; 
here are some of the more salient notes:


- very small (looked smaller than the Bonaparte's in the area)
- black head (though with significant white speckling); the black mask, 
however, was less extensive than what I would expect of a Little Gull, 
black turned up sharply towards back; almost no black was visible when 
viewed from the back (the black hood of the Black-headed Gull in Sibley 
looks about right)
- underside of the wings did NOT look at all dark to me; instead they 
were pretty much white with black-tipped primaries

- bright red legs; very visible in flight
- upper side of wings were light gray, with black-tipped primaries; 
there was a clear, distinct fairly wide white edge on the front of the 
wing (again, the picture in Sibley of a Black-headed Gull in flight 
looks exactly right)


Basically, some of the features (e.g., size) made me think Little Gull; 
others (e.g., wing colouration) made me think Black-headed. But I'm not 
very familiar with these gulls, so help would be much appreciated.


The gull was leisurely moving north, foraging along the shore as it 
went. When I left Myers Point at 12:15 it was still visible to the north 
but quite distant.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] Goetchius Preserve

[Sydney F Penner]

I was at the Goetchius Preserve between 7 and 8 this evening. Highlights 
for me were two WOODCOCK and one WILSON'S SNIPE.


Dozens of ducks came flying in as the light faded. Most of them arrived 
after it was too dark for me to be able to identify them reliably, 
though I suspect that most of them were WOOD DUCKS.


There was also a flock of sixty or so TREE SWALLOWS feeding over the 
fields, helping to make it feel rather like a summer evening.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] hawk ID

[Sydney F Penner]

My thanks to all those of you who emailed me about the hawk ID. I 
received multiple suggestions each for Northern Harrier, dark morph 
Red-tailed, and Rough-legged. I'm reasonably confident in ruling out 
Northern Harrier, but I doubt by now that I saw/remembered enough 
details to rule out either Red-tailed or Rough-legged.


The bird I saw looked very much like one of the Harlan's Red-tailed 
Hawks pictured in Sibley's, but I figured that it was really unlikely 
that there would be a Harlan's out here. But I've now heard several 
reports of seeing dark morph Red-tailed around here, including Harlan's. 
So perhaps that is less unlikely than I thought.


The reason I was suspicious of it being a Rough-legged was that it was 
too dark to be a light morph Rough-legged, but I thought dark morph 
individuals lacked the white on the upper side of the tail that the 
light morphs have. I have, however, been told that some dark morphs do 
have the white on the upper side of the tail. In that case, Rough-legged 
also seems a viable candidate.


In sum, I saw a rather striking hawk, but I don't think I'm in a 
position to identify it conclusively. Thanks again for the responses.


Best wishes,
Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850




Sydney F Penner wrote:
I saw a hawk this afternoon that has me puzzled. Perhaps someone more 
familiar with hawks than I am can help me sort through the possibilities.


I'd say it was definitely a buteo---it struck me as about the right 
size and shape for being a Red-tailed Hawk. But the colouring was 
certainly different from most Red-tailed Hawks that I see:


1) All parts of it except its tail that I saw were quite uniformly 
dark with a little bit of checkering. I did not get a good look at the 
undersides of its wings and tail, so I don't know about those.
2) The upperside of the tail was white starting from the base, but 
with a dark end. The white shaded into the dark, i.e., the boundary 
was not sharp.

3) There was definitely nothing red or reddish that I could see.

Any ideas?

The hawk was hunting over the fields where West Lake Rd. meets the 38 
near Dryden Lake.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] hawk ID

[Sydney F Penner]

I saw a hawk this afternoon that has me puzzled. Perhaps someone more 
familiar with hawks than I am can help me sort through the possibilities.


I'd say it was definitely a buteo---it struck me as about the right size 
and shape for being a Red-tailed Hawk. But the colouring was certainly 
different from most Red-tailed Hawks that I see:


1) All parts of it except its tail that I saw were quite uniformly dark 
with a little bit of checkering. I did not get a good look at the 
undersides of its wings and tail, so I don't know about those.
2) The upperside of the tail was white starting from the base, but with 
a dark end. The white shaded into the dark, i.e., the boundary was not 
sharp.

3) There was definitely nothing red or reddish that I could see.

Any ideas?

The hawk was hunting over the fields where West Lake Rd. meets the 38 
near Dryden Lake.


Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] Sapsucker Woods

[Sydney F Penner]

I just spent half an hour at Sapsucker Woods and didn't see much of note 
until I got back to the car to leave at 2:30pm and saw 1 EASTERN 
BLUEBIRD, 1 EASTERN PHOEBE, and about 50 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS in the trees 
between the parking lot. The blackbirds flew to the south after a few 
minutes, but I didn't see where they settled.


At home, I have a leucistic SONG SPARROW coming to my feeders.

Sydney Penner

43 N. Landon Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850

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[cayugabirds-l] trills

[Sydney F Penner]

My ear just got caught by a trill coming through an open window on the 
east side of Goldwin Smith Hall that sounded rather different than the 
juncos trilling at my house. On the other hand, it did sound very much 
like the recording of a Chipping Sparrow trill that I just listened to. 
I wasn't able to visually locate the bird.


So, depending on your predilections, you can interpret all of that as a 
possible Chipping Sparrow on Cornell's campus or as an illustration of 
the difficulty in distinguishing those two species by sound. I'm 
inclined towards the latter. Though there was a sighting of a Chipping 
Sparrow in Ithaca two years ago to the day ...


Sydney Penner

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Mt. Pleasant Snow Buntings

[Sydney F Penner]

I ventured to Mount Pleasant as well a little after 3pm. The fog 
certainly didn't help but I did see a flock of Snow Buntings close to 
the road right by the pink flags. I didn't get an exact count since they 
promptly flew farther away, but there were definitely more than the 6-9 
mentioned by Marie -- I'd estimate there were around 15 today.


Sydney



Stephen R. Hill wrote:
I ventured there today (mistake).  Visibility was about 125 feet.  I 
couldn't tell where the snow ended and the fog began.  Better luck 
next time.


Stephen

On 1/17/2010 4:21 PM, Marie P Read wrote:

Hi all,

A small flock of Snow Buntings is consistently foraging in one spot on Mt
Pleasant Road, for those that would like to see them. Driving east on Mt
Pleasant Road, get to the crest of the last hill just before it starts
down to Mineah Rd., slow down and look to your right (south) as you come
down the hill. The snow is patchy there and you will soon see a row of
small pink flags (marking what I don't know). 6-9 buntings have been there
several days in a row. They are hard to see against the mud and dirty snow
but watch for movement and you will see them.

Marie



Marie Read Wildlife Photography
452 Ringwood Road
Freeville NY  13068 USA

Phone  607-539-6608
e-mail   m...@cornell.edu

http://www.marieread.com
http://www.agpix.com/mari


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White-winged Scoters?

[Sydney F Penner]

I dropped in at Stewart Park around 6pm on my way home; most potentially 
interesting birds were too far away to be identified without a scope. 
But I did see two ducks flying low across the water not too far out. 
What immediately came to mind was White-winged Scoters. But I take that 
to be a bit improbably. I didn't get very good looks at them since I 
only saw them flying across once. But there is no question that they 
were definitely mostly blackish on top but with clear white wing 
patches. It looked like their undersides might be lighter in colour, but 
I didn't get a good look at that. Size is a bit of an issue, since they 
looked more Wood Duck-sized to me. Of course, estimating the size of 
birds on water is tricky, so I may be totally off on that one. Anyway, 
what other species should I be considering? And how unlikely would it be 
to see White-winged Scoters this early?


Sydney Penner

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Stewart Park

[Sydney F Penner]

The RUDDY DUCK was still present at Stewart Park at around 4:15. I also 
enjoyed great views of an OSPREY soaring back and forth over the area. 
Finally, I saw more DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS than I've seen before at 
Stewart Park: 27 of them, mostly roosting in trees.


Sydney Penner

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