Thanks to Dave's posting, I slipped the traces and headed out to find some birds this afternoon. Great Blue Herons seemed to be in every puddle and shallows, and clouds of blackbirds (starlings, grackles and redwings) also swirled around. I headed up 89 then cut over to 414 and up to Martin Road. Did not find anything on the Lott Farm but at 4:30 PM there still were three Snowy Owls visible from Farron Road, north of Martin and west of Farron. Two were bright white individuals, quite nicely seen through 10x binos, and a third darker one further out still was a Snowy Owl but nice details like yellow eyes were not discernible without a scope. They were space out quite a distance from each other, south to north. A male harrier was coursing over the fields behind the darker SNOW, tree swallows was gliding over the fields near & far, killdeer were calling like crazy, and only the owls seemed unaware that suddenly it was very much spring!
Heading home, south on 414, there were two large melt pools west of the highway. The first one, in corn stubble across from Martin's Power Equipment, had a few Redheads, many Mallards, a couple of Black Ducks, and four Green Winged Teal, three male & one female. In the field itself were several dozen Canada Geese and a couple hundred Snow Geese. None of either type of goose looked small, but there was an unusually high proportion of 'blue' ones in this field, I counted 16 before being distracted by blackbirds that turned out not to be Rusty. There also was an unusual goose that seemed identical in shape, size, and behavior as the rest of the snows, and it was hanging out with them, but it was entirely dark with no grin patch and no white under the tail, which I thought a juvenile blue morph has. Is that wrong? If not, any thoughts on what was it? A mile or two further south was another pond in a different cornfield, with similar birds except two male Blue Winged Teal and two male Wood Ducks replaced the Green Winged Teal, and there were a dozen Redheads. There also were far more Canada Geese and no Snow Geese. A wonderful day to play hooky - thanks for being so inspirational, Dave! Alicia On 4/2/2015 12:34 PM, Dave K wrote: > There were 4 Snowy Owls seen from Martin Rd 10AM today. One on Lott > farm West of Thorpe Rd and 3 on the Martin/Farron block...... > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/105424358@N06/16985093816 > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/105424358@N06/17011104975 > > https://www.flickr.com/photos/105424358@N06/16823218318 > > They seem to be perching on the few remaining bits of snow....gone > tomorrow? > -- > *Cayugabirds-L List Info:* > Welcome and Basics <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> > Rules and Information <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > <http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> > *Archives:* > The Mail Archive > <http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> > Surfbirds <http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> > BirdingOnThe.Net <http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> > *Please submit your observations to eBird > <http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>!* > -- --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com -- 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/ --
