45 min chilly walk this AM from 720-805 around N Wilson trail and a swing by Fuller Wetlands got me 3 real FOYs and a technical. I full-capitalized only these for you scanners.
Before I even opened the Lab door, I scanned the terrain, as many birds get close to the Lab and swinging the door open is a bad way to start. Through the window I got my first of year EASTERN KINGBIRD as he flew to a low branch on the island. In the same binocular view was a Canada Goose and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Frankly, I think that is quite amusing, but what a place to bird! Then, as I did move out onto the dock, observing one of the nesting Great Blue Herons sitting rather farther out on the snag tree than normal, a few Common Grackles and other small birds chased a Red-tailed Hawk from near the feeding station, and the hawk landed on the vertical of the snag. This caused the heron to fully extend its neck and hold that pose; it resembled a bittern and also brought to mind the scene Dave Nutter pointed out to our group on Sunday of a flying Great Blue Heron with neck fully extended; we jumped out and observed it and others flying nearby in a 'normal' posture with S-curved neck. So now I wonder what that pose means: aggression/dominance? fear? attention to danger? It's pretty distinctively different than the normal neck posture. Moving up the trail, I had many of the common birds visible or singing* but suddenly saw fast-moving foraging small birds on the pond edge and focused on my first AMERICAN REDSTART male. My first thought was that the other small bird right behind would be a female Redstart, but when I got on it, found it was my first (technical) COMMON YELLOWTHROAT this year. Technical, because on Sunday at Braddock Bay we had a COYE in hand that had been mist-netted for banding, so this was my first one 'on the hoof'. Good looks, then at the end of the walk, probably the same bird reappeared at the pond edge close to the lab as I came in, and I had some more grand views of him 8' away (and no camera, drat it all!). At the turning point of the trail, before the footbridge I got a new flycatcher. First impressions against the gray sky were Least, or Pewee, or Willow/Alder. Saw 2 wing bars, small size, 'pwit' calls, but couldn't get it to sit still for a head shot. But as I walked across the bridge, what was almost certainly the same bird came through at a lower level and preened for a bit, allowing me to see the eye ring and nail down my first of year LEAST FLYCATCHER. * "regular birds" seen or heard this AM: Mallard, American Robin, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, White-throated Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Common Grackle, American Crow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Tree Swallow, Wood Duck, Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler, possible Red-breasted Nuthatch (sounded rather like but couldn't spot it) ______________________ Chris Pelkie Research Analyst Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -- 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/ --
