The north end of Seneca Lake is one of my personal-favorite birding destinations in winter. Jim Tarolli and I hit all the waterfront spots in Geneva on Monday, coming up with thousands of Redhead and Canada Geese, at least 100 Canvasback, and an arrival of Wigeon. Birds were at all different distances from very close to a mile or more out in the lake. Highlight was a/the hybrid Canvasback x Redhead, essentially looking like the bird photographed by Chris Wood on Cayuga Lake. Head and bill showed the Canvasback influence while the back and sides were a touch paler than Redhead and darker than Canvasback. It was at medium distance and inconspicuous with the 200 or so Redheads it was with (seen in direct comparison with both species). We debated various methods of photography but the bird was diving constantly and we eventually gave up for a number of reasons. The bill had a little blue tint and in retrospect we should have considered Common Pochard.
Earlier, Jim spotted a bird that we thought possibly an intersex Mallard. A strong roost flight happened between 5-6pm and the north mile or so of the lake was a blanket of birds. Some photos of the dusk madness (including three distant Coots getting airborne), plus diving Redhead, Canvasback, and the Mallard. http://www.flickr.com/photos/22183060@N08/ David Wheeler N. Syracuse, NY -- 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/ --
