This morning, I made my first visit to the Hawthorn Orchard this spring. I was there from about 6:30am to 9:30am.
Except for fresh footprints from one or two other persons, there were no people birding this Hawthorn Orchard this morning. It was a little drizzly early and it was certainly muddy throughout the Hawthorn Orchard. Around 9:30am, the wind really began to pick up and gust, by which time I had pretty much covered all parts in search of birds. For those new to Cayugabirds, more information about the Hawthorn Orchard and directions to get there may be found at this link: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/cayugabirdclub/hawthorn.htm More links are at the bottom of this message. The following are the species and approximate numbers of birds I heard and/or saw in and around the Hawthorn Orchard: 2 Solitary Sandpipers (low flyovers) 1 BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO (heard calling "cu-cu...cu-cu.cu-cu.cu-cu.cu-cu-cu." etc., WNW corner of H.O.) 2 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS (came in and seen very well, together, in response to my attempt at an Eastern Screech-Owl imitation; one appeared a bit more beefy looking with brighter rufous primaries than the other, slightly smaller, individual; also, one of them produced a good gurgle call - often heard during nocturnal migration; North central portion of the H.O.). 1 Chimney Swift (flyover) 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (distant drummer) 3 Downy Woodpeckers (two trying to deter a European Starling from entering their nest cavity) 2 Northern Flickers 4-5 Least Flycatchers 1 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Warbling Vireo 3 Red-eyed Vireos 12+ Blue Jays (some in north-bound migration overhead) 4-5 American Crows 1 Tree Swallow 2 Barn Swallows 5-6 Black-capped Chickadees 3-4 Tufted Titmice 4-5 House Wrens 5-6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets 1 VEERY (center of H.O.) 1 WOOD THRUSH (saw and heard pip-pip-pip calls; no singing; North slope of H.O.) 25+ Gray Catbirds 6-7 European Starlings 2 Cedar Waxwings 3-4 Blue-winged Warblers 2 TENNESSEE WARBLERS 7-8 Nashville Warblers 6-7 Northern Parulas 15+ Yellow Warblers 3-4 Chestnut-sided Warblers (alternate songs) 7-8 Magnolia Warblers 1 CAPE MAY WARBLER (silent adult male, actively foraging in a pair of spruce trees located down a path that is off to the West of the East Ithaca Recreation Way; the path entrance is about 100 yards to the North of the wooden rail fences that line either side of the EIRW where it crosses well above a small creek) 6-7 Black-throated Blue Warblers (2 females, 4-5 males) 30+ Yellow-rumped Warblers (primarily in the same location as the Cape May Warbler; some also present at far northwest portion of H.O. general area, by cottonwood trees near entrance to EIRW) 2 Black-throated Green Warblers (singing; at far northwest portion of H.O. general area, closest to cottonwood trees near entrance to EIRW) 1 Blackburnian Warbler (singing; same location as Black-throated Green Warblers) BAY-BREASTED WARBLER (1 softly singing at very NE corner of H.O., near softball field edge) 1 Black-and-white Warbler (1singing in ravine just East of pond and driveway below the Black Oak Lane townhouses) 3-4 American Redstarts (1 female, 2-3 males) 2 Ovenbirds (1 at SE corner of H.O., 1 at NW corner of H.O.) 1 MOURNING WARBLER (at 7:10am, this bird sang once from the NE section of the H.O., just uphill from the slope with all the brambles/multiflora rose; later, I relocated this bird singing periodically just downhill and in the brambles more, and managed to pish it in for a brief naked-eye view only about 3-4 feet from my feet. 6-7 Common Yellowthroats 1-2 Scarlet Tanagers (1 singing from NW section of H.O. early; later, one was singing from SW section, then flew off to the East; probably different birds) 1-2 Eastern Towhees 1-2 Chipping Sparrows 1 Savannah Sparrow (just SW of outdoor tennis courts at Reis Tennis Center) 10-11 Song Sparrows 4-5 White-throated Sparrows 6-7 Northern Cardinals 1-2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 1-2 INDIGO BUNTINGS (1 high flyover "bzheeeeee!", 1 nice male in the tops of the hawthorns at the NE section of the H.O.) 3 BOBOLINKS (2 high, north-bound flyovers, singing; 1 south-bound low flyover calling "sprink!" at time of increased wind, seemingly looking for a field to take refuge in) 10-12 Red-winged Blackbirds 1-2 Eastern Meadowlarks (heard singing from direction of Oxley Equestrian Center or fields to SW of there) 10-12 Common Grackles 1-2 Brown-headed Cowbirds 4 Baltimore Orioles (2 adult males and one 1st-yr-type foraging in tops of hawthorns at the NE section of H.O.; one singer from grove well south of H.O.) 1 House Finch 8-9 American Goldfinches 4-5 House Sparrows This link shows the progression of the Hawthorn Orchard habitat from aerial photographs taken as early as 1936 and as late as 2006: http://picasaweb.google.com/cth4th/HawthornOrchardHistoricalAerials# This link is of some random digiscoped shots of birds seen at the Hawthorn Orchard in recent years (with the exception of the Ford Hill Road Acadian Flycatcher constructing a nest) http://picasaweb.google.com/cth4th/MiscellaneousBirds# Another link of some digiscoped birds specifically seen at the Hawthorn Orchard: http://www.northeastbirding.com/HawthornOrchard/Birds/ This link is of general images of the Hawthorn Orchard hawthorns: http://www.northeastbirding.com/HawthornOrchard/Hawthorns/ Good birding! Sincerely, Chris T-H -- Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes TARU Product Line Manager and Field Applications Engineer Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 W: 607-254-2418 M: 607-351-5740 F: 607-254-1132 http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
