Today was like birding after a late September cold front. It was overcast. It was cold. It was dark. It was breezy. Initially, it was very quiet. Birds were primarily giving flight notes and were foraging in very tight groups.
I was at the Hawthorn Orchard from about 7:15am to 8:30am. By about 7:45am, after very little activity, a small aggregate of birds appeared up from the ravine area in the Northeast corner. After foraging the trees for 10-15 minutes, the birds began to rapidly move around. I later encountered what was likely the same flock, but now larger, moving rapidly from NE to West across the middle southern portion of the Hawthorn Orchard, in the direction of the East Ithaca Recreation Way. I presume they eventually circled back around to the North portion of the Hawthorn Orchard along the ravine edge, but I did not follow them. Highlights from today include: 1 Cooper's Hawk (adult, probable female, fairly large individual, came in to my pishing, flew off shortly after and gave a harsh chicken-like "kek" note) 1 Pileated Woodpecker (in the Hawthorn Orchard, NE corner, originally called from within the H.O.; while pishing for the warblers, it flew at me and over my head, then turned and headed off to the ENE of the NE corner) 3-4 Least Flycatcher (only producing "whit" notes) 1 Great Crested Flycatcher (territorial bird, well NW of the Hawthorn Orchard) 1 Blue-headed Vireo (in warbler flock, uttered song only a couple of times) 1 PHILADELPHIA VIREO (in warbler flock, saw multiple times at three different locations, with the same group) 1 Red-eyed Vireo (in warbler flock) 5-6 Blue Jays (came in when the Cooper's Hawk appeared) 3-4 Black-capped Chickadees 2 Tufted Titmice 2-3 House Wrens 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (possibly same individual that has been observed here over the past week; NE corner) 1 WOOD THRUSH (still vocally displaying territory at NE corner) 4-5 Gray Catbirds 2 Tennessee Warblers (most vocal with "seet" flight notes, uttered partial songs only twice; NE corner) 4-5 Nashville Warblers ("seet" and "tink" notes) 2-3 Northern Parulas (males and female) 1 Yellow Warbler (probably on territory, South of Hawthorn Orchard) 2-3 Chestnut-sided Warblers (males and female) 3-4 Magnolia Warblers (males) 1-2 Black-throated Green Warblers (only "tick" notes) 1 American Redstart (territorial male in ravine on North side of Hawthorn Orchard) 3 Common Yellowthroats (on territories) NO White-throated Sparrows (departed?) 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak (squeak notes near NE corner) 1 Indigo Bunting (visual, flew over H.O. as I was crossing North soccer field) 6-7 Baltimore Orioles (5 birds visible at one time in Hawthorns in NE corner) 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 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/ --