Susie & I went up to Lake Ontario today. We stopped this morning at the Mucklands, corner of Rts. 31 and 89 to scan for cranes. We saw none then but found 3 AMER. GOLDEN PLOVERS in the open field there.
On our return thru MNWR late this afternoon, we found 7 adult SANDHILL CRANES in a partially harvested cornfield 200 yds. north of the intersection of Rt. 89 and Mays Point Rd. What struck us was the small size of one of the birds. It looked to be roughly 6" shorter standing, with the bill correspondingly smaller (about 2" less in length). The base color of the body feathers was a charcoal gray, much darker than the light gray of the larger birds. We think this was a LESSER SANDHILL. Steve & Susie Fast Brooktondale -- 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 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --