Today, I could not resist the temptation to be lazy, watch for migrating 
raptors, test out my new camera, and visit with my parents. I stopped by their 
place at Vine Street in the City of Ithaca on East Hill and started watching 
skyward for migrating birds, sometime around 10:45am. I continued a stationary 
count for five hours, with my parents joining me in between their yard work, 
until about 3:45pm. Most of the migrants were extremely, extremely high up. The 
Loons, as usual, were scraping the cloud bottoms. Having my Maui Jim polarized 
sunglasses helped tremendously in spotting the birds first naked eye. Then I 
could holler "bird!" to my parents, get on it with my binoculars for a quick 
ID, and finally attempt to capture a picture if possible. I posted the better 
of my blurry pictures here: 
https://picasaweb.google.com/112522159565855378380/2012VineStreetMigrants

Highlights included the following:

1 distant silently migrating SANDHILL CRANE (from about 12:17 to 12:21pm, 
visible over the Hawthorn Orchard and then slowly migrating toward East Hill 
Plaza and then probably in the direction of the Cornell Orchards on Route 366).
2 relatively high migrating CHIMNE SWIFTS (not vocalizing)
19 migrant COMMON LOONS (in ones and twos throughout the observation time)
89 migrant DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS (in small to large flocks, all migrating 
in a SE to NW direction)

Below is the complete tally of notable birds seen in migration and around the 
yard, in no particular order:

TURKEY VULTURE - 4
RED-TAILED HAWK - 9
BROAD-WINGED HAWK - 11
NORTHERN HARRIER - 2
OSPREY - 1
COMMON LOON - 19
COOPER'S HAWK - 2
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK - 1
AMERICAN KESTREL - 3
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT - 89 (59+6+5+16+3)
SANDHILL CRANE - 1
Unidentified Raptor - 3
Gull Sp. (Probably Ring-billed Gulls, very high) - 5
CHIMNEY SWIFT - 2
BARN SWALLOW - 1
TREE SWALLOW - 2
NORTHERN FLICKER - 4

Around the yard highlights:
FIELD SPARROW - 1
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET - 1
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER - 1

It was fun trying out the new camera and just doing some good old-fashioned 
unofficial hawk watching.

Good birding!!

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

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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


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