RE: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma (TRICOLORED HERON) and Owasco Lake - 5/5

2013-05-06 Thread Susan Fast
Chris,

 

Glad you got to see the heron.  Susie  I just returned from N. Carolina
where we spent part of a morning watching about 6 of them feeding, flying,
interacting.  Couple other highlights of the trip were 3 piping plovers at
Chincoteague NWR.  They were in a lagoon behind the beach; possibly because
the beach was covered with people, horses, and tons of sand-moving
equipment.  Also watched, close-up, 2 oyster catchers feeding on a mussel
bed.  I still need more observations to flesh out my theory of prey choice
and valve opening behavior.  Oh, and 302 alternate-plumaged marbled godwits
at Willis Wharf, Va.  We thought of you as we were counting them.  Today,
I'm off to the Adirondacks for 2 weeks.  Retirement does have some
advantages.  S.  S. Fast

 

  _  

From: bounce-88370343-9286...@list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-88370343-9286...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Christopher
Wood
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2013 9:57 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma (TRICOLORED HERON) and Owasco Lake - 5/5

 

Tom Johnson and I spent the morning birding a few areas in the Finger Lakes.
Here's a quick summary of our birding along with links to eBird checklists,
many of which have photos, more comments , and links to a map of the
location.

 

We started birding at Island Park on the north end of Owasco Lake, which had
3 Red-breasted Mergansers and 10 Snow Geese. The mergansers were all on the
water when we arrived and then flew up, circled and flew off to the west. 

eBird Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13994840

 

We spent the rest morning birding northern portions of the Montezuma Wetland
Complex.

 

Carncross Road was highlighted by 2 Trumpeter Swans, a family of Sandhill
Cranes including a recently hatched bird, and a fabulous female Wilson's
Phalarope. Perhaps the biggest surprise here was the large number of Lapland
Longspurs, including several males that flew overhead several times, often
with American Pipits. In a quick check of eBird this evening, we only saw
one other May record in New York (Willie D'Anna, Niagara County 11 May
2012). 

eBird Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13995564

 

We headed over to Howland Island where highlights included a extremely
cooperative Cerulean Warbler (photos) and a Vesper Sparrow singing from
north of the parking lot at the end of Carncross Road.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13995548

 

From there we headed to Van Dyne Spoor and the Sandhill Crane Unit of
Montezuma. We arrived to find Jay McGowan and Livia Santana had just found a
TRICOLORED HERON that flew over them, landed, but was hidden in the marsh.
Luckily, over the next 110 minutes we were there the bird flew up out of the
marsh several times and we enjoyed prolonged and excellent views of it in
flight. Shortly after joining Jay and Livia, two Glossy Ibis flew directly
overhead and straight away, never to be seen again (at least by us). There
were also good numbers of Black-crowned Night-Herons, Green Herons, Great
Blue Herons and at least one American Bittern, and nesting Trumpeter Swans.
We also had several flyover Lapland Longspurs here. Just before leaving we
had prolonged views of a mink.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13997039

 

Towpath Rd./ Knox-Marcellus Marsh was fairly uneventful.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14001609

 

Christopher Wood

eBird Project Leader

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

http://ebird.org

http://birds.cornell.edu

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[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma (TRICOLORED HERON) and Owasco Lake - 5/5

2013-05-05 Thread Christopher Wood
Tom Johnson and I spent the morning birding a few areas in the Finger Lakes. 
Here's a quick summary of our birding along with links to eBird checklists, 
many of which have photos, more comments , and links to a map of the location.

We started birding at Island Park on the north end of Owasco Lake, which had 3 
Red-breasted Mergansers and 10 Snow Geese. The mergansers were all on the water 
when we arrived and then flew up, circled and flew off to the west.
eBird Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13994840

We spent the rest morning birding northern portions of the Montezuma Wetland 
Complex.

Carncross Road was highlighted by 2 Trumpeter Swans, a family of Sandhill 
Cranes including a recently hatched bird, and a fabulous female Wilson's 
Phalarope. Perhaps the biggest surprise here was the large number of Lapland 
Longspurs, including several males that flew overhead several times, often with 
American Pipits. In a quick check of eBird this evening, we only saw one other 
May record in New York (Willie D'Anna, Niagara County 11 May 2012).
eBird Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13995564

We headed over to Howland Island where highlights included a extremely 
cooperative Cerulean Warbler (photos) and a Vesper Sparrow singing from north 
of the parking lot at the end of Carncross Road.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13995548

From there we headed to Van Dyne Spoor and the Sandhill Crane Unit of 
Montezuma. We arrived to find Jay McGowan and Livia Santana had just found a 
TRICOLORED HERON that flew over them, landed, but was hidden in the marsh. 
Luckily, over the next 110 minutes we were there the bird flew up out of the 
marsh several times and we enjoyed prolonged and excellent views of it in 
flight. Shortly after joining Jay and Livia, two Glossy Ibis flew directly 
overhead and straight away, never to be seen again (at least by us). There 
were also good numbers of Black-crowned Night-Herons, Green Herons, Great Blue 
Herons and at least one American Bittern, and nesting Trumpeter Swans. We also 
had several flyover Lapland Longspurs here. Just before leaving we had 
prolonged views of a mink.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13997039

Towpath Rd./ Knox-Marcellus Marsh was fairly uneventful.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14001609

Christopher Wood
eBird Project Leader
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
http://ebird.org
http://birds.cornell.edu

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Please submit your observations to eBird:
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