As previously posted on Genesee birds the wildlife drive and the area around the observation tower and bathrooms are closed until December 16th for deer hunting. As I complained to the office they cited too many deer in that area. They will reevaluate after this trial. Weather permitting it will be opened after that. Scoping from the visitor center overlook we found at least 950 Tundra Swans and a surprisingly large group of Ring-necked ducks (2000+?) considering the date and how much of the pool was frozen. Coot seemed to have moved on but several groups of Gadwall remained. The first large flocks of Snow Geese that we have seen were flying southbound overhead and they continued for a couple hours until right before the snow started around 3:30. Probably 3000 total.
On Knox-Marcellus from East Road there were another 53 tundra Swans and 49 Sandhill Cranes. On Van-dyne Spoor Road a Cooper's Hawk hunted the hedgerow which turned out to have 40 Tree and 1 Song Sparrows. 1 No. Harrier and 1 Rough-legged hawk had success hunting over the wetland to the south where they flushed up 2 Green-winged Teal. Then the snow came. Mike Tetlow and Dominic Sherony -- 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/ --
