3rd time the charm: last Sat I spent 1.5 hrs looking at the 4000 Redheads/ 1000 Scaup raft off Hog Hole and never seeing the blasted Tufted Duck, even though another birder told me it was there (he was already packed and leaving, so gave me general directions, for which I was grateful).
Yesterday, I tried again: went up 89 but couldn’t see the raft, so went all the way to Taughannock Park where I got my first of year COMMON LOON (1), GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET (1) singing and foraging in a small hemlock near the boat launch canal (and also chatted with Paul S and Ray), and BELTED KINGFISHER (1) flying over and rattling, along with a smattering of Mallard, 4 Redhead, and gull sp. On the way back, I pulled off on 89 overlooking the lake at Hog Hole and still didn’t see a big raft, so bagged hiking out there and went to Stewart Park instead. For 1.5 hrs, I stood looking into the brisk North wind from the Swan Pen at a smaller raft without success, earning tearing eyes and frozen forehead (even with a balaclava). So with the prospect of cold sun today, I set out again… for Myers Pt. From the Marina, I scoped the TUNDRA SWANs at Ladoga, along with COMMON GOLDENEYE, MALLARD, a few REDHEAD, mixed SCAUP. From Myers Pt, it was only a smattering of gulls but distant views of more Swans, geese, and a raft of Redheads north of Salt Pt. As I was about to turn into Salt Pt, a burst of white winged birds flew up from the shoulder, so I pulled over and jumped out but did not find the expected Snow Buntings. Instead, I got a NORTHERN CARDINAL, then my FOY NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD who flew up next to the cardinal, then a CAROLINA WREN began singing and simultaneously my FOY PILEATED WOODPECKER called then flew and landed in plain sight on a tree over Salmon Creek. Other small birds were also calling at the same time; busy spot! I drove to the north end of Salt Pt and scoped 1st cycle TUNDRA SWANs with their charcoal heads and necks and pinkish bills swimming with parents, some of who made lots of interesting calls. A pair of RING-BILLED GULLs got into a meowing match: I don’t remember ever hearing this particular vocalization from them before and it had a nice resonance in the bay so was quite loud. Scoping the mixed Aythya yielded nothing new, though this Redhead raft was nearly Scaup-less but filled in with many Mallards and geese. There were a good number of Goldeneye in the bay but no Scoters to be seen further out. As I was driving by the concrete blocks, I was looking hopefully for one of those Bluebirds Donna is always seeing, but nothing, so I slowed, then stopped to listen. Must have been a premonition, so I got out and immediately a big raptor flew off a tree across the tracks from me and down to land in the trees I had just come from: quick look said (FOY) ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, and longer look confirmed this. Before I could set up the scope, it flew up and behind those trees, but then caught a themal and spiraled back into view, even doing one of those great mid-air stall/hovers before diving on some unseen prey. I stopped on the same road by the parking lot on the way out and found 3 more Carolina Wrens, lots of Blue Jays, 2 (FOY) NORTHERN FLICKERs, and listened for any other new birds but got none. It was busy though with lots of birdy foraging sounds (probably those Wrens) and other calls. In the distance, the Swans chorused a few times. I stopped at East Shore to locate where the southern rafts were, at about 1130am. I thought there might have been a White-winged Scoter halfway across the lake but if it was, it slept the whole time and the thermals just wouldn’t let me resolve it, so I didn’t count it. But I could see a large raft at Stewart and another at Hog Hole, so stopped at Stewart and looked at every one of them 3 times to be sure there was no Tufted Duck. There were a good number of gulls sitting on the ice near East Shore Dr but they were almost all facing me, so I gave up looking for white ones and said, alright, let’s do this thing, hike out to Hog Hole with fingers crossed. I shoulda checked email right? But as I hadn’t, I was pleasantly surprised to see the only other birder out there at noon was Jay who indeed had my newest life bird, the infamous TUFTED DUCK, in his scope and camera. We chased it up and down the beach for a while until the flock it was in stopped pedaling up and down the ice and settled in pretty much in front of us, just off the ice, so about t00 yds away, in bright sun, calm water, no thermals. Fantastic viewing: we could see the greenish sheen of the head, the tuft usually showed, except after some quick dives as Dave pointed out it was briefly matted down, but the most remarkable thing was the popping white of its side vs all the now drab-looking Scaup sides. My vision is not so great unaided at 100 yds, but this guy popped out from the pack even without optics. To those who have tried and not succeeded, this bird is very distinctive: you will have no trouble or doubt ID’ing it once you find it. The only gotcha is that it was diving a LOT. But we had lots of good looks, and I hope I got some good pics and I’m sure Jay did. So go and do it, today or tomorrow! Hog Hole seems to be the TUDU spot this year! ChrisP -- 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/ --
