Our group's experience at Derby Hill was very similar to the group led by Dave Nicosia with a few exceptions which are worth noting.
At the lake overlook several of us had good looks at a Golden-crowned Kinglet in the pines on the west side of the overlook. From the N look out area we walked down the road and checked out the lake from end of Sage Creek Rd. Here looking west we found many more Red-breasted Mergansers and a number of Bufflehead. We stopped at the blind overlooking Sage Creek Marsh. The only new bird we saw here was a Wood Duck. After Derby Hill we headed towards the Montezuma area. Our first stop was at the small shorebird area on Savannah Spring Lake Rd. The only shorebird we found here was a single Greater Yellowlegs. We walked back down the road to creek finding A pair of Ring-necked Ducks, a few N Shovelers and a pair of Am. Wigeon in the marshy area N of the road. When we got back to the cars we noted a Great Blue Heron with a small fish. We watched as it took about a minute to get the fish oriented correctly to swallow it head first. At Carncross Rd. we found more Yellowlegs, both Greater and Lesser, and a Caspian Tern but little else. The Knox-Marcellus over look was more productive, with a few Snow Geese still there, lots of N Shovelers, Ring necked Ducks, a few Canvasback and several Great Blue Herons. Our last brief stop was at Tshacache pool. Here we found Blue-winged and Green -winged Teal, Gadwall, Am. Coot, Pied-billed Grebes a Bald Eagle and as we were leaving the best sighting of the day for our group. Literally as we were heading for the cars one of us noted a Sandhill Crane flying across the pool headed towards the NE. If flew over the tees and disappeared but every one got identifiable even if distant views. On our way back down the east side of the lake we noted more Osprey, at least 3 Am. Kestral, and on Lake Ridge Rd our only N. Harrier of the day. All in all a good day of birding. Bill Baker --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ -- 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/ --
