First, a paragraph of thoughts buffeted by the weather: Over the past couple days we have had strong southerly winds, culminating today in a front coming through with more northerly winds and a temperature drop of over 30°F this afternoon. Today’s weather change is dramatic but the pattern is typical here. Despite appearances, this change is not vindictive, and it is even explainable: Our weather moves in from the west at our latitude (look up Hadley Cells), and we are between the colder drier Canadian air and the warmer moister Gulf of Mexico air. When a ripple along that boundary moves in from the west, it’s often an obvious storm, with lower pressure and therefore a counter-clockwise rotation (look up Coriolis Effect), just like all northern hemisphere cyclones, such as hurricanes. That combination of rotating counterclockwise while moving east causes warmer winds to come from the south for one or more days before there’s precipitation and then colder air comes from the north for one or more days.
Then some generalized remarks about birds: Birds, being lightweight fliers, use the winds to help them travel long distances with less effort. The recent south winds inspired several species to move north into our area. These are species which can handle some of the cold weather & precipitation which is sure to follow, and for whom the advantage of being first to get to a breeding territory first may be worth the risk. Now some bird specifics: Tens of thousands of SNOW GEESE have come into the northern Cayuga Lake Basin to feed in farm fields. They are in addition to the several-hundred to few-thousand Snow Geese which were already in our area for weeks, creating a white island when they rested in the widest part of Cayuga Lake between Aurora and Dean’s Cove. Among the new Snow Geese in the Mucklands along NYS-31 in Tyre has been at least 1 ROSS’S GOOSE, reported by Wade & Melissa Rowley on 20 February with a slightly confusing description, and by Robert Spahn et al and David Wheeler today. A dramatic arrival was NORTHERN SHOVELER, which showed up in several places today, 21 February, even though it’s a rare species in winter. To cite sighting sites: Stewart Park, Ithaca; Visitor Center area at Montezuma NWR, Tyre; Mucklands, NYS-31, Tyre; Montezuma Audubon Center, NYS-89, Savannah; Van Dyne Spoor Rd, Savannah; Several of these places had multiple shovelers seen by multiple observers in multiple parties at multiple times, but all today. It wasn’t always easy to sort out who found the birds independently and who found out from someone else, so the list of observers is very long (see Cayuga Bird Club website Resources page with link to First Records). I find this a fascinating phenomenon, when a wave of migrating birds intersects with a wave of birders. Another rarer yet yearly species was also reported today, as far as I know for the first time this year, in the Cayuga Lake Basin: EURASIAN WIGEON, seen by David Wheeler in the Mucklands along NYS-89 in Tyre. The species was previously found by Dave Kennedy on Seneca Lake which, is considered outside the Cayuga Lake Basin despite draining into Cayuga Lake. The first shorebird of the year has been reported as well: KILLDEER calling over Fitzgerald Road in Hector, heard by John & Sue Gregoire, either on 20 or 21 February. I guessed the 21st, but I’d happily be corrected. Another species was reported today just outside the Cayuga Lake Basin in the Tompkins County Town of Caroline: a PINE GROSBEAK. If the photos in Steve Kelling’s eBird report reflect how lousy his view was, then this is a great example of piecing together subtle clues to build an ID. - - Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
