Hi Laura and everyone, Yesterday morning, Scott Anthony and I spent a bunch of time there.
Birds were foraging mostly in the flowering pear trees and apple trees. Only a very few hawthorns (Crataegus sp.) were visible with blossom buds about to pop. Most are still in initial leaf-out stages. With the warm moist weather, we can see a burst of activity through the next 2-3 days. Best birds were: 1 adult male Golden-winged Warbler, 2 Brewster’s Warblers (hybrids), 1 Wilson’s Warbler, 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo (flyby), and a Lincoln’s Sparrow. Also, any recent visits to the Hawthorn Orchard and East Ithaca Recreation Way can be found here: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L122418/activity?yr=all&m= Below is our eBird checklist from yesterday with some details noted. Please conduct and submit an eBird checklist for the official eBird Hotspot "Hawthorn Orchard and East Ithaca Rec. Way” should you make a visit, and please attempt to submit a “complete checklist." Hawthorn Orchard and East Ithaca Rec. Way, Tompkins, New York, US May 16, 2020 9:17 AM - 1:27 PM Protocol: Traveling 1.511 mile(s) 59 species (+2 other taxa) Canada Goose 2 Mallard 2 Mourning Dove 2 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Flyby in NE corner, by pear tree with mayapples growing around it. Bird was sleek, long-tailed, and long winged. Large white tail-tip spots, bordered by black interior edging to the outer tail feathers. Rust coloration on top of wings. Killdeer 2 Turkey Vulture 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Adult. Carrying fresh kill, dropped into Hawthorn Orchard to eat. Red-tailed Hawk 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 3 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Foraging and calling from dead log on ground along West side of fire hydrant clearing at the NW corner of the Hawthorn Orchard property. Least Flycatcher 8 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Eastern Kingbird 1 Red-eyed Vireo 1 Blue Jay 13 American Crow 2 Black-capped Chickadee 5 Tufted Titmouse 2 Tree Swallow 1 Barn Swallow 10 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 House Wren 2 Carolina Wren 3 European Starling 10 Gray Catbird 16 Wood Thrush 6 American Robin 8 House Sparrow 4 Purple Finch 1 American Goldfinch 6 White-crowned Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 8 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 4 Lincoln's Sparrow 1 Central portion of Eastern edge, near NE corner, but in the Hawthorn Orchard. Dainty, crested-looking sparrow, with delicate streaking on buffy sides. Buff malar stripe. Gray face with tiny beady eye. Skulking behind branches about 15 feet up. Camera-shy... Eastern Towhee 2 Bobolink 1 Baltimore Oriole 6 Red-winged Blackbird 6 Brown-headed Cowbird 4 Common Grackle 2 Ovenbird 2 Northern Waterthrush 1 Golden-winged Warbler 1 Adult male seen well, and poorly photographed, silently foraging in a blooming pear tree in the NW corner, just East of the small white pine grove that is East of the clearing with the fire hydrant. Gray body, black throat, black mask, gold-colored wing bars. Associating with clean male Blue-winged Warbler and Nashville Warbler. Blue-winged Warbler 2 Brewster's Warbler (hybrid) 2 Two Brewster’s Warblers. One with a male Blue-winged Warbler near interior NW corner. Earlier there was a singing “winged” warbler doing a classic high, thin “bzee-dzzt-dzzt-dzzt” song three times, in the Northeast corner, moving East toward the hedgerow along the softball field outfield. Later, the singing “winged” warbler was heard again along the hedgerow and seen well as a Brewster’s Warbler. Nashville Warbler 4 Common Yellowthroat 4 American Redstart 1 Magnolia Warbler 1 Blackburnian Warbler 1 Yellow Warbler 3 Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 Pine Warbler 1 Singing distantly from Cemetery white pines on other side of Mitchell St from Hawthorn Orchard property. Black-throated Green Warbler 1 Wilson's Warbler 1 Male foraging low along Trail in Northeast corner. Non-vocal. warbler sp. (Parulidae sp.) 8 Northern Cardinal 7 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S69152895 Good birding!! Sincerely, Chris T-H On May 16, 2020, at 8:39 PM, Laura Stenzler <l...@cornell.edu<mailto:l...@cornell.edu>> wrote: Did anyone bird the Hawthorn orchard today? Laura Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu<mailto:l...@cornell.edu> -- 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/ -- -- Chris Tessaglia-Hymes PO Box 488 8 Etna Lane Etna, NY 13062 607-351-5740 -- 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/ --