Ten people joined me Saturday morning at Monkey Run. The downpours from Friday night and early Saturday morning had cleared out, and we ended up with no rain, but a cold, damp day. We headed first to look at a winter wren singing near the parking lot, plus a yellow-bellied sapsucker drumming on a telephone pole. Then we went to look for the ruffed grouse we heard nearby - Suan had sent me a video clip of the ruffed grouse drumming, with instructions to find it on a bright green, moss-covered log near the parking area. We found the log, not the bird. We continued on our way upstream, and found that some of the trails were now tiny streams, and some of the creeks were a bit high from the rains the night before. We saw several ruby-crowned kinglets, and a large flock (40) of cedar waxwings. We were able to make good progress until about a half mile up we reached a usually easy-to-cross creek that was now 3-4 feet deep! Lacking a bridge or a boat, we headed back the way we came, then continued to follow the path downstream, noting Canada geese, wood ducks, and common mergansers. Now veering away from Fall Creek, we headed slowly up the muddy, tree-root-covered hill towards a pine grove - lots of action here - a blue-headed vireo, a pine warbler, a yellow-rumped warbler, a ragged-looking raven flying close overhead, and at least three people heard a black-throated green warbler. At the top of the hill, we encountered another winter wren foraging under and over logs near a small creek, and heard brown creepers singing; we then curved around to head back through the woods, and entered woodpecker territory - we saw multiple yellow-bellied sapsuckers and northern flickers. We made our way back to the parking area, but stopped to see if we could locate the ruffed grouse - no luck, again! Overall, we saw 30 species in 2 hours, 45 minutes, according to the eBird list that Diane entered. All in all, I think everyone had fun, despite the mud and high water! eBird list here: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S55166828
-Liisa Liisa Mobley -- 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/ --
