Hi All, Tom Johnson, Carolyn Sedgwick, Jessie Barry and I spent the better part of the day enjoying the Canada Geese, gulls, flyover passerines and traffic at Sunken Meadow State Park. Despite spending much of the day there, we did not see the geese until 3:02PM.
Tom Johnson first saw the Pink-footed in flight with ca. 200 Canada Geese and the Barnacle Goose at 3:02PM. We were waiting specifically for the bird since Tate saw the bird come in around 3:10 the day before. It quickly landed in the marsh out of view (just as Tate reported previously). We headed to the intersection that is just north of the bridge over the creek, walked about 100 meters west, entered the woods and walked to the edge of the reeds. We were able to find an area where we were eventually able to get very good views, distant photographs and some surprisingly adequate video (See http://flickr.com/pinicola). We only briefly saw the Barnacle Goose from here. I suspect that others will have the best luck if they either arrive very early in the morning and look for the birds as they depart, orarrive around 2:30PM and wait for the birds to fly into the marsh. Birds often develop a routine and based on Tate's report and our experience that you will have the best luck around 3:00. The best area to wait may be just up the hill (south) from the bridge. We did spent time driving around many golf courses, baseball diamonds and parks but didn't run into the geese. I suspect with a bit more effort, others will find where these birds are feeding when they aren't at Sunken Meadows. Best wishes, Chris Chris Wood eBird Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Archives: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
