Don't give up!! This was my 4th try this past wk. to see the Avocet & goodness knows how many since spring to see a Bittern.
At 7:45 this evening a very helpful birder from Syr./Oneida Birds helped me find the A. Avocet just as I was ready to give up ...... mosquitoes were REALLY blood thirsty. Be sure to take bug spray if you go to the refuge, regardless of the time of day!!! ..... Tender's After-Bite, which is ammonia in a pen-like dispenser, or 2 % dyphenhydramine anti-itch cream (generic for Benedryl Cream & much cheaper, esp. at a dollar store) takes the itch out if the nasties get you. Almost straight out from the May's Pool platform is sort of an island of greenery with a little channel of water opening into the pool beyond. The Avocet apparently hangs out in the greenery on the left side of that channel, on the pond side, coming out from time to time, strutting its stuff, for VERY brief moments as if to say, "Yah, yah. I'm right here!" & then in a blink is gone. Kathy Strickland was there this a.m. .... can't remember what time ... 8:30 maybe & said she saw the beautiful bird. Not her 1st time tho'. >From May's I went to Tschache & found a mosquito-bitten couple "packing it in" >for the day. The lady had just shown me a Little Greeen Heron when she & I >both turned just in time to see 3 A. BITTERNS fly in to land in the greenery >to the left of the tower. I was able to get the scope on one of them that >hadn't disappeared into the greenery. On the 27th, Thurs., I saw 2 Trumpeter Swans come from behind the cattails at Knox-Marcellus. Also saw a Peregrine Falcon on a tree in the North Pool. Kathy saw one this a.m. elsewhere at the refuge. She also reported seeing the 2 Sandhill Cranes, no doubt the same ones she & I saw last Sat. over the main pool. Not too many birds here at home ... occasional Mocker, Robin, female Hummer, Song Sparrows, Cardinals, 2 B. Orioles, & several Gold Finches. The Osprey(s) still return to the NYSEG platform across the field on Center St. to eat & maybe rest. When I went to Ithaca last wk. I saw 3 Ospreys on the new platform by the Cayuga Lake Farms barn on the hill just north of Levanna. The family of Crows make their rounds, enjoying the Seckel pears. The Cooper's Hawk patrols quite regularly. I wish it would get the young rabbits & chucks. Sure miss the foxes. Jays have been raiding the choke cherry tree. The wild grapes are loaded with ripening fruit. Summer will soon be winding down! Best birding to all! Fritzie -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Temporary archive: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
