Hi all, My daughter Marjolein and I went looking for the large raft of Redheads and other ducks reported to have been in Aurora bay, but when we arrived around 12:30 today (Sunday), there were only Canada Geese. We headed further north but did not find any large groups of ducks. The ice is pretty solid from Union Springs north, with a few open spots. The Screech Owl was peering out of it's box on Factory Rd. in Union Springs and the large pond contained mainly Canada Geese with a few Redheads, Wigeon, Bufflehead and Mallards. In the village of Cayuga we spotted a small flock of Ring-necked ducks near the bridge by the abandoned factory (just past the town offices). At Mud Lock there were more Canada Geese with 6 Tundra Swans among them. We headed back toward Ithaca and stopped at Long Point park where we finally found a large raft of mainly Redheads, with Canvasback and a few Scaup mixed in. It was a very impressive flock - several thousand at least. They were north of the park. As we watched, an adult Bald Eagle flew over the road, making lazy circles as it headed north, passing right over our car. Our last stop was Ladoga Park, where we found another large raft of mixed species - mostly Redhead but also around two hundred Canvasback and many Scaup (lesser, mostly). The size of that raft was probably 1,000 birds. Also at Ladoga were two Snow Geese, swimming with 4 or 5 domestic geese, as well as Coots and Mallards. All along the way, we noticed many Redtailed Hawks and one Kestrel. We counted 25 Redtailed Hawks at the Pheasant farm on Game Farm Rd. Nice day out! Laura
Laura Stenzler l...@cornell.edu<mailto:l...@cornell.edu> Ithaca, NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
