I saw two Tree Swallows today at Tshache Pool. Why do Tree Swallows come so early when it is freezing out here? What evolutionary pressures force them to arrive at the breeding ground early? I was wondering if it has to do something with availability of nest cavities. Blue Birds seem to have evolved to start breeding earlier than the tree swallows, so they get the holes earlier. Thus Tree swallows are loosing out and that in turn makes them come early. If it is so, it is interesting know, if this is a recent event or happened hundreds of years earlier.
I have also been seeing in last two or three years Bald Eagles seem to be usurping the Osprey nest from the previous years. Ospreys seem to be loosing out and they have to build the nest completely again. So would Ospreys start coming back sooner? I missed out on Eurasian Wigeon AT Tshache. Most wigeons were showing only their butts, only occasionally putting their heads up when I was there. It was nasty cold up on the tower with wind blowing. Later, I stopped at Van Dyn Spoor (Wine Dine Spoor?) Rd in the hopes of recording Sandhill cranes and seeing Short-eared Owls. But the wind put cap to my first plan. I did hear two Sandhill Cranes vocalizing but did not see. I waited for Short-eareds. According to Mike Tetlow's post they showed up at 6.00, but did not see anything till 6.45 PM though the Harriers were still active. Then I ran in to Tony Shrimpton and we were wondering why they did not show up at 6.00 pm. We thought may be it was a typo or Mike forgot to change his clock in his car. But anyway, I waited till 7.10 PM. Then Tony suggested that to see the owls someone has to sacrifice. So I decided to be the sacrifice and left Tony to watch for the owls. I hope they did show up for him. I also saw the Northern Shrike. He seemed to be in the same place where I had seen him in September 2009! Wonder if he spent the whole winter there or did he move elsewhere and is now stopping on the way back. Along Rt 89, I must have seen at least seven dead Skunks (I avoided driving over even the dead ones and I do that for any animals), equal numbers of Opossums and Raccoons too. Just as I was reaching Ithaca, a car in front of me stopped with flashers on and I was not too far from him, but moved on to the other side of the road as no cars were coming, then I saw a raccoon in the middle of the road. It seemed shocked but not smashed. I was happy to see that the driver of the car decided to turn around and hope if the raccoon was just shocked he made it move away from the road. At least there are still people who care for wild creatures. I also saw at least twenty moths of two different sizes and one of them smashed into my wind shield. Others managed to survive! Meena ________________________________________ From: bounce-5460317-3493...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-5460317-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of John Greenly [j...@cornell.edu] Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 2:38 PM To: Cayugabirds-L@cornell.edu Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Montezuma tree swallow Seems like someone must have reported one by now but I can't remember, so: one TREE SWALLOW yesterday, over the pond on East Rd past May's point. --John Greenly -- 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/ -- -- 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/ --