Hi all, I spent an hour in Mundy as I had no hurry to rush back to lab.
Birds were sparse, active and frustratingly giving brief glimpses. Most of the birds were around Pawpaw grove. For example all I could see of a female Scarlet Tanager was mostly underside of the tail, fluffed rump, beak and an eye that too from a strange angle as she was looking down at me. But that was enough to say she was a Scarlet Tanager. A juvenile PINE WARBLER, I spent long time to see its all characters, but once I was convinced it was a Pine Warbler, it landed fairly close to me several times. A CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER flitted around affording many excellent views. Two juvenile BLACKPOLLS gave me variety of fleeting glimpses enough to identify them. A young (probably) REDSTART was quite co-operative. A couple with a dog disturbed a hiding SWANSON'S THRUSH from its location in Pawpaw grove and forced to land near me on a tree. It was alarmed and was hesitating as to go closer to dog or a human. But it preferred me. Gave excellent looks. While I was watching the thrush, Boyeria vinosa circled in front of me and above me and picked off insects, presumably those that were trying to me. Tons of Goldfinches everywhere and their babies continuosly begging "feed me feed me" and parents feeding seeds of Helianthus and deep leafed Rudbeckia. I am sure babies can pick these seeds, but they seem to be not willing to do their own job. Iw onder why is it that seeds still need to be partially processed before being fed to the juvs? Warblers spent most of the time in Ash and Basswoods. Mundy had a busy traffic of I think mostly freshmen and their parents. I could hear gates opening and closing with a bang very often. I was forced to hear conversations such as "Tommy or Tony used his computer for four years, so you should be able to do it too". Reply was "but they keep upgrading often". Or "So what do you get for dinner?" Parents probably visiting their offsprings to make sure their kids have settled down and have what they need for their future life on the campus. Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 http://haribal.org/ -- 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/ --