I spent a couple hours early this afternoon birding in the Dryden (NY) area.
While driving down Cornell Lane (Harford), I was accompanied by a RED-TAILD HAWK coasting about 30' over a white, featureless field with its legs down like an airliner approaching a runway. It never landed, but flew off. This is supposed to be a courtship display, although I saw no other hawk; but then they have better eyes than I do. Manure spreads along this same road had 100+ SNOW BUNTINGS mixed with 30+ HORNED LARKS. I saw 1 LAPLAND LONGSPUR immediately, but could find no others, or even refind this one, in 45 minutes. Viewing is brutal: some of the flock flew often, landing behind a hill, far away, in amongst deep tractor ruts. While waiting for the flock to present itself, I was able to watch a variety of other birdlife incl. AMER. CROWS, PIGEONS, STARLINGS, CANADA GEESE, and MALLARDS. I walked a segment of the Dryden Lake Trail (north of Willow Crossing) and came upon a flock of 12 AMERICAN ROBINS and another of 4 E. BLUEBIRDS. The bluebirds were in sumac bushes, but I could not determine what the robins were about. Maybe just hangin' out. Also there was one wild WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. Dryden Lake held 6 MALLARDS (3 pair), and an extremely compact GREAT BLUE HERON. I flushed 12 SNOW BUNTINGS from a ditch on Ferguson Rd. Finally, I drove up Tehan and Signal Tower. It's a different world up there. About an inch of recent snow covered every branch. It was as if I was driving through the inside of a spider web. At the end of the road, ice had just been deposited on the tamaracks, and all was silent but for the ghostly creaking in the wind. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/ --
