Took my wife around Cayuga Lake today. Weather was nice: lots of sun, temperatures in the 40s with a moderate south wind. The lake was choppy in exposed areas with the coves a little more calm. There was some heat shimmer which hampered distant lake viewing.
First stop was Stewart Park. Highlight was a LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL among the other "usual" gulls. There was also a decent sized raft of various Aythya species mixed in with a few other species. There were both LESSER and GREATER SCAUP which made for nice side-by-side comparisons. Also saw a pair of WOOD DUCKS mixed in with the scaup et al. There was pair of GREEN-WINGED TEAL a first of year for me. I also got several RUDDY DUCK at Stewart as well. BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, COMMON MERGANSER and HOODED MERGANSERS were also present among others. Got 2 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS as well as many AMERICAN ROBINS. Next stop was Myer's Point. Not much but got some nice shots of a KILLDEER and a decent digi-scoped image of a very distant RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. There was also a bunch of AMERICAN COOTS. Next stop was Long Point State Park. The south wind was rocketing up the lake across the park. It was very chilly and the lake was very very choppy here. There were 4 GADWALL in the pond by the dock. There were also 2 HORNED GREBES as well as several BUFFLEHEAD. Next stop- Aurora Boathouse for my 4th attempt at finding the EARED GREBE. Again, no luck. The lake was choppy and there was shimmer in the distance. This did not help. I did get 4 HORNED GREBES and I tried hard but could not turn any of them into eared grebes :( We then stopped at Factory Street to see "Screechie" and he was there sunning himself from his box. I got a nice photo of him. There were no GADWALL in this pond surprisingly, but there were 3 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, 2 RUDDY DUCKS, 3 REDHEADS and several RING-NECKED DUCKS. Got some decent photos of a few of the above. >From Harris Park there were very very large numbers of Aythya species and others seen on the other side of the lake adjacent to Lower Lake road. I loosely estimated 10,000 plus? Not sure but when part of the raft took off it was amazing. Being very distant you got a feel for how extensive the raft was. Next stop was Mud Lock and there was a BALD EAGLE sitting on the nest. Then onto the "mucklands" and besides the thousands upon thousands of SNOW GEESE, there were large numbers of TUNDRA SWANS and PINTAIL. It seemed that everywhere there were dozens of TUNDRA SWANS there were loads of PINTAIL. Given the large number of SNOW GEESE there probably were some ROSS's but I really did not have the patience to sift through them! I did find several blue form SNOWs here and there. >From east road, there were only a few SNOWs but thousands of CANADIAN GEESE and again many many PINTAILs. Next stop was Lower Lake Road to get a better look at the thousands of Aythya sp. and others. There were large numbers of CANVASBACK, and REDHEAD. It seemed that there was a higher ratio of GREATER vs. LESSER SCAUP at this stop vs Stewart. Again great views of both side-by-side. There were AMERICAN WIDGEON, HOODED MERGANSER and a few other species too. It was a spectacle given the shear numbers. Sheldrake Point was quiet and very windy so not much other than many BUFFLEHEAD. All in all, a very nice day of waterfowl. I posted some select photos from this trip on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/sets/72157626150897123/ Dave Nicosia Johnson City, 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/ --
