I had a great morning at Myers Point, though I was disappointed that no one else showed up to enjoy the spectacle with me. The highlight was an incredible 2865 BRANT moving south in flocks of anywhere from 15 to over 600, starting a few minutes after I got there at 7:50 and continuing (although somewhat less frequent) to right when I left at 10:15. Other good birds included the 14 BLACK SCOTERS I posted before, four WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, hundreds of NORTHERN PINTAIL with lower numbers of AMERICAN WIGEON, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL mixed in, a female LONG-TAILED DUCK flying north, a flock of HORNED GREBES flying north, a RED-THROATED LOON on the lake, at least 37 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, including seven on the spit when I left, a juvenile BONAPARTE'S GULL on the spit, and a loose flock of shorebirds moving north that included at least one WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, one SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, and two DUNLIN. Complete checklist below.
Myers Point, Tompkins, US-NY Oct 27, 2011 7:50 AM - 10:20 AM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Lakewatch from spit and for a while from the lighthouse. Huge numbers of Brant moving down the lake, and lots of dabbling ducks a little higher up. Moderately strong north winds and light rain. 38 species Brant (Branta bernicla) 2865 Huge numbers moving south over the lake a little over ridge-line. Sometimes with cormorants or a few ducks (often pintail) mixed in. Groups of: 17, 40, 48, 56, 68, 68, 110, 123, 160, 160, 170, 200, 415, 580, 650. Flocks were fairly well spaced over the time I was there, and more were still arriving (a little slower than earlier) when I left at 10:15. Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 35 Incredibly few migrating, only two small flocks Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 1 Moving south with Brant flock Gadwall (Anas strepera) 2 Alone, moving south American Wigeon (Anas americana) 25 Mixed in with pintail and black duck flocks, one or two small groups alone. Moving south. American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) 97 Groups of 10-20, often with many pintail, moving south. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 40 Several flocks of ~10 moving south, some around on the lake. Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) 241 Groups of 2, 3, 5, 11, 30, 90, and 100, often with wigeon and black ducks. Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) 48 Group of ~35 (probable) flying low over water headed south, trailed by White-winged Scoters, then group of 6 followed by 7 an hour later, also low over lake. None seen mixed in with higher dabbling flocks. White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca) 4 Flock moving south, 3 females and 1 immature male. Another similar flock seen later moving north, then turning and following a flock of Green-winged Teal south, assume same birds. Black Scoter (Melanitta americana) 14 Flock moving south, apparently all males except for the last bird which was a female. Good looks. Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) 1 Female flying north up the lake Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) 6 Flying south over east shore Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata) 1 Juvenile on water to west. Common Loon (Gavia immer) 3 Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) 14 Extremely tight flock of 12 moving north low over lake, then two birds close to lighthouse. Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) 320 Many moderately sized (10-40) flocks moving south. One group of ~200 mixed in with flock of 500+ Brant. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 2 One in creek, one flying north along east shore Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 20 Over west ridge Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 1 Adult, flew over spit heading north Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) 37 Flock of 23 circled point several times, then flock of 30 (have to assume the same birds but could easily have been all different ones) did the same an hour later. Then a group of 7 landed on the spit and remained until I left at 10:15. Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) 1 At least one with loose group of large peeps heading north White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) 1 At least one with loose group of large peeps heading north Dunlin (Calidris alpina) 2 Flying north relatively high with several straggling peeps Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) 1 Immature on spit Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 15 Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 5 Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 1 Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 1 Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1 American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 15 Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 1 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 5 European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 25 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1 Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 10 House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 1 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 8:22 AM, Jay McGowan <jw...@cornell.edu> wrote: > A flock of 14 BLACK SCOTERS (mostly males with at least one female > trailing) just flew south low over the lake past Myers Point. A little > earlier I had a group of 23 GREATER YELLOWLEGS and 125 BRANT. > > Jay McGowan > -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
