After a great lunch at Dories in Aurora (one meets the greatest people there), I stopped at Mud Lock where I saw 2 adult BALD EAGLES perched side-by side in a dead tree next to the "old" nest (the northernmost one). After a bit, they flew to the "new" nest, perching in the tops of 2 dead trees there. One of them emitted a high "reeeee" scream. Although eagles are big, their vocalizations are few and rather puny. I then noted another BALD EAGLE, an immature, perched close to the trunk of one of the dead trees. The immature gave a series of 'squeals" and hopped on various branches towards one of the adults that was in the same tree. It got fairly close, when the adult in the other tree opened its mouth wide and gave forth with 3-4 series of "squeaks" which noticeably descended. Stokes describes this as a "chitter call". Then the non-squeaking adult and the immature (the ones in the same tree) flew north; the adult perching in the dead tree next to the "old" nest, the immature continued flying north until not seen anymore.
I have watched eagles a lot and have rarely heard any vocalizations, so this was quite a treat. I'm guessing this was nest territory defense by the adults. Also seen up the Lake: EARED GREBE from the Aurora boathouse. 6 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS from the Aurora Bluffs-North; and a GREAT BLUE HERON flying over the village of Cayuga. Bob M. pulled up alongside me on Lake Rd. as I was looking for SHORT-EARED OWLS and asked did I see the one-eared grebe at Aurora. This caught me off guard; I thought he was talking about a grebe with one ear (fantastic eyesight there), which would make it a short-eared grebe. Anyway, I figured it out eventually. Hell to get old. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- 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/ --
