Ann Raffetto's Red-winged Blackbird in East Varick on 15 Feb was the first in the basin this year of which I was aware. I think I saw it in eBird because of the Great Backyard Bird Count. I don't know if Project Feederwatch records are searchable for this purpose. Now that I know the bird was there a week earlier, I'll have to revise. That may have been a bird which overwintered in the area and found her feeding station then. My personal first of the species was on 9 March, which probably represents an influx. Generally males Red-winged Blackbirds arrive first to establish ownership of territories, and the females arrive a couple weeks later to choose a territory (and thus a male). We see warbler females migrating a bit after males as well, but the more pronounced separate migration as well as different size & coloration add to the impression of female Red-winged Blackbirds being a different species. It may be that lower places, which melt sooner, and marshy habitats are taken first, which may explain why your upland place in Ulysses was late to see them.
The basin first arrivals list, which I'm a few days behind updating, is here: http://www.cayugabirdclub.org/Resources/cayuga-lake-basin-first-records --Dave Nutter On May 05, 2014, at 08:57 PM, Ann Raffetto <rass...@rochester.rr.com> wrote: > > We participate in Project FeederWatch and we had a female RWBL on our 2/8 and > 2/15 counts in East Varick, about 20 miles north of T-burg. > Ann > > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) > cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html'>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/ > > -- > -- 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/ --
