This evening between 7 and 7:21pm from the Cayuga Waterfront Trail in Cass Park I saw at least 3 and possibly as many as 6 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS. The first which I saw, only a few minutes after I began my quest, was distant to my east over the flats of Ithaca. Surprisingly, it was flying directly north with steady wingbeats, which is nominally typical of gulls in the evening, but in the scope I could tell it not only had extremely narrow pointed wings (narrower than a Ring-billed Gull), but it was brown (not immature gull- or Black Tern-colored), it took extremely high and deep wingbeats (unlike gulls or even terns), and it occasionally rolled a bit to one side or the other (which gulls and terns don't do in my experience). I lost track of it when it had gone so far to my left that I had to change my stance. Obviously it was not migrating, which is the usual circumstance I have seen nighthawks flying straight and steady. I figured it must be headed toward the lake or over nearby woods to feed. A few minutes later through binoculars I glimpsed another more distant bird to the east with long, narrow, pointed wings in irregular flight, but I was unable to find it through my scope. This happened again a bit later to the northeast. Several minutes I saw 2 birds to my northeast, but closer, over the Farmers' Market, and I managed to get one in my scope for a more satisfying view of the long notched tail and the white band across the primaries, plus some of the typical extremely erratic foraging flight as it worked its way south past me. When I stepped back from the scope I saw that it's companion still traveled nearby, with the same size, shape, and flight. The last Common Nighthawk I saw, also in the scope less than 3 minutes later, followed a similar southbound path passing somewhat to my east. Even if the first directly-northbound bird completely changed its direction when it found company or food, and if the two poorly seen birds both went north then turned around, I still saw at least 3 Common Nighthawks this evening, because I don't think either of the southbound pair is likely to have snuck north again that quickly.
Another unusual sighting for Cass Park was a SCARLET TANAGER atop a willow along the Inlet. It was a male in green and black non-breeding plumage. This evening I only found one OSPREY by Cass Park, perched in a tree along the Farmers' Market, but there were 2 Ospreys perched in a dead tree along Jetty Woods, presumably birds from the nest platform north of Treman Marina. I counted over a hundred DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS perched in the trees of Jetty Woods, and I saw at least 20 CASPIAN TERNS this evening, half of them southbound in groups of 3 and 7, the remainder resting on and near the base of the red lighthouse. --Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
