Thank you Jay for posting about the recent birds for the benefit of non-ebirders!
Meena Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 42.429007,-76.47111 http://www.haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf ________________________________ From: bounce-118567517-3493...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-118567517-3493...@list.cornell.edu> on behalf of Jay McGowan <jw...@cornell.edu> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 1:04 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Winter birds, Ithaca area Since not many folks are posting these days, I thought it might be nice to update the group as a whole on Ithaca birding over the last week or two. Despite a rash of "first" reports, AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS have been around for a couple of weeks now. I saw my first on October 23 (a bit early), and they were in most brushy areas in the Northeast Ithaca area by the end of October, and I've had them on pretty much every list since then. Maybe they're starting to come in to more feeders now that it's getting snowier. Several other species of sparrows are still lingering. FOX SPARROWS are mostly gone, but SWAMP SPARROWS are still present in several locations, and at least two SAVANNAH SPARROWS continue in the cattail patch in the field on Bluegrass Lane. Chris Wood and Kevin McGowan had an adult WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW along the entrance road to the compost on November 15. Also on the 15th, Ken found two LAPLAND LONGSPURS in the corn field on Bluegrass Lane SNOW BUNTINGS are still being reported as flyovers, but no significant numbers have been reported at this end of the lake recently. PINE SISKINS continue to be reported in small numbers, still mostly as flyovers but occasionally at feeders. Despite reports of EVENING GROSBEAKS around to the east and west of the Basin, I still haven't heard of any around here except for a flyover by Chris Wood on November 8. Scattered reports of COMMON REDPOLLS farther north give hope for a redpoll year a little later on. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS are still scarce, but I did have one fly over Sapsucker Woods on November 13. Duck hunters at Myers Point have reduced waterfowl numbers and diversity drastically there. A large mixed-species flock off Stewart Park currently harbors low numbers of all five Aythya, including a single male CANVASBACK, as well as other expected species and quite a few RUDDY DUCKS. CACKLING GEESE seem to be passing through right now, with 5-6 in the large goose flock of Stewart Park on 23 and 24 November. SNOW GEESE are still not moving through in numbers. Interesting gulls have still been fairly scarce. Still the only ICELAND GULL of the season was an early one at the compost and over campus on November 3-4. Tim Lenz had an immature GLAUCOUS GULL at Stewart Park on November 23 but to my knowledge it has not been seen again. I have been checking the compost regularly and have come up with little of interest, but an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was present yesterday and a 3rd-cycle type Lesser was seen by others on the 23-25. BONAPARTE'S GULLS are being reports off and on from the lake, and observers should keep an eye out for rarer small gulls. RED-NECKED GREBE and RED-THROATED LOON reports are down from a week or two ago, but I did see an adult of the latter from Myers Point on the 26th. Two KILLDEER were present on Myers Point on Thanksgiving, and Ken had a WILSON'S SNIPE at Bluegrass Lane as late as the 21st. I haven't heard of any shrikes or interested owls in the area in the last couple of weeks, but people should keep an eye out for both. Snowy Owls seem to be making another invasion this winter. Good birding, and let's keep those posts coming! -- Jay McGowan Ithaca, NY jw...@cornell.edu<mailto:jw...@cornell.edu> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<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/ --
