This is interesting. Taking another look at the map, I see that birds diverging from the west shore of Cayuga above Taughannock would pass by Connecticut Hill on a straight course toward the Chesapeake, and would converge with the Susquehanna at Sayre, Pa, at its confluence with the Chemung River coming east from Corning. Might be interesting to have observers on Conn. Hill the next time there is a big flight.
As they go by us above Cayuga the birds are undoubtedly following the wind more than the water, and with a N wind there is a strong updraft generated up the hills westward from the lower part of the lake. Maybe that's what they are using, to gain altitude. --John Greenly On Nov 15, 2015, at 8:20 AM, John and Sue Gregoire wrote: > John, Meena, > I was joking about following Rte 15 southbound! The majority of birds > yesterday were > indeed flying on a line that would have taken them to Watkins Glen. Did they > turn? > Where? Why? > > These birds were at sufficient althitude to bring the rivers in view quickly > and the > Bay within a very short time. Our old banding station on the Patuxent River > was at > the same longitude as our current station between the lakes here. > > I agree with a direct flight. The rivers only provide a sense of confidence > that, in > case of an in-flight emnergency, a suitable divert field is available > throughout the > journey south. > > A few years ago some folks from the Maryland Orn. Soc. conducted a watch at Pt > Lookout ( Md shore at confluence of the Potomac,Patuxent and the Bay). The > timing of > touch downs there would coincide nicely with the flight times with tail wind > that we > were discussing yesterday -about 5 hours. All in all, much faster than we > can drive > or sometimes fly IFR. > > John > -- > John and Sue Gregoire > Field Ornithologists > Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory > 5373 Fitzgerald Road > Burdett,NY 14818-9626 > N 42 26.611' W 76 45.492' > Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ > "Conserve and Create Habitat" > > On Sat, November 14, 2015 21:00, John Greenly wrote: >> Hi Meena and John >> >> Have to chime in here, as the lake and I are rather good friends, from a few >> thousand hours of rowing and sailing! From Taughannock State Park it's 8 >> miles on >> the water to Stewart Park at the bottom end of the lake, and the west shore >> down >> there (Hog Hole) is only 1.8 miles east of a direct southerly line from the >> shore at >> Taughannock. I don't know how you figured those large numbers of miles; >> below >> Taughannock, around about Myers, the lake actually bends more southerly, not >> to the >> east. On the other hand, Watkins Glen at the south end of Seneca Lake is >> about 17 >> miles WSW from Taughannock, a direction that would be just right if the >> Loons were >> migrating to Pittsburgh. >> >> I do wonder where they go from here though. The Susquehanna takes an >> extremely >> twisty course with a large easterly excursion in Pennsylvania, it would be >> interesting to know whether they follow it or just go straight, which would >> save >> hours of flight. >> >> Cheers, >> John Greenly >> >> >> On Nov 14, 2015, at 6:42 PM, John Confer wrote: >> >>> Hi Meena, >>> >>> Good to see you at Taughannoch. >>> >>> John and Sue Gregoire and I thought that some of the big, loose flocks of >>> loons >>> that were well north of the point we stood on at Taughannoch was far more >>> likely >>> to take them over the southern tip of Seneca Lake than to the southern tip >>> of >>> Cayuga Lake. As I look at Google Earth, that seems a much more likely >>> location >>> that they fly over over than the southern tip of Cayuga. Measured in >>> Google, it >>> looks to me that the southern tip of Cayuga Lake is more than 10 miles east >>> of >>> due south from the tip of Taughannock. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> >>> John >>> >>> ________________________________________ >>> From: bounce-119895794-25065...@list.cornell.edu >>> <bounce-119895794-25065...@list.cornell.edu> on behalf of Meena Madhav >>> Haribal >>> <m...@cornell.edu> >>> Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 4:00 PM >>> To: k...@empacc.net >>> Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L >>> Subject: Re:[cayugabirds-l] Loon watch and foy here >>> >>> John, >>> I am not sure if they are following Susquehanna or they are just taking a >>> direct >>> route. If you look up on the map, it seems they can fly directly to >>> Chesapeake Bay >>> in direct line, they don't need to follow Route 15 as we do. Route 15 is >>> at least >>> 20 miles left to their target destination in our area. Also, as I mentioned >>> earlier the Cayuga Lake southern tip bends to east substantially by about >>> 4 or 5 >>> miles to the east from Taughannock State park if draw straight line south. >>> They >>> know what they are doing! >>> >>> Cheers >>> 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: John and Sue Gregoire <k...@empacc.net> >>> Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2015 3:03 PM >>> To: Meena Madhav Haribal >>> Cc: CAYUGABIRDS-L >>> Subject: Re: Loon watch and foy here >>> >>> Meena pls pass to Wes and Diane. Sue and I continued on to Seneca Lake >>> where we >>> found no loons. In thinking about those high Southwestward flyers we >>> believe they >>> had plenty of altitude to spot the Susquehanna and thus took a bit more >>> direct >>> route >>> down Rte 15! (runs alongside the river from Corning south). >>> >>> At home we also had Fox Sparrow and our FOY American Tree Sparrow. >>> >>> Terrific morning with good company! >>> >>> John >>> -- >>> John and Sue Gregoire >>> Field Ornithologists >>> Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory >>> 5373 Fitzgerald Road >>> Burdett,NY 14818-9626 >>> N 42 26.611' W 76 45.492' >>> Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ >>> "Conserve and Create Habitat" >>> >>> On Sat, November 14, 2015 10:37, Meena Madhav Haribal wrote: >>>> Hi all, >>>> >>>> Today morning Loon Watch trip somebody seem to have lost the eye piece cap >>>> for >>>> Nikon >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> 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/ >>> >>> -- >>> >>> >>> -- >>> >>> 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/ >>> >>> -- >>> >> >> >> -- >> >> 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/ >> >> -- >> >> >> > > -- 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/ --
