Today, I drove north to Union Springs to see the reported waterfowl in the two ponds there. Just a moderate amount of ducks and geese were in the Mill Pond and only a few ducks in the Factory Pond. On the way there, from Rt. 90, I had noticed the ice edge was about opposite Allens Point, south of Union Springs, so I went there after visiting the ponds.
First I drove down Allens Point Road and luckily there is a good clearing at the place it nears the lake due to a house being built there. The ice edge was curved around sort of between Allens Point and Carrs Cove, just south of Allens Pt., out into the deep water area & across the lake. All along the edge of the ice curve were thousands of ducks, lots of geese and a small number of swans. I also drove into Carrs Cove and down and around what seemed to be a public road to what looks like a boat launching area, where I saw a lot of the birds a little closer. Later, on Great Gully Road, going east from Rt. 90 (Historical marker at the turnoff says "Cayuga Castle"), south of Union Springs, I got a good look at a nice flock (~100 birds) of SNOW BUNTINGS feeding in a hay or grain field. They flew up and around and landed a few times, and then flew all over, not landing. They finally disappeared. During this last flight, I saw first a NORTHERN HARRIER fly by, then a little later what I think was a small SHARP SHINNED HAWK, so maybe the hawks scared the buntings away from their feeding ground. Donna Scott 535 Lansing Station Road Lansing, NY 14882 -- 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/ --
