Saturday morning (4/30/22) was a very productive and enjoyable day to lead a Cayuga Bird Club bird walk along the Town of Dryden Rail Trail, despite the chilly start to the morning.
The walk was lead by me (Chris Tessaglia-Hymes) with co-leaders Bob McGuire, Stephanie Herrick, and Paul Anderson. Thanks to Bob McGuire for handling the pre-registration logistics. A total of 32 of us walked from the Freeville Village Hall south along the Town of Dryden Rail Trail, toward the George Road parking lot which is a little over a mile away. For those who completed the entire walk, we traveled a little over a 3 miles round-trip over the course of 4 hours, and we collectively spotted (or heard) a total of 50 species of birds. The highlight of the walk was seeing two of three vocal Virginia Rails at the edge of the small cattail marsh near the base of the east side of the rail bed, about 100 yards north of the turnoff to the Freeville water treatment plant and pond. Three different birds were heard giving their grunting calls and two were observed mating briefly and at least one was seen very well by everyone. The pun by the end of the walk was that "we saw a Rail from the rail bed of the former railroad, now Rail Trail." Thanks to everyone for signing up and coming along. Get out and enjoy other open sections of the Dryden Rail Trail, as migrating birds continue to pass through the area this spring! More information about the Town of Dryden Rail Trail is available at the official Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TownofDrydenRailTrail/ More information about the Cayuga Bird Club is available here: https://www.cayugabirdclub.org/ Below is the complete checklist of the 50 species of birds seen, as entered into the eBird database (https://ebird.org/home): Complete Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S108477302 Dryden Rail Trail--Freeville to George Rd., Tompkins, New York, US Apr 30, 2022 7:46 AM - 11:48 AM Protocol: Traveling 3.197 mile(s) Checklist Comments: Cayuga Bird Club walk 50 species (+1 other taxa) Canada Goose 13 Wood Duck 1 Mallard 3 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 2 Mourning Dove 10 Virginia Rail 3 Two birds observed copulating at the edge of the cattail marsh near the base of the east side of the rail bed, about 100 yards north of the turnoff to the Freeville water treatment plant and pond. Three different birds were heard grunting. Seen very well by everyone. Turkey Vulture 17 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 2 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 6 Red-bellied Woodpecker 5 Downy Woodpecker 6 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 2 American Kestrel 3 Eastern Phoebe 3 Blue Jay 4 American Crow 5 Black-capped Chickadee 10 Tufted Titmouse 3 Tree Swallow 2 swallow sp. 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 3 House Wren 3 Carolina Wren 3 European Starling 9 Gray Catbird 1 Brown Thrasher 1 Eastern Bluebird 2 Hermit Thrush 1 American Robin 22 House Sparrow 2 House Finch 1 American Goldfinch 12 Field Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 4 Song Sparrow 19 Swamp Sparrow 13 Eastern Towhee 2 Eastern Meadowlark 6 Red-winged Blackbird 17 Brown-headed Cowbird 10 Common Grackle 5 Yellow Warbler 1 Pine Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 6 Northern Cardinal 5 View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S108477302 -- Chris Tessaglia-Hymes PO Box 488 8 Etna Lane Etna, NY 13062 607-351-5740 -- 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/ --
