This morning, Leigh Stivers and Michael Haupt joined me for walk around Stewart Park and the Renwick Woods. It was raining very lightly and eventually stopped for awhile. A Pileated Woodpecker greeted us, calling loudly from the top of a telephone pole near the Railroad tracks. On the lake the only ducks seen were Mallards. Cormorants were plentiful with many juvenile birds. Two Fish Crows were in the trees around the Swan Pen and called almost continuously while we were there. Two Green Herons were at the Swan Pen and we also saw two Great Blue Herons. There were many Ring-billed Gulls out on the Lighthouse jetty. We were able to pick out a couple Herring Gulls and five Great Black-backed Gulls. We saw a couple warblers at the Swan Pen but were not able to firmly identify, one backlit bird up high and the other moved too fast for us and we did not relocate. A Winter Wren popped up on the boathouse side. Dark above with a buffy eyebrow, holding its' short tail upright. Not long after, a Carolina Wren popped up out of the brush in the same area. The bold white eybrow stood out and the white throat and lighter buffy color underneath, was much lighter than the Winter Wren. We heard Carolina Wrens in several different places throughout our walk. Catbirds were also heard and seen throughout. On the way to the bridge going to Renwick Woods, an Osprey was very vocal sitting up on the nest platform, (golf course side) and later we saw it flying around, carrying sticks to the platform. We walked south along the Fall Creek outlet and it was fairly quiet until we got to an open area, near a bench. We again saw a warbler that was very high and backlit. Later we were able to identify a Yellow-rumped Warbler. This area was very active with adults /and/ juveniles of: Robins, Northern Flickers and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. We saw a trio of Tufted Titmice, several Downey Woodpeckers and Red-eyed Vireos. We saw one Warbling Vireo. It was fun to see two Scarlet Tanagers, both yellow overall with dark wings. We saw a flycatcher with wingbars, and thought a possible Eastern Wood Pewee. Later we did hear an E. Wood Pewee sing a partial song. It was very lively at this spot and many birds were feeding on Poison Ivy berries. We continued on around the path when the rain really picked up, so we did end the trip a bit early. So it was not great for warblers today, but we had some good suprises anyway.
Good birding, Gladys -- 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/ --