Upon arrival at ~ 1700, only 1 of the 4 spots the Turkey Vultures have been frequenting recently, held any birds (the large spruce trees located at the north end of the firehouse property). Viewing from the parking lot of the school, I found the lighting to be adequate, but as I started to count the birds I realized that the dense foliage would keep me from getting an exact amount. So I crossed Roanoke Ave, and as I looked up (with my mouth shut, of course) and with the count up to 9, all the birds exploded out of the trees and began to swarm like a flock of swallows. I was quite surprised by this outcome, due to the their positioning high up in the trees. At first, I was just looking at this spectacle (now with my mouth wide open) until the birder inside me screamed to "get with the program", and start counting ! I did just that until the birds dispersed to the point of disappearing. Following liftoff, the flock crossed Roanoke, and before drifting to the north and out of sight, I came up with a count of 38 T.V's., give or take 1, or 2. Although I didn't see any of the birds come down in the vicinity of the roost at the intersection of Roanoke & Elton, when I passed that location on my way home, I was not surprised to find a good # of T.V's settled in there. By then, the lighting and the density of the foliage was a problem, so a loose count came to ~ 20 birds. Further proof of their ongoing presence (possibly since last September, or before) was the amount of "guano" on the sidewalk under the spruces !
Cheers, Bob -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
