Kevin, Funny, you should say that. As a downstater I was literally having a similar conversation with another downstater last month when we had a fantastic day at the Franklin Mt. Hawk Watch near Oneonta. We went to the hawk watch for Golden Eagles that weekend because of an upstater's post.
We discussed with the local birders there that we feel the upstaters should post more often to the listerv and encouraged them to do so. In my opinion, aside from the occasional icky post, I think us downstaters do an excellent job of sharing information that has afforded us many opportunities to see some darn good birds. I appreciate your post and always love to hear what's going on upstate. Elizabeth A. DiNapoli B.A., M.Ed. Manager of Clerkship Education Physician Assistant Studies School of Health Professions New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, NY 11568 516.686.3827 (w) 516.404.1984 (c) On Jan 3, 2018, at 8:33 PM, Kevin J. McGowan <k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu>> wrote: With all the trivial downstate chatter on this listserv, I sometimes forget that people might actually want to hear about state-level rare birds in our area. We have a few at the moment. Best current bird in Ithaca is a male TUFTED DUCK hanging in the huge (>10,000, probably near 20,000) flock of ducks (mostly Redheads) in the very SW corner of Cayuga Lake. It is difficult to look at this flock, but views can be had from Rt 89 just outside the Ithaca city limits. (Look for the first and only parking area on the west side of the road.) Even if you don't find the Tufted Duck, this duck flock is an amazing sight. Also in the area is a family group of Black Vultures (2 adults, 2 juveniles) that are consistently, but not constantly, hanging out at the state pheasant-raising facility on Game Farm Road, just east of Ithaca and SW of Varna. We had a good Christmas Bird Count on the 1st, with a record-setting 102 species. Pretty impressive, I have to say for an inland count! Tufted Duck, Black Vulture, and Eurasian Goldfinch were all new species for the count. We also had record numbers of multiple duck species. Still no sign of the northern finches yet, despite the abundance of cones on all the conifers. Good birds for inland New York included Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Red-throated Loon, Peregrine Falcon, Savannah Sparrow. Good birding and happy new year! Kevin Happy new year! Kevin Kevin J. McGowan, Ph.D. Project Manager Distance Learning in Bird Biology Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu> 607-254-2452 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L> ABA<http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- 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/ --
