Went to look for the Golden-crowned sparrow in Downsville today with no luck. In fact there were no White-throated sparrows at all anywhere in the area the two hours I was there from about 10:15 to 12 noon or so. There were the usual 4 or 5 tree sparrows and a few juncos at the feeders, but other than that just a few other passerines. Very surprising how little action there was from when we left home to the sparrow spot. No eagles were seen on Airport Road either, just some crows. On the way up on 17 we did see one Bald Eagle and my friends did see a Long-eared owl fly up from the side of the road and into the forest, but I missed it. After that we headed to Copake Falls to see the Townsend's Solitaire. On the way there not much was seen other than some redtails, but we did see a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks briefly. Once in Copake Falls we found the field where the solitaire was supposed to be, which is the first field with a parking lot on the left after coming up from Valley View and turning onto High Valley Rd. from Valley View. It's basically the first large field on the left once on High View. When we got to the field we had three turkeys and met a young man who said he had just heard the bird in the forest at the northeastern corner of the lower field. No luck with the solitaire but did have a few other passerines and an immature Golden Eagle. On the way home we checked out a roadside pond at a farm just north of Rudd Pond Rd. on 22 that was supposed to have a Tundra Swan on it, but no luck there just some geese and Mallards. We did have two adult Bald Eagles and two Mute Swans further down Rudd Pond Rd. on the left in a marshy pond where the road curves right. Andrew Andrew v. F. Block Consulting Naturalist 20 Hancock Avenue, Apt. 3 Yonkers, Westchester Co., New York 10705-4629 www.flickr.com/photos/conuropsis/albums --
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/ --
