[cayugabirds-l] Eagles 7/1 - and just how many RH woodpeckers are there in Aurora?
Hi, Thanks to all for suggestions on the best places for eagles - we did succeed yesterday. As many suggested, we drove up the east side of Cayuga, stopping first to watch the Red-Headed Woodpeckers at the intersection of Poplar Road Rte 90. We had a late start and didn't get to Aurora until after 11 AM, but as soon as we got out of the car I heard the distinctive q from two different spots in the black walnuts around the famous sycamore tree. Soon there were multiple views of two adult RHWO flying around in those trees, and many chatter calls. Then both birds flew across Rte 90 to the lakeside of the road, where they spent periods in the grass and on tree trunks and a utility pole. They generously provided long close looks for the 45 minutes we were there, staying mostly on the west side of Rte 90. We did not always have both birds in view, but usually did, and did not see them ever land on any part of the sycamore tree. We finally left, the birds still in clear view, and the kids very impressed with their beauty. Needless to say, these are not birds they see in France! Our next stop was the Bet the Farm store in the village, where we mentioned to the proprietors we had been seeing the RH Woodpeckers at Poplar Ridge Road. The pleasant man said oh, there are some there, too? He had been watching a pair daily this spring as they went in and out of their nest hole while he waited with his son there at the school bus stop - near where _Wells_ Road came into Rte 90! I asked if perhaps he meant Red Bellied Woodpecker, which has a red head, and he said 'no, I'm from Alabama, I've seen RH Woodpeckers all my life - they really aren't as much like RB Woodpeckers as Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers are. Well, shut my mouth! He said this nest tree was between Rte 90 and the lake, very close to where Wells Rd meets Rte 90. Looking at a map, this would be about 2/3 mile from Poplar Ridge, and it seems unlikely but not impossible that we all would be watching a pair consistently by Poplar Ridge Road, and it actually would be nesting 2/3 mile north ... so are there perhaps two pair of RH Woodpeckers in Aurora? Traveling north from Aurora, we saw many osprey, including a pair several miles south of the north end of the lake, soaring over their nest on a platform just east of Rte 90. At mud lock my young friend Zak found an adult eagle in a tree where we watched it for a half-hour but it was not inclined to fly. We went up to Armitage Rd but it was well past noon at this point and the eagles surely were at their siesta - at any rate, they weren't in evidence. Zak did find a pellet that had been cast by some raptor while we scanned the surrounding area for eagles. Moving on, we watched another pair of osprey with at least one chick in an active nest on 520, not far east of Rte 89. When we got to the visitor center, there were reports of multiple immature eagles on the Wildlife Drive eating carp, but we had a hungry 7 year old with us, as well as the 10 year old eagle lover, so we headed for the Finger Lakes Creamery for a late lunch and ice cream dessert. That evening, back in Ovid, while canoeing on Seneca Lake with my husband, Zak looked up and spotted a mature bald eagle flying overhead. They got a clear view as it passed overhead. They had not brought binoculars but my husband said the bird was fairly low and they got excellent looks. We see eagles in the area a few times a year, usually immature - how wonderful that this bird swung by today! I had told Zak of all the help people on this list gave us and the first thing he said when he got back was, you have to tell the internet about our eagle. So I have. Thanks again for all your help in making this a very memorable day for Zak and the rest of us, too! Alicia -- 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/ --
[cayugabirds-l] eagles, shorebirds, etc
Today (Sat 2 July) I went to the Montezuma area with Gary Kohlenberg and Ann Mitchell. On our way north mid-morning we paused at Mud Lock at the north end of Cayuga Lake. The Bald Eagle nest atop the high-tension power line pylon west of the lock appeared unoccupied, but one fledgling BALD EAGLE was in the crown of a nearby tall dead tree. On our way south late afternoon we paused on Maplewood Rd, Town of Ulysses, Tompkins County to look at the hard-to-see Bald Eagle nest whose 2 young were reported to have fledged (first flown, anyway) a few days ago. We saw one juvenile BALD EAGLE on a branch adjacent to the nest. This is not necessarily a contradiction, as it may have flown and returned. We did not see a second youngster. The one we saw called at times, but we may have heard 2 Bald Eagles calling at a time when we could not see any. We also saw one adult flying overhead which did not appear to be carrying anything. It's also not clear whether it perched in the area before or after we saw it in flight, but it does seem that the nest and this young have not been abandoned yet. At Montezuma NWR we did not get out at the visitor center, so who knows what lurks in the lush vegetation of that sometimes pond. PURPLE MARTINS were busy around the nest boxes, a female RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD was at the feeder, and WARBLING and YELLOW-THROATED VIREOS and a LEAST FLYCATCHER sang from the woods. We saw very few waterfowl on the Main Pool, just CANADA GEESE families with adolescent offspring, the domestic Greylag goose, looking like an inflated floating toy, and a family of WOOD DUCKS with adolescent offspring. Tschache Pool was another grassland with half a dozen distant TRUMPETER SWANS in adult plumage. An immature BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON flew overhead toward Mays Point Pool. A WILLOW FLYCATCHER sang near the tower.Mays Point Pool had 3 GREAT EGRETS, a COMMON MOORHEN, a few adolescent WOOD DUCKS, a single adult TUNDRA SWAN, and lots of GREAT BLUE HERONS. By the parking lot we saw a female YELLOW WARBLER feeding a fledgling BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD.SHOREBIRD REPORT:From East Road south of the formal overlook we saw many distant LESSER YELLOWLEGS and a couple each of KILLDEER and SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, one BLACK TERN, 5 CASPIAN TERNS, several RING-BILLED GULLS, and a large group of molting/eclipse ducks preening and sleeping in vegetation, backlit, with heat shimmer, about a half mile away. This group included MALLARDS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, AMERICAN WIGEON and probably other species. We were unable to find the recently reported Dowitchers, Least Sandpipers, or Greater Yellowlegs. END OF SHOREBIRD REPORT.At Railroad Road we had close looks at 3 BLACK TERNS There were also a distant adult and immature COMMON MOORHEN, a family of TRUMPETER SWANS including 5 downy young, 2 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 3 KILLDEER, and the sounds of MARSH WRENS, SWAMP SPARROWS, INDIGO BUNTING, YELLOW WARBLER, and more (but no bitterns of any ilk). At Morgan Rd the DEC's stubble field in which Ann I recently found a singing Vesper Sparrow has been plowed and disked (a single adult EUROPEAN STARLING foraged in it followed by a begging fledgling BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD). but we found a VESPER SPARROW in the weedy field across the street. If anybody understands what the operation in this field is with the long hose and the tank truck of (apparently) liquid manure, please let me know off list. We were puzzled. At the end of the road we saw a female AMERICAN KESTREL poking its head out of the nest box, with colors and patterns similar to the grain of the wood. We also stopped at the corral at Martens Tract which was nice, but I was hot and tired and don't recall anything exciting. We did see quite a few immature BALD EAGLES and at least one adult in the Montezuma area, and quite a few OSPREYS, some at nests, some in flight, plus lots of other locally breeding birds. Sorry, I'm not listing them.--Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! --
[cayugabirds-l] Around the lake - Prothonotary breeding probable
I went around the lake today and saw many of the same birds Dave Nutter just posted. I have a few observations to add. I had nothing at Myers Point, but had a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW on Long Point Rd, and one RED-HEADED WOODPECKER just south of Aurora. At East Road/Towpath I had 75 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 3 peeps. One larger peep was a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, and I think the other two were Semipalmated Sandpipers. At one point one to two hundred ducks took to the air and circled around before landing. Most were Mallards and Green-winged Teal, but I was a little surprised to see a pair of Gadwall, a pair of American Wigeon, and two pairs of Northern Shovelers in the flock. At Armitage Road I had a singing CERULEAN WARBLER (one also around the buildings at Montezuma). One PROTHONOTARY WARBLER sang on and off north of the road. I finally got a look and saw a drab Prothonotary with food in its bill just as another sang to my right and very close by. Both male and female in view at once! Both birds went at separate times to the same spot near the ground and behind a tree trunk, and I conclude they were feeding a fledgling. I managed only poor photos of the Prothonotaries, but did get both male and female carrying food. (See http://picasaweb.google.com/KevinJ.McGowan/Birds2011# for the photos, along with a number of other birds from today.) A trip through the Empire Farm Days did not turn up the hoped-for Upland Sandpiper, but did provide numbers of Horned Larks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows, and lots and lots of European Starlings. I had been warned when I phoned for permission that they were cutting hay and I was likely to be disappointed. But, my first VESPER SPARROW of the year at the corner of Cosad/Seybolt roads helped me over the disappointment. Kevin -- 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/ --
