[cayugabirds-l] Hurricane Irene - Watch for Seabirds!

[Chris Tessaglia-Hymes]

Good afternoon,

 

As many of you are probably aware of by now, we are expected to catch the
Western-most edge of what will become Tropical Storm Irene, from Sunday
night through Monday morning,. Area birders will want to keep a very
watchful eye on Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake, other large bodies of water, or
larger rivers, over the course of the days and even weeks following the
passage of Irene. 

 

Any pelagic bird species caught up in the middle of Hurricane Irene will end
up being carried up the coast and potentially deposited inland. Resulting
deposits of surviving seabirds will attempt to make their way South and
Southeast back toward the coastline, by following large bodies of water.
This can often take several days and many, sadly, do not necessarily survive
the trek back to their marine environments; however, this does present a
golden opportunity for birders to locate and document new or rare species of
pelagic seabird species for this region. In the past, it hasn't necessarily
been the day of passage of a Tropical Storm, but rather, the days following
the passage, when unusual seabirds are sighted.

 

Best of luck to those who will be lucky enough to find some interesting
pelagic species as a result of Irene! Don't forget to take pictures or video
as a form of documentation!

 

Below is the current track of Hurricane Irene:

 

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/145813.shtml?5-daynl?larg
e#contents

 

taken from this main track page:

 

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/145813.shtml?5-daynl

 

You can also find the current track by Googling: Irene Track.

 

Good birding!


Sincerely,
Chris T-H

 

--

Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes

TARU Product Line Manager and Field Applications Engineer

Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850

W: 607-254-2418   M: 607-351-5740   F: 607-254-1132

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp

 

 


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[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma Audubon Center Aug. 25

[Christopher Lajewski]

Montezuma Audubon Center--Sandpiper Shallows, Wayne, US-NY
Aug 25, 2011 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:    mostly cloudy with poor lighting conditions. There is high water 
in the south marsh due to recent rains.
9 species (+1 other taxa)

Trumpeter Swan  1
Mallard  2
Great Blue Heron  2
Green Heron  1
Osprey  2
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
peep sp.  8
Short-billed Dowitcher  1    probable
Tree Swallow  X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)


Chris Lajewski
Education Manager
MontezumaAudubon Center
2295 State Route89, 
PO Box 187
Savannah, NY 13146
phone: 315.365.3588
email: clajew...@audubon.org
http://ny.audubon.org/montezuma.htm

 
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[cayugabirds-l] MNWR Wednesday evening

[tigger64]

 Water levels high, things much as they have been.  Highlight was a Red-necked 
Phalarope picked out by Tony Shrimpton at Puddler's Marsh, and an excellent 
roost flight of blackbirds as seen from Mays Point.  58-60 Great Egrets at Mays 
between 7 and 8pm, about half of them in roost position.  11 at Knox-Marsellus 
earlier.  Best shorebird spot was Puddler.

 
Six Sandhill Cranes were at K-M on Sunday night.

Dave Wheeler
Oswego County, NY


Montezuma NWR--Knox-Marcellus Marsh, Seneca, US-NY
Aug 24, 2011 4:30 PM - 4:45 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
Comments: with Tony Shrimpton
15 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  X
Wood Duck  X
Mallard  X
Northern Pintail  1
Green-winged Teal  X
Double-crested Cormorant  X
Great Blue Heron  X
Great Egret  11
Bald Eagle  3
Northern Harrier  1
Sandhill Crane  3
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  3
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher  1 in the weeds as seen from Towpath Rd
Ring-billed Gull  5
Caspian Tern  3


Montezuma NWR--Puddler Marsh, Seneca, US-NY
Aug 24, 2011 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
Comments: with Tony Shrimpton
17 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  X
Wood Duck  X
Mallard  X
Great Blue Heron  X
Semipalmated Plover  1
Killdeer  1
Greater Yellowlegs  5
Lesser Yellowlegs  25
Semipalmated Sandpiper  20 one with a suspicious bill
Least Sandpiper  20
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Stilt Sandpiper  1 juv.
Short-billed Dowitcher  4 juveniles
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher  5 didn't look carefully at them
Red-necked Phalarope  1
Ring-billed Gull  10
Caspian Tern  20
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1


Montezuma NWR--Visitor Center, Seneca, US-NY
Aug 24, 2011 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: with Tony Shrimpton
22 species

Canada Goose  X
Wood Duck  5
Mallard  12
Blue-winged Teal  2
Northern Shoveler  4
Green-winged Teal  X
Great Blue Heron  1
Greater Yellowlegs  5
Lesser Yellowlegs  25
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper  3
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  2
Long-billed Dowitcher  3
Ring-billed Gull  2
Caspian Tern  2
Chimney Swift  1
Tree Swallow  X
Bank Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  X
European Starling  X
American Goldfinch  2


Montezuma NWR--Auto Loop, Seneca, US-NY
Aug 24, 2011 6:30 PM - 6:50 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: with Tony Shrimpton
15 species

Canada Goose  X
Wood Duck  X
Mallard  2
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Great Blue Heron  2
Killdeer  1
Greater Yellowlegs  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
Purple Martin  40
Tree Swallow  10
Barn Swallow  10
European Starling  5
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  5


Montezuma NWR--Mays Point Pool, Seneca, US-NY
Aug 24, 2011 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: with Tony Shrimpton; excellent roost flight of Red-winged 
Blackbirds
23 species

Canada Goose  X
Trumpeter Swan  1
Wood Duck  5
Mallard  5
Green-winged Teal  5
Great Blue Heron  X
Great Egret  58 58-60; no wing tags; about 30 were pre-roosting on the mud 
flat
Osprey  1
Sandhill Crane  2 flew in
Semipalmated Plover  1
Greater Yellowlegs  3
Lesser Yellowlegs  4
Semipalmated Sandpiper  2
Least Sandpiper  2
Bonaparte's Gull  1 juv.
Tree Swallow  X
Barn Swallow  X
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
European Starling  X
Red-winged Blackbird  5000 approximate
Common Grackle  X not sure how many
Brown-headed Cowbird  X not sure how many
American Goldfinch  2




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[cayugabirds-l] Chimney Swifts

[John and Fritzie Blizzard]

The swifts continue to roost in the girl's dorm chimney here in Union Springs 
at Union Springs Academy. I live right behind the dorm so have a good viewing 
spot.  

So fascinating to watch the swifts arrive just out of nowhere from what seems 
to be a sky devoid of birds, circle around about 5 minutes or so & then 
suddenly begin the descent. 

Last evening I counted 92. Takes them about 10 minutes, depending on stragglers 
or early birds. They've been coming just before 8 p.m..

The ospreys are still carrying fish to the juveniles on the NYSG platform over 
on Center St./Number One Rd.

Fritzie
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[cayugabirds-l] Myers shorebirds, terns, etc. 25 Aug a.m.

[Dave Nutter]

When I left at 8:15 five species of shorebirds (1 each) shared the mud & gravel island in Salmon Creek by Myers Point:Killdeer (plus 1 or 2 others elsewhere around the park)Lesser YellowlegsPectoral SandpiperSemipalmated SandpiperLeast SandpiperOn the spit a Common Tern rested on the beach, while Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed Gulls rested elsewhere on the point.  Earlier the Common Tern had been flying about foraging or perched on a bit of wood which stuck out of the water.Other fun birds included an immature Caspian Tern, Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Kingbird, female Baltimore Oriole, and 10 Hooded Mergansers.Birders included Chris Wood, Stuart Krasnoff, and arriving as I left, a photographer whose name I forget. --Dave Nutter
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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Ithaca Great Egret

[Dave Nutter]

This morning (Thursday 25 August) at 6:42am I watched the 2 Great Egrets fly over the Equine Drug Testing Lab (opposite the east end of Cherry Rd, north of the airport) and toward the Cornell experimental ponds which were hidden from my view by fences and vegetation.  Again, anyone with access to this area, I'm interested in confirmation that the egrets are feeding there.Yesterday evening at 8:15pm the 2 Great Egrets were near each other in a tree along Cayuga Inlet at the edge of Jetty Woods.--Dave Nutter On Aug 24, 2011, at 08:51 AM, Dave Nutter  wrote:This morning (Wed 24 Aug) from Snyder Rd behind the airport I had a brief glimpse of the 2 Great Egrets flying north-ish above the trees by the Borg-Warner factory at 6:31am, but I lost track of them while moving to what I thought would be a better vantage.Stuart Krasnoff saw them in a tree together yesterday evening at 7:45pm in Jetty Woods looking from Treman Marina.--Dave NutterIthaca, NYOn Aug 23, 2011, at 7:36 AM, Dave Nutter  wrote:Tuesday 23 August I stood by the North Triphammer Road bridge over NYS 13 as a gorgeous sunrise spread across the clouds to the west. At 6:24am the 2 Great Egrets appeared over the horizon to the southwest. Although they crossed North Triphammer to the south of me, their course carried them north across MYS 13 before I lost them beyond trees to me east around Warren Rd at 6:27am. I suspect they were headed for the many ponds near the airport. I neglected to check the business park ponds, but I did drive around the back of the airport, where fog, vegetation, and fences hampered my efforts. If anyone with access to the research ponds behind the Equine Drug Testing lab or by Neimi Road, or east of the airport could look around and let me know if there are a couple of egrets around, I'd be very grateful.--Dave NutterIthaca, NYOn Aug 22, 2011, at 9:36 PM, Dave Nutter  wrote:...Route 13 and disappeared to the east over the trees and out of the lake valley.(Sorry again about the hair-trigger "send" feature on this device I'm using.)--Dave NutterIthaca, NYOn Aug 22, 2011, at 9:28 PM, Dave Nutter  wrote:This evening (Monday 22 August) the egrets are, like last night, sleeping separately. I walked through the dusk to have a brief look (8:35-8:40pm).  Yet this morning as I scoped from East Shore Park they appeared nearly simultaneously out from behind Jetty Woods at 6:18am and immediately flew, very close together, almost directly towards me over the lake. When they were nearly overhead they circled once, then continued over NYS --Dave NutterIthaca, NYOn Aug 21, 2011, at 9:48 PM, Dave Nutter  wrote:From 8:20-8:30pm this evening (21 Aug) I was by the mouth of Treman Marina gazing across Cayuga Inlet at our 2 local roosting Great Egrets. The sedentary one was on it's usual perch. The active one moved among 5 different perches during the darkening 10 minutes I watched. When I left it was on the more northerly of its 2 favorite roosting perch atop a small tree quite separate from the other egret. How does it decide between the 2 perches it regularly uses? How did the other decide on its single perch?--Dave NutterIthaca, NYOn Aug 20, 2011, at 10:34 PM, Dave Nutter  wrote:Sorry about that - the message got sent before it was finished.  Consider this interval while I finish writing to be like waiting for the egrets...At 7:31pm I spotted the first Great Egret, but perhaps because I was only armed with binoculars, it was only a minute away from landing.  I first saw it about lined up with East Shore Park against the hillside about halfway between the lake and the sky. It flew south, then followed the Stewart Park shoreline toward us, veering a bit north as it rounded the Swan Pond, and as soon as it got to Cayuga Inlet it flew south to the perch occupied last night by, I believe, the same bird.  That was the earlier one taking off which disappeared from my view for awhile because it took a more southerly route.  This bird stayed put at least until we left, also characteristic of the earlier occupant of that perch.  At 7:43 I spotted the second Great Egret flying toward us, initially seen in about the same direction, but it flew in a more direct path over the lake, then took a perch a few feet below its comrade.  As we walked around the marina I saw this lower bird fly to its alternate perch, a low tree to the north.  But by the time we had gotten back to the Inlet it was back again at the perch it first came to this evening and that it used last night.  I wonder if they also have distinct feeding habits or other personality traits to distinguish them if I were to see them elsewhere during the day.--Dave NutterIthaca, NYOn Aug 20, 2011, at 10:01 PM, Dave Nutter  wrote:At 7pm this evening (Saturday 20 August) Laurie and I settled in on a bench north of the mouth of Treman Marina to await the arrival of our egrets. Judgin