Re: [cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

[Asher Hockett]

If you park and cross the bridge at the south end (Howland Island Road),
follow the trail and take the right fork to Lost Pond. That area was
dripping with warblers on my first visit there many years ago with
Spring Field Ornithology. I think I got 4 or 5 life birds that day.



On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 4:01 PM Sandra Lynn Babcock 
wrote:

> I’m contemplating a trip to Howland Island tomorrow, but have never been
> before and am wondering if anyone has any tips.  Are there specific routes
> that are better for birders?  Do you recommend a driving loop or walking?
>
>
>
> Thanks for any insights you can offer.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
> Sandra Babcock
>
> Ithaca
>
>
> --
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[cayugabirds-l] Fwd: Howland Island question

[Johnson, Alyssa]

From: Johnson, Alyssa 
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:37 PM
To: Sandra Lynn Babcock
Subject: Re: Howland Island question

This is the response (plus a little more) that I sent to Sandra:


I work at the Audubon Center which is very close, just a few miles from HI. 
It’s all part of the NYSDEC Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area- not 
the refuge. You can access the island from Carncross Rd in Savannah, and can 
actually drive into the island and park. There is no driving loop like there is 
at the refuge.  There are access roads all over the island, but they aren’t 
marked and there aren’t really marked trails either, but the roads are great 
for walking, biking, birding, etc. You can also access the island from Howland 
Island Rd in Port Byron, but you have to park at the dead end and walk across 
the bridge. Birding is great this time of year and not many bugs yet.

Here’s a link to some more info. I’d suggest having a charged phone so you can 
look at the map. If you stick to the road, it’s hard to get lost but there are 
miles of road, so keep track of where you are.

https://friendsofmontezuma.org/visit-the-mwc/northern-montezuma/

Cerulean warblers have been heard throughout the island. If you go on the 
Carncross Rd side, once you’re on the island the road narrows and woods close 
in on either side before going uphill to the parking area. It’s pretty wet in 
there’ll either side, so that’s where I’d look. If you canoe or kayak, you can 
launch from Carncross at the bridge and go north. I’ve heard them up there too 
along the Seneca River.

And here is a link to a presentation I gave about the History of Howland’s 
Island.

https://www.facebook.com/MontezumaAudubonCenter/videos/694204178001191/?d=n

Enjoy!

Alyssa Johnson
Environmental Educator
315.365.3588

Montezuma Audubon Center
PO Box 187
2295 State Route 89
Savannah, New York 13146
montezuma.audubon.org

From: Sandra Lynn Babcock 
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:27:23 PM
To: Johnson, Alyssa 
Subject: Re: Howland Island question

Thanks so much, Alyssa!  Any tips on where to find ceruleans would be greatly 
appreciated!  I’m also planning on visiting the prothonotary nest box.

Best,
Sandra

Sandra Babcock
slb...@cornell.edu

Sent from my Ipad

From: Johnson, Alyssa 
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:13 PM
To: Sandra Lynn Babcock
Subject: Re: Howland Island question

Sarah,

I work at the Audubon Center which is very close. You can access the island 
from Carncross Rd in Savannah, and can actually drive into the island and park. 
There is no driving loop. Then you’d hike from there. There are access roads 
but they aren’t marked and there aren’t really marked trails either, but the 
roads are great for walking. You can also access the island from Howland Island 
Rd in Port Byron, but you have to park at the dead end and walk across the 
bridge. Birding is great this time of year and not many bugs yet.

Here’s a link to some more info. I’d suggest having a charged phone so you can 
look at the map. If you stick to the road, it’s hard to get lost but there are 
miles of road, so keep track of where you are.

https://friendsofmontezuma.org/visit-the-mwc/northern-montezuma/

Enjoy!

Alyssa Johnson
Environmental Educator
315.365.3588

Montezuma Audubon Center
PO Box 187
2295 State Route 89
Savannah, New York 13146
montezuma.audubon.org

From: bounce-124644828-79436...@list.cornell.edu 
 on behalf of Sandra Lynn Babcock 

Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:01:17 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L 
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question


I’m contemplating a trip to Howland Island tomorrow, but have never been before 
and am wondering if anyone has any tips.  Are there specific routes that are 
better for birders?  Do you recommend a driving loop or walking?



Thanks for any insights you can offer.



Best,

Sandra Babcock

Ithaca



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RE:[cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

[Magnus Fiskesjo]

Howland Island once had farms, and there is an old network of dirt roads, now 
crisscrossing between recently created dams. 

So, mostly one can just walk along those dirt roads, starting from either of 
the 2 access points, which is as far that one's car can go, and see the woods, 
the fields, and the dams. 

I would go online, find a detailed map, print, and bring while walking. F ex:
https://friendsofmontezuma.org/visit-the-mwc/northern-montezuma/
https://friendsofmontezuma.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Northern-Montezuma-North-Public-Access-2016.jpg

Another good map here, halfway down the page: 
https://cnyhiking.com/HowlandIsland.htm

For a truly exhilarating experience, bring your mountain bike, as I did once. 
Then you can bike around everywhere. 

Or, your kayak, as I have heard people also do -- the "island" is surrounded by 
a river/canal, that becomes impassable in late summer. 

In late summer it also becomes mosquito hell. August is best avoided, if you 
don't have a head net, full gloves, and thick clothes -- I doubt there are 
sprays that can deal with the onslaught. Other than mosquito storms, there are 
also nasty flies that bite you quite painfully (in August, that is). 

So now is the time. 

ps. Alyssa Johnson at the Montezuma Audobon [alyssa.john...@audubon.org] 
recently did a brilliant session on Howland Island's history, online, with a 
Powerpoint. Very rewarding. But she later said the recording of the session on 
Zoom failed (as Zoom often does, apparently, routed through China and all), and 
she was going to re-record her presentation and upload it. But I can't find it 
on their webpage. 

--yrs.
Magnus Fiskesjö, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
McGraw Hall, Room 201. Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
E-mail: magnus.fiske...@cornell.edu, or: n...@cornell.edu

Affiliations at Cornell University, WWW:
Anthropology Department, https://anthropology.cornell.edu/anthropology-faculty
Southeast Asia Program (SEAP), https://seap.einaudi.cornell.edu/people/faculty
East Asia Program (EAP), http://eap.einaudi.cornell.edu/people/core-faculty
CIAMS (Archaeology), https://archaeology.cornell.edu/faculty
Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), 
cipa.cornell.edu/academics/fieldfaculty.cfm
Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), 
http://pacs.einaudi.cornell.edu/people/steering-committee
_

From: bounce-124644828-84019...@list.cornell.edu 
[bounce-124644828-84019...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of Sandra Lynn Babcock 
[slb...@cornell.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:01 PM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

I’m contemplating a trip to Howland Island tomorrow, but have never been before 
and am wondering if anyone has any tips.  Are there specific routes that are 
better for birders?  Do you recommend a driving loop or walking?

Thanks for any insights you can offer.

Best,

Sandra Babcock
Ithaca

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Fwd: [cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

[Donna Lee Scott]

I sent this info to Sandra Babcock earlier

Donna Scott
Lansing
Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Donna Lee Scott mailto:d...@cornell.edu>>
Date: May 20, 2020 at 6:24:19 PM EDT
To: Sandra Lynn Babcock mailto:slb...@cornell.edu>>
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

Hi
Do you happen to have a copy of Birding the Cayuga lake basin - our Cayuga Bird 
club guide?
If so, info about Howland Island is on pages 130-131.

You have to walk at HI. No driving.
enter either from Rt 38 north of Port Byron - 1.8 miles, turn left on Howland 
Island Road, go 2 miles to the end of the road. park & walk across the iron 
Bridge and then start walking in the island.
OR
from Savannah go north on Route 89 and turn right immediately on Savanna Spring 
Lake Road. Go 2.2 miles to Carncoss Road.
Turn right and go half mile to the end of the road where the bridge is. Cross 
bridge, drive a short way to parking lot at end of public road.

However - I have heard that the bridge & the road immediately after it to the 
parking area there has been flooded. I don’t know if it still is or not. So rt 
38 way is probably best to do.

Let me know if you have the basin guide. If not, i can type the suggested 
walking directions (3 mile loop from iron bridge).

Donna Scott
Lansing
Sent from my iPhone

On May 20, 2020, at 6:01 PM, Sandra Lynn Babcock 
mailto:slb...@cornell.edu>> wrote:

I’m contemplating a trip to Howland Island tomorrow, but have never been before 
and am wondering if anyone has any tips.  Are there specific routes that are 
better for birders?  Do you recommend a driving loop or walking?

Thanks for any insights you can offer.

Best,

Sandra Babcock
Ithaca

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Re: [cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

[Lanie Wilmarth]

I, too, am interested in this location.  If anyone is responding—please
post to the group.

On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 6:01 PM Sandra Lynn Babcock 
wrote:

> I’m contemplating a trip to Howland Island tomorrow, but have never been
> before and am wondering if anyone has any tips.  Are there specific routes
> that are better for birders?  Do you recommend a driving loop or walking?
>
>
>
> Thanks for any insights you can offer.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
> Sandra Babcock
>
> Ithaca
>
>
> --
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[cayugabirds-l] Worm-eating Warbler at the public boat launch, NW corner of Cayuta Lake

[John Luther Cisne]

This afternoon, about half way along the driveway leading down to Cayuta Lake’s 
public boat launch,  I inadvertently started a “conversation” back and forth 
between one of Merlin’s recordings of a Worm-eating Warbler and something that 
sounded very, very similar, but remained successfully hidden in the bushes 
around a hundred feet way.  It could have been someone playing nearly the same 
recording back at me, but I doubt anyone could have remained  hidden anywhere 
near so well.

The exchange got started as I was playing through similar songs on Merlin 
(Chipping Sparrows’, for instance) in the attempt to narrow the possibilities.  
Only the first of the two Merlin tracks seemed to get results, and either of 
the two repetitions on that track seemed to work.

I report this just in case anyone might want to try for better results.

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[cayugabirds-l] Lindsey Parsons Preserve-Olive-sided flycatcher (and ticks)

[gagekm]

A search this morning from the top of the hill where the worm-eating
warblers breed did not yield the worm-eating for my friends and I. We
heard song several times but after seeing an eBird report from Lindsey
at the base of the hill about the same time we were at the top which
said they were able to call in a worm-eating we couldn't be sure that
the playback was not what we heard. A search from the bottom slopes
later on also yielded negative results. Consolation was numerous
singing Prairies & Blue-winged warblers and an Olive-sided flycatcher
hunting from a snag in one of the ponds.Just a word of caution and
reminder to thoroughly check yourself for ticks after visiting Lindsey
Parsons Preserve. Everywhere I've been this year has been tick-free
(for me at least) but not so at LPP and surrounding areas today. After
finding a Mourning warbler on Bald Hill Rd. I removed 2 ticks from my
pant legs. Then after walking some of the trails at the Preserve I
discovered one partially embedded when I got home. This area is known
for having a plentiful tick population unfortunately.Kyle Gage

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[cayugabirds-l] Howland Island question

[Sandra Lynn Babcock]

I’m contemplating a trip to Howland Island tomorrow, but have never been before 
and am wondering if anyone has any tips.  Are there specific routes that are 
better for birders?  Do you recommend a driving loop or walking?

Thanks for any insights you can offer.

Best,

Sandra Babcock
Ithaca


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[cayugabirds-l] Glossy ibis

[Dave K]

Glossy Ibis continues on shorebird flats close to road 5:05 p.m.

Get Outlook for Android

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[cayugabirds-l] Lick Brook FLLT sites, Tues 5/19 (stream-wading Swainson's Thrush, fledgling ravens, etc.)

[Mark Chao]

Yesterday I visited two Finger Lakes Land Trust sites near the Danby/Ithaca
town line.  The non-warbler passerines took an unexpected turn on center
stage, delivering charismatic, genre-bending, intimate, and utterly
endearing performances for me, a rapt human audience of one.



* WINTER WREN singing his incomparably energetic and complex song from a
surprisingly high perch right at the entrance to the Kingsbury Woods
Conservation Area.  This was a coveted first for this year’s Spring Bird
Quest.



* Downstream from the Kingsbury Woods parking area, a SWAINSON’S THRUSH
making like a Louisiana Waterthrush or an American Dipper, standing out on
rocks in the middle of Lick Brook and even wading out into the swift
current, over at least 30 minutes.  Though I know that Swainson’s Thrushes
out west favor riparian habitats, I have never seen Swainson’s Thrushes
doing anything quite like this before.  Nor have I been able to find any
literature on such behavior, even in the Birds of the World species account.



(I saw four other Swainson’s Thrushes yesterday, all behaving typically
near the ground in the shadowy forest – three in Kingsbury Woods, and one
dazzlingly close at the Sweedler Preserve at Lick Brook.)



* Fledgling COMMON RAVENS along the Lick Brook gorge at the Sweedler
Preserve.  I saw two hulking adolescents together right next to the trail,
looking almost like adults but with little remaining patches of gray natal
down and vestiges of yellow baby-gapes still at the corners of their
mouths.  I heard and saw them begging, and heard at least one more raven
nearby (probably more), but I didn’t witness any feeding.



Photos of all these birds, plus other recent highlights, are here at the
Spring Bird Quest update page:
https://www.fllt.org/spring-bird-quest-updates/. Thank you again to all of
you who have been encouraging me and especially donating to the Land Trust
this month, on your own or in connection with this SBQ.



Mark Chao

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[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma complex

[Donna Lee Scott]

Yesterday I had delightful looks at the prothonotary warbler near & going into  
the nest box on the west side of Armitage Road (across canal). Lots of other 
birds there too, including a veery.
Later at Mays Point I saw 2-3 black terns & 2 pretty yellow-throated vireos, 
among other birds.

Later on short walk at Spring brook trail I saw a wet warbler shaking itself 
off above me. I think it was a Tennessee.

It was a lovely day & no bugs!

Donna Scott
Lansing
Sent from my iPhone

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