Between 11:35 and noon on Monday, Jay McGowan, Brad Walker, some curious passersby, and I watched the YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO at various points around the dock by the Stewart Park pavilion building. First Jay and Brad pointed out the bird to me in the tall willow tree right next to the dock. The bird was difficult to find at rest, but once I knew generally where to look, I could pick it out by the broad reddish patch formed by its dropped, fanned wings.
The bird flew down next to the little tree at the base of the dock, and then to the dense vegetation right along the shore. Here it became much more difficult to find. It emerged for a couple of minutes and processed a woolly bear on the ground, but then retreated into the dense plants and disappeared. I stayed for 10 minutes after Jay and Brad left, but couldn’t find the cuckoo again. Thanks to Tim, Ethan, Brad, and Jay for your help with this fine bird! (Thanks also to Jay for finding a BRANT on the red lighthouse jetty.) The Cornell Community Gardens on Freese Road continue to offer very good birding. Today I found my first VESPER SPARROW of the season, which flew up from the northwesternmost plot, flashing white outer tail feathers, and alighted high in a tree across the road. I also found a LINCOLN’S SPARROW yesterday, and several WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS on both days. Mark Chao -- 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/ --
