Hi all,
My daughter Marjolein and I went looking for the large raft of Redheads and
other ducks reported to have been in Aurora bay, but when we arrived around
12:30 today (Sunday), there were only Canada Geese. We headed further north but
did not find any large groups of ducks. The ice is pretty solid from Union
Springs north, with a few open spots. The Screech Owl was peering out of it's
box on Factory Rd. in Union Springs and the large pond contained mainly Canada
Geese with a few Redheads, Wigeon, Bufflehead and Mallards. In the village of
Cayuga we spotted a small flock of Ring-necked ducks near the bridge by the
abandoned factory (just past the town offices). At Mud Lock there were more
Canada Geese with 6 Tundra Swans among them.
We headed back toward Ithaca and stopped at Long Point park where we finally
found a large raft of mainly Redheads, with Canvasback and a few Scaup mixed
in. It was a very impressive flock - several thousand at least. They were north
of the park. As we watched, an adult Bald Eagle flew over the road, making
lazy circles as it headed north, passing right over our car.
Our last stop was Ladoga Park, where we found another large raft of mixed
species - mostly Redhead but also around two hundred Canvasback and many Scaup
(lesser, mostly). The size of that raft was probably 1,000 birds. Also at
Ladoga were two Snow Geese, swimming with 4 or 5 domestic geese, as well as
Coots and Mallards. All along the way, we noticed many Redtailed Hawks and one
Kestrel. We counted 25 Redtailed Hawks at the Pheasant farm on Game Farm Rd.
Nice day out!
Laura
Laura Stenzler
l...@cornell.edumailto:l...@cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY
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