I walked up, around, and down Star Stanton Hill this morning, mainly on Trail Y-2. At the top, it was a different experience from what I usually find. The hard freeze of a couple weeks ago killed the newly emerged sugar maple leaves, and it took out most of the leaves of the red oaks as well. Even the trembling aspen had significant leaf die-off. As a consequence, it was bright and airy on the trail; even Dryden Lake was visible. Problem was that the warblers were not there. This is usually a good place for hooded warblers, etc., but I heard only 1 song from 1 CANADA. The RED-EYED VIREOS, VEERYS, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS, AND SCARLET TANAGERS were there in their usual numbers, however. I'm not sure whether the cold killed the caterpillars and other bugs the warblers feed on, or whether the insects had nothing to eat and succumbed. Maybe there is just not enough cover for the small birds in the treetops.
The white ash has leafed out well, but this is probably because their leaves had not yet emerged when the cold hit. It was so quiet at one point coming down that I heard the complete song of a BLACKBURNIAN. My hearing is so bad that this is the first time that I can remember hearing it-I didn't know what it was until I located it foraging. Steve Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
