10. December 2007 by admin.

It was cold and dreary today (like normal), but I felt like getting outside this afternoon. I had dreams of relocating the mink, so I headed back towards the Ithaca Airport. I saw a few Red-tailed Hawks feeing on scattered deer carcasses, then a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk caught my eye from afar.

I pulled up to the carcass that was near yesterday’s mink and spooked off a Red-tailed Hawk I had not noticed on my first pass. While waiting for the hawk to return (it never did) I watched a pair of Blue Jays fighting for control of the meat with a Downy Woodpecker. No one seemed to mind the chickadee horde that came and went as it pleased.

After twenty minutes I went to refind the Rough-legged Hawk with no success. Then, on a whim, I decided to try a road that has produced Short-eared Owls the past few days around dusk. I drove slowly down the snow covered road, not really expecting to find much.

I was almost to the end of the road when I realized there was a bird sitting on the guardrail about 50m ahead. It looked to be some sort of raptor….and a binocular view showed it was a Short-eared Owl! I hurriedly stuck the camera out of the window and fired off some shots (all of which turned out to be out of focus) before I realized there were actually two more owls perched on the rail further down!

I slowly inched up to the owls and ended up getting some decent photographs. I was able to just stay in one place and let the other passing cars spook them up into the air. My highest count was six Short-eared Owls at once!

So here’s a small sample of the 300+ photos I took this afternoon. I wonder how many I would have taken with film? Larger versions of many of these and some additional photos can be seen at Picasaweb.

Downy Woodpecker - Ithaca Airport

Blue Jay - Ithaca Airport

Black-capped Chickadee - Ithaca Airport

Short-eared Owl - Scofield Road (Lansing/Dryden, NY)

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9. December 2007 by admin.

I haven’t been birding much lately. Partially due to cold, snowy weather, partially due to other things to do. I went to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving to see Harlequin Ducks and Great Cormorants. I was lucky enough to find both, as well as over 100 Purple Sandpipers, several Northern Gannets and even a pair of Black Guillemots.

I went birding for about an hour this afternoon when the sun came out. Here’s my post to CayugaBirds:

Diana and I had a lot of errands to run today, but I did get to take a
little break from about 2:25-3:30pm today to visit the airport and Sapsucker
Woods.

When I left my apartment I stopped to watch a RED-TAILED HAWK perched about
15m from the end of our parking lot. The first pass of the airport was
pretty quiet until I got near the intersection of Snyder and Mohawk. There I
saw an EASTERN BLUEBIRD and two RED-TAILED HAWKS. On the west end of Etna I
saw one COOPER'S HAWK.

At Sapsucker Woods I watched the RED-SHOULDERED HAWK fly off when I pulled
over on Sapsucker Woods Road just west of Kip's Barn. Later I would hear a
BLUE JAY giving a near perfect imitation of the hawk's call. One or two
RED-TAILED HAWKS were calling and circling the pond, and a pair of COMMON
MERGANSERS flew overhead. At the feeders on the north end of the pond I
heard then watched two COMMON REDPOLLS fly south (I would later see ~7 at
the south feeders). At the north feeders there were ~20 HOUSE FINCH, 3+
PURPLE FINCH, 10+ AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS, 10+ BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, a few
BLUE JAYS, a NORTHERN CARDINAL, several DARK-EYED JUNCOS, a DOWNY and a
HAIRY WOODPECKER and a few MOURNING DOVES.

On my way home I made one more trip behind the airport. On the west end of
Etna there were four RED-TAILED HAWKS in one tree, so I stopped and noticed
a couple deer carcasses on the side of the road. At least eight BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEES were feeding on the carcasses, and a COMMON RAVEN flew towards
the west from the airport. When I was ready to leave I saw an AMERICAN MINK
on the north side of Etna. It disappeared into a pipe below the road, so I
thought "I'll just go wait on the other side and get a picture." I didn't
realize the ditch wasn't full of snow...it was full of water, covered by a
thin layer of ice and snow. Now that I had a pair of freezing wet feet I
limped back to the car...only to turn and see the mink happily bounding away
on the south side of the road.

And here are some photos from Rhode Island and today:

Female Harlequin Duck - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

Male Harlequin Duck - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

Male Harlequin Duck with Common Eiders - Beavertail State Park, RI

Northern Gannet - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

Purple Sandpipers - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

Great Cormorant - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

White-tailed Deer - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

American Mink - Sachuest Point NWR, RI

Sachuest Point NWR, RI

Red-tailed Hawk - My apartment

American Tree Sparrow - Sapsucker Woods

Red-tailed Hawk - Ithaca Airport

Black-capped Chickade (eating White-tailed Deer) - Ithaca Airport

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13. November 2007 by admin.

During the last few days of last week a Pacific Loon and several Cave Swallows were reported on the west side of Cayuga Lake. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to go look during the week, and only limited time on the weekend.

Saturday afternoon I went to Myers Point, hoping for a Cave Swallow. Naturally, there were none, but I did see all three scoter species and a female Long-tailed Duck. I think Long-tailed Ducks spend more time underwater than any other duck species…or at least it seems that way.

Sunday morning Chris and I braved the 19°F temperatures and were on the west side of the lake before sunrise hoping for the Pacific Loon or one last Cave Swallow. No luck there, but we did see dozens of Common Loons, Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye.

Overall, this weekend was probably one of the more bird poor in awhile (not even a single photo!). I’m not sure if I’ll get out next weekend or not, but it can’t possibly be worse than this weekend, can it?

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4. November 2007 by admin.

Location: Myers Point, Lansing, New York, Summerhill State Forest, New York and Stewart Park, Ithaca, New York
Time: 6:30 A.M. to 10:40 A.M
Weather: Cloudy, 10-12 mph northwest wind, 40°F

After my big day yesterday I wasn’t really up for birding today, but I promised Chris we’d go look for Evening Grosbeaks. I decided to start at Myers Point, where we quickly found a female Long-tailed Duck off the spit, but not much else was around. A trip to the south side of the marina produced five Surf Scoters hidden amongst 300+ American Coots.

Myers was cold, but Summerhill was even colder. We ran into Jay and Perri as we entered the forest and found out that the crossbills had been absent for about ten minutes. Since Chris had never seen grosbeaks we pushed on to the feeders. Plenty of Dark-eyed Juncos and American Goldfinch were frequenting the feeders, but no grosbeaks. After about fifteen minutes our hopes briefly rose when we saw a group of sixteen Cedar Waxwings fly past in the distance. Another few minutes passed and we saw/heard a Common Redpoll fly overhead. A lifer, but a very disappointing observation. The grosbeaks weren’t showing up, so we headed back to look for crossbills.

We stood around for about fifteen minutes when we heard, then saw, a flock of about five Red Crossbills fly over us to the east. Chris and I started to walk towards them when we were summoned back by Jay and Perri. About a dozen other birds landed back where we started! They soon headed down the road, so we followed. As we were following a “weird” sounding bird flew in from the east and joined them.

Within a minute everyone had seen at least fifteen Red Crossbills. Then the “weird” bird revealed itself…a female White-winged Crossbill. My second lifer of the day! It’s very unusual for me to see one life bird in New York at this point, let alone two within a half hour.

The lighting was horrible for photography, but it wasn’t too bad for just watching the birds in a scope. A few minutes after all the crossbills took off about six Evening Grosbeaks flew overhead (do they ever shut up?) heading towards the feeders. We shot back to the feeders, but struck out on any more winter finches. A trio of Common Ravens and a repeat of yesterday’s Northern Shrike/Sharp-shinned Hawk on the way out were our consolation prizes.

Stewart Park didn’t have much other than the normal waterfowl, but the Brant (and another) were there!

Photos:

Red Crossbill (left) and White-winged Crossbill (right) - Summerhill State Forest

White-winged Crossbill - Summerhill State Forest

Northern Shrike - Summerhill State Forest

Brant (immature) - Stewart Park

Brant (immature; front) and Canada Goose (back) - Stewart Park

Mallard (female; top), Brant (adult; middle) and American Wigeon (male; bottom)- Stewart Park

Bird List (as entered on e-Bird.org)

Summerhill
3 Wood Duck
1 Wild Turkey
1 Common Loon
4 Ring-billed Gull
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
1 Northern Shrike
20 Blue Jay
10 American Crow
3 Common Raven
15 Black-capped Chickadee
5 Red-breasted Nuthatch
1 Brown Creeper
22 Cedar Waxwing
10 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
20 House Finch
15 Red Crossbill
1 White-winged Crossbill (Life Bird!!!)
1 Common Redpoll (Life Bird!!!)
50 American Goldfinch
9 Evening Grosbeak

Myers Point
x Canada Goose
1 Gadwall
200 Mallard
15 Ring-necked Duck
100 Greater Scaup
30 Lesser Scaup
5 Surf Scoter
3 Bufflehead
2 Pied-billed Grebe
8 Double-crested Cormorant
300 American Coot
1 Killdeer
100 Ring-billed Gull
15 Herring Gull (American)
1 Great Black-backed Gull
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 House Sparrow

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4. November 2007 by admin.

On November 11, 2006 I set out to try a big day in New York. The official ABA record for November was 87, and I felt confident I could at least get close to that with a good effort. By 9am I was up to about 50 species, including a Pacific Loon and a Cattle Egret. However, as soon as the skies opened up with rain my driver side windshield wiper quit working, and I was forced to slowly march back home to Lansing.

I thought about how close I would have been off and on all year. My PhD candidacy exam was scheduled for the end of October, and I decided that if I passed, and if the weather was good, I would try another big day the first weekend in November this year if I could find enough good birds on my first stop

The forecast for today was mostly sunny, 55°F, and a calm wind (increasing to 10-15 mph out of the north). Perfect. I started at Summerhill just after sunrise with some Evening Grosbeaks. I was also lucky enough to see a Common Raven and a Northern Shrike. With 20 species heading out of Summerhill, I decided to give the day a chance.

I visited Aurora, Montezuma NWR, Long Point State Park, Myers Park, Stewart Park, Sapsucker Woods and Cornell University to find all the birds from today. Each place added a new bird or two. Some highlights were a Red-throated Loon at Aurora, a White-rumped Sandpiper near Montezuma NWR, Surf Scoters at Myers, White-winged Scoters at Aurora, a Sharp-shinned Hawk dismantling a House Sparrow just before sunrise, and my first American Tree Sparrows of the fall.

In the end, I totaled 93 species today, at least temporarily claiming the November big day record for New York. I ended up driving about 140 miles and walked about three from about 7am-3:30pm. Not great, but not bad.

And now for the visual goodies…

Northern Shrike - Summerhill State Forest

Northern Pintail (male) - Montezuma NWR

Northern Pintail (female) - Montezuma NWR

Brant and Canada Goose (huge size difference!) - Stewart Park

Brant - Stewart Park

Brant - Stewart Park

Brant - Stewart Park

Dark-eyed Junco - Freese Road

White-tailed Deer - Cornell University

Poorly digiscoped Evening Grosbeak - Summerhill State Forest

Wilson’s Snipe - Montezuma NWR (digiscoped)

 White-rumped Sandpiper - Montezuma NWR (image grab from digivideo)

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21. October 2007 by admin.

Location: Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, New York
Time: 8:00 A.M. to 10:40 A.M
Weather: Sunny, 10-15 mph south wind, 50-65°F

I headed up to Montezuma NWR this morning with hopes of photographing waterfowl. I arrived about 30 minutes after sunrise, so the first part of the wildlife drive was still shrouded by shadows. I skipped the visitors center area and jumped on the wildlife drive, where I quickly found lots of American Coots and Green-winged Teal.

While I was trying to keep the shadow of my car off the birds in the canal a dim roar started off to my left. The roar kept growing in volume, but it remained undefined. I looked over and saw thousands of Canada Geese and a lone Bald Eagle. The roar intensified, but I was unable to make out the “standard” Canada Goose honk until a few waves of geese flew directly overhead.

A couple of Northern Harriers spent some time chasing ducks and fighting with each other at close range. I should have taken some great photographs, but my photography skills were lacking this morning. Nevertheless, here are the best of today’s shots:

Northern Shoveler (male)

Green-winged Teal (male)

Green-winged Teal (female)

American Coot

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier

Green-winged Teal (female)

Gadwall

Northern Harrier

Ruddy Duck

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier

Northern Harrier

Northern Pintail (female)

American Coot

Northern Shoveler (female)

Bird List (as entered on e-Bird.org)

1 Cackling Goose
8000 Canada Goose
150 Gadwall
80 American Wigeon
15 American Black Duck
150 Mallard
250 Northern Shoveler
400 Northern Pintail
200 Green-winged Teal (American)
10 Canvasback
30 Redhead
200 Ring-necked Duck
100 Greater Scaup
75 Lesser Scaup
125 Ruddy Duck
3 Bald Eagle
2 Northern Harrier
500 American Coot
60 Ring-billed Gull
10 Herring Gull
4 Great Black-backed Gull
15 Tree Swallow
30 European Starling
1 Savannah Sparrow
8 Song Sparrow
15 Red-winged Blackbird

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21. October 2007 by admin.

Location: Freese Road, Dryden, New York; Sapsucker Woods, Dryden/Lansing, New York
Time: 7:40 A.M. to 9:40 A.M
Weather: Partly cloudy, 10-15 mph south wind, 60°F

Chris Wiley and I gave Freese Road one last try for a Lincoln’s Sparrow this morning. We started at 7:40am and quickly found Field, Song, Swamp, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows. Chris hung around the main garden plots while I walked down to the south end of the field.

Some White-throated and Song Sparrows were bouncing around when a late Eastern Phoebe flew in from the north. I started pishing and turned up dozens of sparrows, including one Lincoln’s Sparrow! I whistled for Chris, and he ran over. With a few more seconds of pishing he finally saw his nemesis bird.

We walked to the north end of the field and back, but we weren’t able to add too much more.

At Sapsucker Woods we missed some Pine Siskins by about a half hour, but we have many more chances at that species this winter. We didn’t see much on the Wilson North trail other than Red-winged Blackbirds and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but we did find a flock of 30+ Yellow-rumped Warblers on the power line cut.

Bird List (as entered on e-Bird.org)

Freese Road
10 Mourning Dove
1 Eastern Phoebe
4 Blue Jay
6 American Crow
6 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Tufted Titmouse
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
2 American Robin
5 European Starling
1 Chipping Sparrow
2 Field Sparrow
30 Song Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
2 Swamp Sparrow
40 White-throated Sparrow
15 White-crowned Sparrow
10 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
2 Northern Cardinal
25 Red-winged Blackbird
8 House Finch
40 American Goldfinch

Sapsucker Woods
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Pileated Woodpecker
1 Eastern Phoebe
1 Blue-headed Vireo
6 Blue Jay
6 American Crow
10 Black-capped Chickadee
3 Tufted Titmouse
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
6 American Robin
15 European Starling
6 Cedar Waxwing
35 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
7 Song Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrow
3 White-crowned Sparrow
4 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
3 Northern Cardinal
9 Red-winged Blackbird
15 House Finch
15 American Goldfinch

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18. October 2007 by admin.

Location: Hog Hole (Treman State Marine Park), Ithaca, New York
Time: 5:40 P.M. to 6:25 P.M
Weather: Partly cloudy, calm wind, 70°F

I wasn’t planning on looking for birds after work today, but 70°F temperatures in the late afternoon changed my mind. Chris had been wanting to look for Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrows, so I finally caved and picked him up around 5:30pm.

We rushed through the dog park to get to the sparrow fields near the edge of Cayuga Lake. We found lots of White-crowned and Song Sparrows along the edge of the goldenrod, but not our target sparrow. Chris waded into the higher grass while I kept working along the edge.

After about 10 minutes I decided to join Chris, who had walked a few hundred meters away by then. When I got near him he said he saw a small bird drop into the grass a few minutes before I arrived. Within a few seconds of saying that a sparrow flew off just 5m in front of me. The orange face was very distinct.

We tried to get good looks, but it stayed well hidden. Luckily, a second Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow flew in out of nowhere and was much more cooperative. If only I’d brought my camera! We had great, unobstructed looks and even made it back to the car before sunset.

Bird List (as entered on e-Bird.org)

6 Mallard
5 Ring-billed Gull
1 Downy Woodpecker
4 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Northern Mockingbird
2 Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow
5 Song Sparrow
5 Swamp Sparrow
7 White-crowned Sparrow
3 American Goldfinch

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14. October 2007 by admin.

Location: Sapsucker Woods, Lansing, New York and Stewart Park, Ithaca, New York
Time: 2:30 P.M. to 4:15 P.M
Weather: Cloudy, calm wind, 45-50°F

I slept in this morning, so I missed a Red-necked Phalarope at Myers Point. It was seen from within 20 feet! It’s crushing to miss a bird that good at one of my “home” spots. That’s the third phalarope I’ve missed at Myers Point this year, but the only one that was that close. One of these days…

This year is shaping up to be a good “winter finch” year. Red-breasted Nuthatches and Purple Finch both breed here, but this year they were seen in much higher numbers than usual. I’ve been seeing the nuthatches in atypical habitat all year, and I’m seeing Purple Finch more often than in the past. In fact, today at Sapsucker Woods I saw 8+ Purple Finch near the Sapsucker Woods feeders. I was watching the feeders for about ten minutes, hoping for a Pine Siskin. I haven’t seen a siskin in over two years. About 75-100 American Goldfinch kept flying around when a darker bird landed at eye level about 10m away. A Pine Siskin!!! Pine Siskins have been showing up in larger numbers all over upstate New York in the past few weeks. A harbinger of things to come this winter?

After watching the feeders for about ninety minutes I made a quick, ten minute, run down to Stewart Park to look for ducks. Three female/immature Surf Scoters are still hanging out about 100m off shore, while the genus Aythya was well represented with both Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks and Redheads. Over a dozen Ruddy Ducks were floating around and a few American Black Ducks were flying about.

House Finch (Sapsucker Woods)

Pine Siskin (Sapsucker Woods)

Purple Finch (Sapsucker Woods)

Pine Siskin (Sapsucker Woods)

Purple Finch (Sapsucker Woods)

Purple Finch (Sapsucker Woods)

Mourning Dove (Sapsucker Woods)

Bird List (as entered on e-Bird.org)

Sapsucker Woods
60 Canada Goose
5 Mallard
13 Mourning Dove
2 Belted Kingfisher
2 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
4 Blue Jay
3 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
4 American Robin
3 Cedar Waxwing
6 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
3 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
3 Northern Cardinal
45 Red-winged Blackbird
10 Common Grackle
8 Purple Finch
10 House Finch
1 Pine Siskin
100 American Goldfinch

Stewart Park
2 American Black Duck
70 Mallard
10 Redhead
3 Ring-necked Duck
3 Greater Scaup
2 Lesser Scaup
3 Surf Scoter
4 Common Merganser
15 Ruddy Duck
4 Pied-billed Grebe
6 Double-crested Cormorant
60 American Coot
50 Ring-billed Gull
2 Herring Gull (American)
1 Great Black-backed Gull
35 European Starling

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13. October 2007 by admin.

Location: Myers Point, Lansing, New York and Freese Road, Dryden, New York
Time: 6:45 A.M. to 9:10 A.M
Weather: Partly cloudy, calm wind, 35-40°F

When I walked outside this morning I was a little surprised to see frost on my car. I was also surprised to see Orion in the sky for the first time in months. It took awhile to get my car warmed up enough so I could see through the windshield, but I still made it to Myers Point around 6:45am. Sunrise wasn’t until 7:17am, so I had some time to kill. A few Killdeer were walking around the spit, and I could already see hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls flying around over the lake.

A thick fog was blowing to the north, which made scanning the lake impossible. I was hoping for a residual flight from yesterday’s big Brant push, but it never materialized. A single Greater Scaup flew directly over me headed south, then wheeled around and headed right back up the lake. A little later an American Coot stumped me momentarily as it flew by. I’m just not used to seeing those guys fly down the middle of the lake.

At Freese Road the sun started to disappear, so I wasn’t able to photograph the Lincoln’s Sparrow I saw…which was the whole point of going there. Field, Chipping, White-crowned, Song and Savannah Sparrows were also hopping around, as were several hundred American Goldfinch.

The highlight at Freese Road was a probably Sedge Wren. I only had two brief, very shrouded looks, but the wren had white streaking on the back, and it appeared to also have white streaking on the crown/nape. However, since the looks were so short I’m really only comfortable calling it a Cistothorus sp.

Turkey Vulture (Myers Point)
Digiscoped

Black-capped Chickadee (Freese Road)

American Goldfinch (Freese Road)

Bird List (as entered on e-Bird.org)

Myers Point
85 Canada Goose
13 Mallard
1 Greater Scaup
12 Common Merganser
62 Double-crested Cormorant
6 Turkey Vulture
1 American Coot
3 Killdeer
800 Ring-billed Gull
1 Herring Gull (American)
2 American Crow
1 Carolina Wren
22 European Starling
3 House Sparrow

Freese Road
15 Canada Goose
2 Rock Pigeon
3 Mourning Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
6 Blue Jay
2 American Crow
2 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Tufted Titmouse
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Cistothorus sp. Wren
4 Chipping Sparrow
3 Field Sparrow
1 Savannah Sparrow
10 Song Sparrow
1 Lincoln’s Sparrow
3 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)
120 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Eastern Meadowlark
1 Rusty Blackbird
3 Brown-headed Cowbird
200 American Goldfinch

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