As I recall the snag was still up on Wednesday when I stopped by briefly a couple times on taxi breaks. I didn't have much time to spend there, but I did see one crow on it. I don't think that birds have avoided it this year, but they may have eschewed it some during its last day. I've seen cormorants on it, from a few to 40 in recent weeks, but I agree there have been more on the snags on the west side of jetty woods. Those snags still have more branches and perches, and the cormorants also use some live leafy trees in the same area.
Jetty Woods is owned by Cornell. It's officially called the Cornell Biological Field Station, and there are signs calling it a Cornell Natural Area, which I think puts it under the jurisdiction of Cornell Plantations. I don't know who has authority over the adjacent water, maybe DEC. But I wouldn't put it past anyone, official or otherwise, possibly from the City, with a chainsaw and fear of dead trees falling on someone, to take it down, even though it would be stupid to simply cut down a rotten tree because vibrations might cause large limbs to fall and nail anyone at the base. The only people remotely at risk otherwise would have been rowers. That would include Cascadilla Boat Club, and I think there is an Ithaca High School team as well. If none of those folks actually took down the tree, they may still know when & how it happened or been first on the scene, and may have cleared it away if branches or the trunk were out in the area they usually use. I think many boaters really liked having the Bald Eagles perching there.
By the way, there used to be 2 large snags there as of a year or two ago.
--Dave Nutter
On Sep 29, 2011, at 04:37 PM, Suan Hsi Yong <[email protected]> wrote:
I did not notice its absence last Saturday; I distinctly remember it
being still there two weekends ago, when a/the adult bald eagle was
hanging out in a neighboring tree -- which seemed odd to me since I
thought that snag was its favored perch. The cormorants, likewise,
have eschewed this snag the entire season, congregating instead on a
tree on the other side of Jetty Woods facing the Treman Marina. I
wonder if the snag had noticeable wobbliness enough to keep the eagle
and cormorants away.
Suan
On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 2:00 PM, Jay McGowan <[email protected]> wrote:
> Livia and I checked Stewart Park at lunch today. Although it was raining
> steadily, the lake was very calm and ducks were easy to see around the weed
> mats towards the east end of the park. We didn't find anything that hasn't
> been around for a while, but did see the continuing male GREATER SCAUP, 2
> female RING-NECKED DUCKS, female RUDDY DUCK, 3 AMERICAN WIGEON, Hooded
> Merganser, AMERICAN COOT, at least 5 Pied-billed Grebes, multiple American
> Black Ducks, and tons of Mallards. A MERLIN was perched on the dead tree on
> the swan pen island, an adult BALD EAGLE was in a small dead snag along the
> shore of the swan pen, and an immature BALD EAGLE flew by out of jetty
> woods.
>
> The most notable sighting, however, was the fact that the famous large snag
> across the channel from the boat house (the
> cormorant/osprey/eagle/Merlin/Peregrine tree) is GONE. I haven't been to
> Stewart Park for a few days, so I don't know when this happened, and I also
> couldn't tell WHAT exactly happened. It looks like it might be broken at the
> base, so perhaps it finally fell over from natural causes and was cleared
> away to keep the channel open. I would be interested to know if anyone has
> more information about this. In any case, I consider this a huge loss to the
> birding community. It will be missed.
>
>
> --
> Jay McGowan
> Macaulay Library
> Cornell Lab of Ornithology
> [email protected]
>
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