Marie - I think your raft of Redheads has come across the lake as for several days I see a huge raft of them floating back and forth between Wyers Point and Sheldrake Point to the south. They are sometimes all together tight and other times string out straight or in an S. Great fun to watch. Every day we count between 30 to 60 Tundra Swan. Yesterday there were two right near my dock - upside down. I love your picture. Wouldn't it make great wallpaper -count ducks 'till you fell asleep ! Thanks for sharing. Naomi
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Marie P Read Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 12:40 PM To: 'CayugaBirds' [[email protected]] Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Aurora Bay / Union Springs and waterfowl count question At Aurora Bay this morning, unfortunately the Redhead raft was NOT present, nor could I see any sign of it from Long Pt State Park looking south and across the lake. At Union Springs, the Factory Street pond hosted several Redhead and Gadwall pairs, as well as Mallards. The famous Screechie was soaking up the sun in the entrance of his box. For you lake-ice-watchers, the ice has retreated to just south of Union Springs (several miles north of its level last Monday). From Union Springs I could see hundreds of Tundra Swans roosting on the southernmost ice, way out in the middle of the lake, possibly closer to the west shore. There were also scattered Tundra Swans along the east shore of the lake, notably visible from Lake Road. I have a question for the those who took part in the recent waterfowl count: has anyone estimated the size of the Aythya raft? Or was that not in the count area at the time? The latest number I see is from the Christmas Bird Count at 940 birds, but that was a while ago and there are more birds now. I am being asked on Facebook how many that raft contains. (If all else fails I guess I will have to count them in my photo!) Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail [email protected] http://www.marieread.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/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/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/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/ --
