Started the New Year with a trip up the east side of Cayuga Lake, with an excursion to the Waterloo, NY Outlet Mall to see the SNOWY OWL.
Got some digi-scoped images of this bird which can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/sets/72157628671403157/with/6615976665/ This is about the ONLY time you would ever find me at an outlet mall!!!! Then I went back to the Montezuma area including East Road overlooking Knox-Marcellus Marsh, Savannah Mucklands, Tschache Pool and May's Point before returning home to Johnson City, NY. It was an all day trip...tiring...but well worth it. On the way, in Broome County, got a nice view of a male NORTHERN HARRIER on Edwards Hill Road in Lisle, NY. Had 2 TURKEY VULTURES on the way up also, one in Dryden and the other in Lansing. First stop, along Cayuga Lake, was Myer's Point. Not much there but did get nice views of the three common gull species. Counted 76 RING-BILLED GULLS, 3 HERRING GULLS and 1 GREATER BLACK BACKED GULL. Saw about one hundred AMERICAN COOTS at the marina next to Myer's Point. These birds are pretty reliable here. Next stop was Power Road in Genoa off Lake Ridge Road and saw an AMERICAN KESTREL, COOPER'S and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK!!! From Lake Road, saw a nice male NORTHERN HARRIER. At Long Point St. Park it was VERY windy. There were many BLACK DUCKS, 1 COMMON LOON,| several BUFFLEHEAD, 26 COMMON GOLDENEYE, a pair of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS and a lone SNOW GOOSE among some CANADAS. >From the boathouse in Aurora there were about 100 COMMON GOLDENEYE, 50 MALLARDS, and 2 HORNED GREBES. The lighting was such that you could see their beautiful red eyes. The North Mill Pond had a nice variety of waterfowl including about 25 REDHEAD, 1 RING-NECKED DUCK, 15 BUFFLEHEAD, 5 AMERICAN WIDGEON and 15 GADWALL among a bunch of MALLARDS. Also had a GREAT BLUE HERON here. At the Waterloo Outlet Mall besides the above mentioned SNOWY OWL there were also several decent sized flocks of SNOW GEESE flying south. Tschache Pool and May's Point were very windy and almost devoid of birds. Knox-Marcellus Marsh from East Road had at least 1000 CANADA GEESE with at least 2 CACKLING GEESE. There were many more "candidates" but these 2 geese really stuck out with very short stubby bills. Birds were also much smaller. It was obvious. There were also many AMERICAN WIDGEON, MALLARDS, AMERICAN KESTREL, RED-TAILED HAWK and about 30 SNOW GEESE here also. >From the Potato Building in the Savannah "mucklands" there were thousands of gulls, geese, and at least 200 TUNDRA SWANs. I had two gulls that looked like ICELAND GULLS in 1st cycle plumage very distant though so not sure here. Also, had a possible GLAUCOUS GULL but again too distant to call for this birder. Given the shear numbers of gulls there, I bet there were more than just the usual RING-BILLED, HERRING and GREATER BLACK BACKED GULLS. Most of the gulls as expected were RING-BILLED. Did not see any BONAPARTE'S but again there were so many I wouldn't be surprised if someone finds more species up there. One note, many of the RING-BILLED GULLS had pure black bills as they were covered with "muck". Some assorted photos from this trip can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/sets/72157628671429293/with/6615962213/ Happy 2012! Dave Nicosia Johnson City, NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
