Hello all,
I went around lake and some parts of Ithaca with a friend who is visiting Ithaca. At Buttermilk Falls, saw one Red-breasted Nuthatch. In the inlet there were lots of Common Mergansers close to Rt 89. At Sheldrake, a large raft of Canada Geese, two Common Loons and a flock of 15+ Buffleheads and nothing much else. At Cayuga Lake State Park, a huge flock of Canada Geese landed while we were there and a snow geese skein of about 300 birds seemed heading south. A little later we saw flocks of Snow geese flying to west side of the lake and seemed to be coming from Muckland. So we headed to Muckland/East Road. At East road, there were at least 400 Tundra Swans most seemed sleeping in the afternoon. 22 Sandhill cranes in three different groups. Again we saw thousands of Snow Geese flying overhead heading south west. A little later many landed on the water. There was one goose in flight which was substantially smaller, which I think probably was a Ross's Goose, but after it landed it was difficult to see it. At least one, possibly two Bald Eagles were around. Along the drive up to seven Kestrel and 10 + Red-tailed Hawks were seen in various locations. Near Ovid a pair of Eastern Blue birds crossed the road. Three different No. Mockingbirds were also seen, one of them made us drive around an additional two miles as I wanted to make sure it was not a shrike. On Lake Ridge Road a flock of Horned Larks flew over us, but they kept continued going, so could not sift through to see if there were anything else in the flock. Finally, at the triangle piece of land on Triphammer Road we did see the flock of Common Redpolls, one had a very distinct pink wash on the breast. A little later Stuart pulled up. So with his scope could see them much better. They were skittish, but if you waited they came close enough to see them. Cheers Meena Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 http://haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ -- 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/ --
