I had gone down to Stewart Park initially to look through the afternoon concentration of gulls, but when I arrived about 4:25 there was a parasailer and his dog on the ice at the east end, and I could see that there wasn't a single bird on the ice shelf. I almost didn't even get out of the car, but when I did I could hear exited wails from a group of GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS that were mobbing something at the edge of the ice. At first I thought it was a Bald Eagle, with white head and mottled body, but soon realized it was a SNOWY OWL!
I don't know if the owl was keeping all the other birds from the ice or if it was previous disturbance from the sailor and his dog -- I could see a large raft of gulls very far out in the lake, and could only make out the Great Black-backs in that raft. The OWL was awesome though -- surprisingly the first that I know of at Stewart Park, and long overdue. As Jay describes in the next post, we watched the owl fly across the lake to just north of East Shore Park, and when we zipped up there to tick it on our East Shore Park Hotspot list, we watched it fly back, low over the lake, to its original spot on the ice edge. I hope it sticks around for more to see tomorrow. KEN Ken Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On Jan 18, 2014, at 8:03 PM, Dave Nutter <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: The SNOWY OWL was still present between 5:00 and 5:06pm when I scoped it from north of Treman Marina, but it was gone by 5:35pm when I returned from checking the lake. It was a dark, heavily barred bird, a conspicuous lump on the ice (and a prize Luddite List bird for me - Thanks, Ken!). Maybe the late hour was a factor, but I thought it was telling that I saw no other birds on the entire ice shelf. Maybe they recognized this rarity as a predator. I looked around in the dusk from 5:35 to 5:40pm but all I saw was a fox out on the ice floes which blocked the Inlet between Jetty Woods and the marina. The Inlet was free of ice elsewhere both upstream (south to at least the Octopus) and down (along the white lighthouse jetty), and the red lighthouse breakwater was an island, making it safe (from foxes, anyway) for the 2 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS which sat preening near the north end. --Dave Nutter On Jan 18, 2014, at 04:47 PM, Jay McGowan <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: A SNOWY OWL is currently on the ice off mid Stewart Park, found by Ken Rosenberg. Jay -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> 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 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/ --
