After a bit of a lull the past couple of weeks, we are now getting an influx of waterfowl at the south end of Cayuga Lake, probably due to Montezuma starting (and perhaps finishing?) to freeze over with the low temperatures the last couple of nights.
I made a quick dusk trip to Stewart Park last night (Tuesday) after seeing Kevin report an unusually high number of shovelers. Sure enough, I found even more than he had reported, with three tight groups totaling 100 birds just offshore and at least one other group towards the jetties, for a total of at least *135* NORTHERN SHOVELERS. Numbers at Montezuma were still impressive last week, so I have little doubt these were birds pushed out by ice-over. Lots of birds were too far out in the dim light last night, so I went down to the lake again this morning to see what else was around. I found that during the night, an ice edge of several hundred feet had formed off Stewart Park, so although some large gull flocks were present (no interesting species amidst them), the dabblers that had lined the shore last night had moved on. I did have two BONAPARTE'S GULLS flying south over the ice, three TUNDRA SWANS flying north high over the lake, and a single NORTHERN SHOVELER offshore. Hog Hole had a greater number of birds. Highlights included at least eight CACKLING GEESE mixed in with large goose flock (interestingly, the sub-flock with the Cackling all appeared to be quite petite Canadas, so probably coming from a different area than our normal Canadas do); a high flyover migrant RED-THROATED LOON with lots of Common Loons; at least three female NORTHERN SHOVELERS (no sign of the huge flocks from last night); two transitional male NORTHERN PINTAIL; a few Gadwall; a pair of AMERICAN WIGEON (expected more with the numbers at Montezuma a week or two ago); a pair of GREEN-WINGED TEAL; ~72 REDHEAD; 50+ RING-NECKED DUCKS plus another 150 flying in from the north; a handful of both GREATER and LESSER SCAUP; five RUDDY DUCKS; two female COMMON GOLDENEYE; and close to 200 HOODED MERGANSERS. Yesterday we counted over 50 Hooded Mergansers on the pond at Sapsucker Woods, but today it is frozen over. Complete lists from this morning here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20604911 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20604897 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20604903 Good birding, Jay -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology [email protected] -- 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/ --
