20 March 2015
Daughter Becky & I played hooky on Thurs. afternoon after she came from
work. Since Gary K. mentioned an outing to MNWR for Sat., I went to see
if the situation there had changed in the last wk. NOPE!!! All iced over
& snow on top. Visitor's center won't be open until 1 April & the drive
may not be open then unless we get a real heat wave to melt the ice &
dry the mud. Potholes in the drive along the Thruway were terrible when
I was there late in the fall.
I have not been south of Union Springs for several wks. so don't know
what the situation is.
Various ducks, swans & geese are at Factory St. & Mill Pond outlets
along the lake north & south of Frontenac Park. Both Union Springs ponds
have a few ducks & Canadas. A GBH has been hanging out at Factory outlet.
From south of Harris Park (village of Cayuga, off Lake St.), where we
saw coots, to Mud Lock are _great _nos. of ducks, geese & swans. The
eagle was on the Lock tree nest & the mate was soaring overhead. The
channel from the RR bridge to the Lock has widened greatly in the last
wk. & is loaded with birds in the water & on the ice. A few ducks &
Canadas are on the Seneca R. north of the Lock.
We went _down 89_ to Taughannock with side trips to_Elm Beach Rd_.,
_Wyers Rd_. to Sheldrake. The Creamery wasn't open until 5 p.m. so we
didn't get to stop to celebrate with some soft ice cream. Taughannock
Falls has dirty gray ice with lots of water coming over the crest. Oh,
yes, a dead rabbit was in the middle of the road going down the hill
towards Taughannock. The Red-tailed Hawk that stopped to feed on the
carcass had been hit by a car & laid in the gutter. I thought it was an
owl 'til Becky picked it up.
Besides those in the air & fields, thousands of Canadas, snows & ducks
are on the lake, the most I've ever seen along the west shore. We tried
to make a Common merganser into a loon but failed. :-( Saw all 3 mergs
in various places. At Dean's Cove, Sheldrake & all along we were amazed
at the nos. of C & RB mergs..
North & South of Dean's Cove & out across the lake towards Aurora were
thousands of Snows in tight rafts or strung out in long lines. Loved the
noise.
I swung back by Martin Rd. & Seneca Falls airport. Found no Snowy owl
but in a puddle in a corn field at the end of Seybolt Rd. we found 2
prs. of N. Pintails ... our only ones for the day. Saw killdeer at the
airport construction site & many Horned Larks along country roads but no
Snow buntings. Van Cleef Lake in S. Falls is still solid ice.
Hope Sat. turns out better than usual for any takers for the birding
jaunt. Our fine snow that began at 9:15 a.m. has mostly melted with
temps. in the high 30s. Wind has been strong from the SSW all day.
Shurfine in Union Springs usually has hot drinks by the front window.
Subs & snack foods are available. No bathrooms. Pizza shop next door may
have them. I don't know what's available at the gas station.
Fritzie Blizzard
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