I went to Taughannock this morning. There was a NW breeze, i.e. pretty much aiming along the lake. I watched from 6:40am til 7:50am and saw 120 loons flying south and 20 flying back north again. I was only looking against the sky, not at anything flying below tree level or close to the lake, which had some shimmer due to cold air. Most loons followed the lake going SE past Taughannock in singles or rather spread out groups of up to half a dozen. The paths of these birds were of varying height and distance from me. Rather late in my count I saw a couple of tighter groups follow the west shore and possibly continue over land. To see these both paths it may be best to observe from the north side of the creek on the concrete platform at the point, as trees obscure one area or the other from the south side of the creek.
Gladys Birdsall joined me toward the end, when flying loons were getting sparse and the number returning was close to the number leaving. Aside from the loons and a flock of about 50 northbound American Robins over the west shore, my most interesting observation was of a tight trio of Common Ravens who flew from Taughannock NE across the lake. Good luck tomorrow! --Dave Nutter On Nov 08, 2016, at 12:44 PM, "Wesley W. Blauvelt" <[email protected]> wrote: Hi All - Just a reminder that I will be leading a Loon Watch at Taughannock Falls State Park this Sunday, November 13, 2016 beginning at 6:20 AM. We will assemble on the south side of Taughannock Creek at its confluence with Cayuga Lake. Depending on the number of participants, we may break into two groups in order to maximize our coverage of migratory routes. Last year we had a banner day with +1,000 Common Loons and a couple of Red Throated Loons. Yesterday, while closing my cottage for the season, I scanned the lake from my front yard on the west shore near Camp Barton. My high count was 168 Common Loons. My guess is that at this vantage point I can view about 8 square miles of lake surface or approximately 12% of the total surface of Cayuga Lake. This would suggest there could be +2,000 loons currently on the lake……but then, who’s counting! See you Sunday. Wes -- 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/ -- -- 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/ --
