Good afternoon, I realize that a corncrake (Crex crex) isn't a Finger Lakes visitor, but it is such a rarity that I wanted to share it here! I myself have not seen the bird, but belong to the groups "Birds of the Eastern United States" and "New York Birders" on Facebook, and have been seeing sightings and photos pouring in.
Here is what one of the more recent FB posts re: corncrake says: "Photographed in the early morning at Cedar Beach, Long Island, NY on November 7th" "Corn Crake still being seen as of 10:50am (11/8)" Apparently the last one seen was in the 60's, shot by a hunter on LI who mistook it for a pheasant. They are in the rail family, but differ from their more aquatic cousins in that they spend much of their time on dry land (landrail). From the accounts I've been reading, the location is mayhem with police presence to keep traffic moving and to prevent people from clogging up the side of the roads. Corncrakes breed in Europe/southern Russia/Western Asia, and migrate to southern Africa. How or why this little bird made it here is I'm sure, an amazing story. Just wanted to share this cool event with everyone. Happy birding! Alyssa Johnson Environmental Educator Montezuma Audubon Center 2295 State Route 88 P.O. Box 187 Savannah, New York 13146 (315) 365-3588 Audubon NY- Montezuma<http://ny.audubon.org/Montezuma> Montezuma Audubon Center on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/MontezumaAudubonCenter/> -- 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/ --
