Links to photos: Dave Kennedy’s eBird report & photo of 5&20 Osprey: https://ebird.org/checklist/S164885403
My eBird report & photos of Union Springs Osprey: https://ebird.org/checklist/S164927513 Photos with phone through binoculars & car windshield & window. Ann Mitchell & I also found another Osprey nest with 2 birds in it at Mud Lock, but a bit of a surprise. Photo also with my phone through my binoculars & the car window: https://ebird.org/checklist/S164970845 - - Dave Nutter > On Mar 15, 2024, at 10:26 PM, Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> wrote: > > For a few weeks now, folks at Allan H Treman State Marine Park at the SW > corner of Cayuga Lake, where I often walk and go birding, have been asking > me, “When will the Ospreys come back?” I say I expect them around the last > week of March, but it depends on when they decide to leave the Caribbean. Now > it seems more likely they may arrive there sooner, because they have been > arriving at other locations in the Cayuga Lake Basin. > > This morning Dave Kennedy reported an Osprey to eBird from NYS-5/US-20 a half > mile or more southwest of the entrance to the Montezuma NWR, and as should be > done with all rare bird reports he included either a description of what he > observed or a photo. Dave is a good photographer who spends a lot of time > around the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, and he finds many first of year > records for the Cayuga Lake Basin. His lovely photo clearly shows the Osprey > on a nest. (However even an ugly photo can be good enough to ID & document a > bird, so if you see something odd or new for the year or rare, I encourage > you to pull out your phone and try to get a photo.) It’s good to have > documentation of early arrivals because it may demonstrate that birds are > changing their migration timing due to climate change. This winter has been > almost nonexistent. > > Ann Mitchell wanted to see this early Osprey, and she invited me along. We > didn’t check all the Ithaca or Lansing platforms, but as we went north on > NYS-90 we noticed that all the Osprey platforms were unoccupied. We stopped > in Union Springs to look for Bonaparte’s Gulls from Frontenac Park, because > even though the lake was rough, the air temperature might make little > shimmer, so maybe flying birds could be seen. She was looking for where to > park so as not to use Town Office parking or block the boat ramp, and that > had us facing south. Before we got out to look at the lake Ann noticed an > Osprey ahead of us through the trees. It was carrying a stick, and it alit on > the nest platform in the marina which used to be called Frontenac Harbor and > apparently is now called FLX Marine. We drove around to get a photo to > document this apparently equally early Osprey. And we talked to a guy who > works there who said the Osprey arrived 2 days ago. And the workers there are > well aware of the Ospreys. So that’s now the earliest documented arrival of > which I’m aware. We reported it to eBird. > > We also saw the Osprey that Dave Kennedy photographed. Plus, from the East > Road overlook above Knox-Marsellus marsh looking SSE over the forest Ann > picked out a third Osprey with long narrow wings that were dark above but > bright white on the wing linings and belly and flapping faster than a nearby > immature Bald Eagle. > > - - Dave Nutter -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
