I spent the day on Friday birding in Jefferson County, mostly along the Lake Ontario shoreline, without much success. Seems that the strong southwest winds were a bit too strong for most of the smaller land birds to be out. I worked the lakeshore south to north along Rt 3, starting at Montario Point Rd, and then headed over to Point Peninsula before ending my day at dusk at Perch Lake.
Montario Point Rd - There were 3 AMERICAN WIGEON and 2 PIED-BILLED GREBES on South Colwell Pond. I stopped at the end of the road and watched over the lake for about 20-25 minutes. The waves on the lake were fairly high, so looking for any waterfowl on the water was difficult. Several ducks flew back and forth past me, but the numbers were limited to just 7 COMMON MERGANSERS, 12 LONG-TAILED DUCKS and a single COMMON LOON. South Sandy Creek fishing area - The creek here was running strong and overflowed its banks at the fishing dock. I found 2 DARK-EYED JUNCOS, several AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES and a CARDINAL as I walked along the trail. I eventually reached a point where the creek waters inundated the trail, so I turned around. On the way back to my car I heard a single AMERICAN PIPIT fly overhead. Lakeview Marsh WMA - I stopped at several of the access points and parking areas for this area along Rt 3 and came away with 9 birds total. One was a juvenile BALD EAGLE who was up floating in the winds slowly flying south along the lakeshore. The others were a RED-TAILED HAWK being harassed by an AMERICAN CROW, 1 BLUE JAY, 1 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, my first AMERICAN TREE SPARROW of the season, 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, and a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. Rt 3 and Rt 193 – there were 4 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS on the wire at this intersection. Stony Creek Boat Launch – 1 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD and a brief look at a TURKEY VULTURE in the air before it dropped below the tree line to my east. Henderson Boat Launch - 2 MUTE SWANS, 4 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, and 2 COMMON MERGANSER males were the only birds I found here. Rt 180 – 1 AMERICAN KESTREL on the wires. Point Peninsula - I drove all the way around Point Peninsula, starting at Long Point Rd to the park, then down South Shore Rd and around the bottom of the point and then making a left onto Beach Rd before heading out. I found small groups of waterfowl scattered along the whole shoreline of the peninsula, with the following totals: AMERICAN BLACK DUCK – 7 MALLARD – 20 WHITE-WINGED SCOTER – 5 BUFFLEHEAD – 45 COMMON GOLDENEYE – 4 COMMON MERGANSER – 25 BONAPARTE’S GULL – 14 RING-BILLED GULL – 6 HERRING GULL – 3 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL – 1 My heart skipped a beat when I spotted some swallows feeding low over the water in the channel of Toad Hole Cove on the southwestern side of the Point. But after scoping the birds from in front of house # 21249 on South Shore Rd, I was able to see that all of the swallows were TREE SWALLOWS. About 100 of them. On the way off the Peninsula, I saw 2 SNOW BUNTINGS in the area of the new boat launch on Rt 57. Final stop was Perch Lake. In the waning light, I spotted a condensing flock of waterfowl drifting to the center of the lake to roost for the night. Species found in this flock: AMERICAN WIGEON RING-NECKED DUCK GREATER SCAUP LESSER SCAUP BUFFLEHEAD RUDDY DUCK Also on Perch Lake were several scattered flocks of CANADA GEESE and 2 sleeping swans, which I presume are the resident TRUMPETER SWANS. Mickey Scilingo Constantia Oswego County, NY [email protected] 315-679-6299 -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
