January 21-22, 2016 Potsdam (St. Lawrence Co.), and Cape Vincent and Point Peninsula (Jefferson Co.)
David Buckley, MaryBeth Warburton, Eileen Wheeler, Ann Spencer, and I decided to travel to the Cape Vincent - Point Peninsula region on Thursday and stay overnight to spend time birding in this wonderful area. Last winter, I stayed at the "Duck Away Motel" in Chaumont. We decided to stay at the Duck Away Motel again this year, but ice fishing has begun and they only had two rooms available - so David got his own room, and we four women squeezed into one room (with very little room to walk among our things). We were disappointed that we didn't get the room with the stuffed Northern Bobwhite in the lamp this year! Kidding aside, the owner, Sandy, is very nice and this is a great place to stay if birding in this remote region - it is inexpensive, clean, has a refrig., microwave, coffee machine, and TV - and it puts you close to the birding areas. Our plan was to eat dinner in Watertown, but it was late when we checked in, and Sandy recommended "The Blue Heron" restaurant just down the road from the motel - it was nice! David and I spent 45 minutes birding in Potsdam (where we found two different flocks of Bohemian Waxwings) in late morning on Thursday before meeting everyone in Canton and traveling to Cape Vincent. We arrived in Cape Vincent at 3 p.m. and birded until dark. We spent about 6 hours birding on Friday before heading home. We tallied 42 species over the two days. The St. Lawrence River at Cape Vincent has open water with just a bit of ice along the shore. The bays were mostly frozen over, but Lake Ontario has mostly open water. We found waterfowl off the causeway at Point Peninsula (Lake Ontario) and at Cape Vincent (where Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence River). Here are some of the species found: Canada Goose Mute Swan - 3 Tundra Swan - 2 Amer. Black Duck Mallard Long-tailed Duck - 43 Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Red-breasted Merganser Wild Turkey Common Loon - 1 Bald Eagle - 8 (5 on Point Peninsula) Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 Cooper's Hawk - 2 Red-tailed Hawk - many Rough-legged Hawk - 15 to 20 (we lost count) Great Horned Owl - 1 Snowy Owl - 2 (1 a bright white male) Short-eared Owl - 1 Pileated Woodpecker American Kestrel - 4 Peregrine Falcon - 1 Bohemian Waxwing - 161+ (flock of 21, and a flock of over 140) Snow Bunting - over 300 in 3 flocks (1 small flock and 2 huge flocks of over 150 birds each) Amer. Tree Sparrow Song Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Eastern Meadowlark - one in a snowy field on Point Peninsula! Quite a surprise in late January! Purple Finch - many in Potsdam I posted photos of the Peregrine Falcon, two of the Amer. Kestrels, one of the Bald Eagles, Eastern Meadowlark (a bad photo, but it documents the sighting), Snow Buntings, and two Snowy Owls to my Facebook page below. Joan Collins President, NYS Ornithological Association Editor, New York Birders Long Lake, NY (315) 244-7127 cell (518) 624-5528 home http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/ http://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian -- 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/ --
