I don't feel like re-writing my day, so here's what I posted to Cayugabirds:


I spent a very windy, but enjoyable day heading up the east side of the lake
with Ann Mitchell, Steve Fast, Bob McGuire and Kevin, Jay and Perri McGowan.

We started the day with a Carolina Wren, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied
Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice,
Mourning Doves and Blue Jays at the home of Bob and Joan Horn. They could
not have been more gracious hosts, and it was a fantastic way to start the
day.

Myers was pretty empty thanks to some duck hunters. I was told there was a
Common Loon off in the heat shimmer, but I didn't bother to look. The Marina
held a lot of American Coots, three Pied-billed Grebes, a Belted Kingfisher,
Mallards and a female Lesser Scaup. I'm told there was also a Common Loon
here, but, again, I missed it.

On the way up the lake Bob spotted ~75 Horned Larks just south of Rafferty
Road on 90, and prior to that we had an American Kestrel and Northern
Mockingbird (I'm not sure if we were on Lake Road or 90 for the
Kestrel/Mockingbird).

As we descended to Long Point State Park we saw 5 Northern Flickers and 1
Pileated Woodpecker in the same tree! The lake at Long Point held one Common
Loon (I actually saw this one!) and a lot of decoys that initially fooled
us. Some Common Goldenye and a pair of Buffleheads flew south, north and
south again while we were watching.

Aurora Bay was mostly empty. There were Canada Geese towards the middle of
the lake, Horned Grebes (no Eared Grebe) in close, Common Goldeneye and
American Black Ducks just to the north and some birds moving out in the heat
shimmer that were left unidentified.

North of the Mackenzie-Childs Bluffs we encountered our first Bald Eagle of
the day. In Union Springs the Factory Street pond held a pair of Gadwall and
some Mallards. The larger pond along 90 contained Redhead, Mallard, American
Wigeon, Gadwall and Bufflehead.

The next stop was Lettie Cook Woods. Bob played a screech-owl mob tape and
incredibly called in a flock of ~150 Snow Geese, which gave a fly-by to
investigate the commotion. Down on the ground we were visited by a half
dozen Tufted Titmice, some Northern Cardinals, a Brown Creeper, some Downy
Woodpeckers and Black-capped Chickadees. One chickadee in particular seemed
quite confused by the tape and sat on a branch above the speakers for a
moment or two seemingly trying to locate the owl or other birds on the tape.

From the tower at Montezuma we were treated to the sight of ~30,000 Snow
Geese on the main pool. They were pouring in from several directions, and a
rainbow graced the horizon for a few minutes. Lots of Canada Geese were also
on the main pool, but we were unable to pick out any Cackling or Ross's
Geese. Three Northern Harriers and a Bald Eagle or two were seen coursing
the grasses at the north end of the pool from the tower. Other waterfowl
seen from the tower included: Tundra Swan, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser
Scaup, Greater Scaup, Canvasback, Common Merganser and Hooded Merganser.
LaRue's Lagoon held American Black Ducks (also seen on the main pool, now
that I think about it), Mallards and a lone Green-winged Teal. Further along
the wildlife drive produced a small group of Ruddy Ducks.

Tschache Pool and East Road were mostly empty.

From the Potato Building Bob picked out the nine Sandhill Cranes to the
south of 31. Lots of Tundra Swans, Snow Geese, Canada Geese and Ring-billed
Gulls were in the area. Several American Tree Sparrows were also seen/heard
around the Potato Building.

Van Dyne Spoor Road was our final stop of the day. A Northern Mockingbird
was cavorting with some European Starlings as we pulled up. Shortly after
pulling our scopes out Jay found a Peregrine Falcon strafing the muck and
Kevin pulled out some Northern Pintail. When we finally started making our
way east on Van Dyne Spoor Steve pointed out a Northern Shrike to the north,
and we spent a good ten minutes watching it sit in the wind and hover a few
times.

On the way back to Ithaca we spotted a Great Blue Heron flying over the
entrance to Montezuma NWR, a male Ring-necked Pheasant just north of the
Mackenzie-Childs Bluffs and a Northern Harrier gave us a start at the corner
of 90 and Rafferty (we were thinking owl).

So, despite the wind and the intermittent light showers, it was a great day
to be out finding birds!


Photos 

Red-headed Woodpeckers are exceedingly rare in the Ithaca area. This individual has been coming to the same house every day between 8am and 9am since Thanksgiving. Fifteen of us were invited to try for it today. We were rewarded with about thirty minutes of viewing and free donuts.

This is a small portion of the ~30,000 Snow Geese that were on the main pool at Montezuma today.

The above three photographs are of the same immature (note the brown tones on the head) Northern Shrike from about 150 meters (in the rain!). It started flying away from us as soon as we noticed it, but it did hover hunt twice for long stretches.

The shrike was off to the left of this:

Owls

New Woodstock Christmas Bird Count