Field Trip Report – March 2012
March 17 – Avian Road Trip – Back Roads of Broome
Forcast: Sunny, mid 60’s. (Nice!)
Actual: FOG! Fog so thick you couldn’t see two hundred yards. (Not so nice).
Birding visibility…less than fifty yards. (Terrible!)
This changed my entire route hoping the fog would lift. We ended up going to Chenango Forks, over to Castle Creek, Whitney Point Reservoir, Lisle, Smith Road, Edwards Hill over to Arnold Road and ended up walking in, to Nanticoke Lake.
What did aid us, was the ability to drive slowly and listen intently for the sounds of spring. This was the trip to hear and see more Meadow Larks than I have ever seen in one day. We also lost count of how many Red-tailed Hawks we did see. We were informed by some fishermen, “Of a white kinda lookin duck”, as we presumed, a male Common Merganser.
I want to thank Ruth for keeping track of what we did see.
Common Mergansers, Red-winged blackbirds, American Crow, Rock Pigeon, Great Blue Heron, Black Duck, Mallards, Canada Geese, Am. Coot, Robin, Black Capped Chickadees, Bald Eagle–immature 4th year, Cardinals, European Starlings, Song Sparrow, Blue Jays, Common Grackle, Tree swallows, Juncos, Meadowlarks, Red-tailed Hawks, Turkeys, Mourning Doves, Kestrels, Goldfinch, Red-shouldered Hawk, Golden Eagle, Turkey Vulture, Downey Woodpeckers, and no Leprechauns. We also heard Blue Birds, Killdeer, and Red-bellied Wood Peckers,
The high light of the trip was at Nanticoke Lake. The fog had finally lifted and we heard the distinct call of a Red-shouldered Hawk but had a hard time pin pointing its location. It was loud and clear, then weak. Finally looking straight up we spotted the Red-shouldered Hawk dive bombing and harassing a Golden Eagle!
It always makes me feel good to take people out and have them get a life bird or two. Melissa was able to get three life birds!
Hope you can join us on one of our future trips and have the fun we had today!
March 24 – BU Nature Preserve
What was predicted to be a rainy day turned out pretty nice with nothing more than being cloudy. My record still stands as not having a trip turn out to be a rainy disaster.
With one of the earliest springs many of us have witnessed, twelve of us headed into the preserve with expectations of seeing some earlier than normal returning migrants. We did see some birds that were earlier than usual, but nothing totally surprising. We did see the following:
A Blue Jay calling imitating a Red-shouldered Hawk, Crows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Mourning Doves, Song Sparrows, Cardinals, Phoebes, Brown Headed Cow Birds with the male boldly displaying, Robins, Chickadees, many Turkey Vultures, Canada Geese, Mallards, Gold Finches, Flickers, Juncos, Downey Woodpeckers, Grackles, Catbird, White Breasted Nut Hatches, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Brown Creeper (heard), and Pileated Woodpeckers.
The Pileated Woodpeckers gave us exceptional views while we were checking out the vernal pools. With no melt off, or steady spring rains, the pools were rather small this year.
There were twenty to thirty Turkey Vultures rising on the thermals at the same time reminding me of the scene from the Wizard of OZ with all the flying monkeys.
Our next field trip is to Dryden Lake on April 07, 2012. Check out the Gnatcatcher or the web site for details. Hope you can join us!
Dan Dunn,
Broome County Naturalists’ Club Field Trip Chairperson.
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