Field Trip Report – December 2012
Cayuga Lake
Had the pleasure of leading the Broome County Naturalist’s Club Field trip to Cayuga Lake today. We started at Stewart Park and saw mostly Canada Geese, Mallards, few Black Ducks, American wigeon, Bufflehead, many hooded mergansers, some displaying, 1 Ring-Necked Duck, 2 green-winged teal, a few Scaup sp (probably lesser), 1 ruddy duck, pied-billed grebe, distant Common Loon, all three common gull species. There was also a wood duck and three double-crested cormorants on the red lighthouse jetty. Nothing unusual but still nice to see our common birds out there.
Next stop was Myer’s point. The highlight here was a flock of BRANT heading south. Got great views of these guys. Very cool. This, along with the many flocks seen after Sandy, makes for the most I have ever seen of this species on Cayuga Lake in a season. Otherwise we had typical common birds from Myer’s.
Next stop was Long Point State Park and the big story was the wind. BRRRR. The best bird here was a very low flying adult Bald Eagle. The eagle was only 5 to 10 feet above the lake surface as it flew south. Never saw one flying so persistently low. The bird was not chasing ducks or gulls. It just flew low to south and out of sight. Otherwise, not much here. Just a few Canada Geese, mallards, black ducks, common loon etc.
Stopped at the Aurora Boathouse next. Again mainly common species. Best birds here were 2 HORNED GREBES. We also began to see many many SNOW GEESE to the distant north.
North Mill Pond had a nice variety of ducks that you can see close up. Great for groups. We got excellent views of many GADWALL, about a dozen REDHEAD, among other common ducks, like Mallard and Bufflehead. Then before we left here, it began. Flock after flock after flock of SNOW GEESE came from the east and were flying overhead toward Cayuga Lake. We estimated about 5000! They were still moving overhead when we left.
Quick stop at Harris Park and again we could see flock after flock of SNOW GEESE this time heading south and lowering toward what it looked like to be Lower Lake road on the west side of the lake.
After lunch, we went to lower lake road and hit the jackpot of SNOW GEESE. There were many thousands. We saw some blue form too. They also were continuing to stream in from the west and the north by the hundreds. It was very interesting to see an overhead flock descend from a couple hundred feet up. They were doing acrobatic moves, twisting and turning to lose height as they eventually made it to the lake surface. A boat eventually scared up the masses and it was a deafening roar as they took off. It was a true spectacle that never ceases to amaze me. We all enjoyed this immensely. Melissa Penta from our group took a few photos and some videos. You can see them here….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mydigitalmind/
Here is the one video of the huge takeoff…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mydigitalmind/8235338643/in/photostream/
I occasionally looked for Ross’s Goose but kept get distracted by the overall spectacle of the numbers. We did not positively ID any of these but I am sure there probably were some in there given the shear numbers.
There also were other species of ducks mixed in, including american wigeon, 1 ruddy duck, few lesser scaup, bufflehead. We also had a lone american coot.
Sheldrake was very windy and we saw just a few common loons there.
All in all, a nice day to be out by the lake despite the wind. We totaled 42 species. Not bad for not birding in the woods or fields.
Dave Nicosia
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