Tomorrow, bright and early, will find us deep in Ellis Hollow, at the Durland Bird Sanctuary.  It’s a closed-to-the-public part of the Cornell Natural Areas consisting of a few unmowed fields, a dark grove of hemlocks and conifers, and a platform that overlooks ellis hollow creek.  

The turn for this one is a bit tricky, and there’s a chain across the entrance that will need to be unlocked, so we should all try and arrive there at the same time.  Lots of warblers about–check your guides for Black-throated-green warbler, or better yet, take a listen over at allaboutbirds.org!

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Tomorrow morning we will depart bright and early to the South Hill Rec Way for a little bit more linear birding.  Last year we sighted a few fun species here (including Blue-winged Warbler);  I think it will be a bit too soon for this species, but I hope to see some specialties like Louisiana Waterthrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, and Eastern Towhee (among others).  It looks like it’ll be quite cold tomorrow, so dress warmly!  I will plan on meeting you at the trailhead on Burns Rd:

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Despite the onslaught of sound from the marauding COE class that occupied the main area (just kidding Amy!), we still managed to turn up a few new species and get great looks at a few others.  Spectacular sapsucker action was followed by a nimble pair of red-breasted nuthatches making the rounds.  Early on a pair of tail-pumping eastern phoebes buzzed away while a small but acrobatic and noisy flock of golden-crowned kinglets made their way through the underbrush.  And while no one got the chance to see it, a Blue-headed Vireo called persistently while our attention was elsewhere.  Get ready for more migrants over the next few meetings!  Full list below–let me know if you think I missed anything…

Location:     COE Hoffman Challenge Course
Observation date:     4/21/09
Number of species:     28

Canada Goose     3
Mallard     1
Mourning Dove     2
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker     3
Downy Woodpecker     1
Hairy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     2
Eastern Phoebe     2
Blue-headed Vireo     1
Blue Jay     1
American Crow     3
Tree Swallow     2
Black-capped Chickadee     4
Tufted Titmouse     2
Red-breasted Nuthatch     2
Golden-crowned Kinglet     6
American Robin     5
Chipping Sparrow     1
Song Sparrow     3
Dark-eyed Junco     2
Northern Cardinal     2
Red-winged Blackbird     3
Common Grackle     3
Brown-headed Cowbird     7
House Finch     1
Pine Siskin     1
American Goldfinch     4

Tomorrow morning will find us high atop Mt Pleasant, testing our indomitable will in the nearby surroundings of the Hoffman Challenge Course area. It looks like it might be a bit breezy, so dress accordingly and come ready to discover a few new birds that have likely blown in thanks to these southerly winds of the last few days.
If you need directions to the HCC, search this blog for last year’s account, which will have pictures and google maps of the area. See you in the morning!

Tomorrow’s trip will take us to the East Hill Rec Way–search this blog for pictures & more from last year’s trip! Sorry for the late posting, but at least it made it on the blog this time, right?

Parking is on the right side of Game Farm Road–check out the google map if you need more info!

 

Those of  you that struggled out of bed this morning (myself included) were rewarded with a killer day of birding in Stewart Park. What began as a simple trip to observe (for the most part) winter ducks on Cayuga Lake turned into a quest that was ultimately achieved when we uncovered the lair of the Great Horned Owl…Have a great weekend and we’ll hope for more great weather next week!

 

I’ve included a list of birds that we saw this morning; there are a couple on the list that I saw or heard that we didn’t get to all enjoy, but any way you slice it, I’d say it was a good day…Let me know if you think I missed anything!

Location:     Stewart Park, Ithaca
Observation date:     4/9/09
Number of species:     35

Canada Goose     15
Wood Duck     15
Mallard     6
Bufflehead     9
Common Merganser     11
Ruddy Duck     2
Pied-billed Grebe     2
Double-crested Cormorant     2
Turkey Vulture     4
Bald Eagle     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
Ring-billed Gull     12
Rock Pigeon     10
Mourning Dove     2
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Downy Woodpecker     1
Hairy Woodpecker     1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     2
Pileated Woodpecker     1
Eastern Phoebe     1
Blue Jay     2
American Crow     1
Fish Crow     2
Black-capped Chickadee     1
American Robin     9
European Starling     35
Song Sparrow     2
Red-winged Blackbird     4
Common Grackle     7
Brown-headed Cowbird     1
House Finch     1
American Goldfinch     3
House Sparrow     7

Tomorrow’s trip will find us once again descending to the lakeside, this time to Stewart Park.  We’ll take some time to view many of the ducks that frequent Cayuga Lake in the wintertime, then walk through the open grounds looking for birds, including the potential of seeing some American Pipits and perhaps even a Great Horned Owl!  Dress warmly, as the windchill will be in the 20s (though it should be blowing from the SSW, which makes it more comfortable for lake viewing).  For anyone interested, here’s the list of birds we saw on Tuesday from inside the windows of the Visitors’ Center:

Location:     Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
Observation date:     4/7/09
Notes:     With COE Birding Basics class…
Number of species:     24

Canada Goose     12
Wood Duck     2
Mallard     3
Common Merganser     1
Mourning Dove     4
Belted Kingfisher     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     1
Downy Woodpecker     3
Hairy Woodpecker     1
Blue Jay     2
American Crow     4
Black-capped Chickadee     4
Tufted Titmouse     3
American Robin     1
American Tree Sparrow     4
Song Sparrow     2
White-throated Sparrow     4
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)     3
Northern Cardinal     3
Red-winged Blackbird     37
Common Grackle     9
Purple Finch     2
Pine Siskin     7
American Goldfinch     12

Due to the crummy weather scheduled for the morning tomorrow, I’d like to plan to begin birding indoors at the Lab of Ornithology.  We’ll start off splitting the group into 3 groups and birding through the windows using your binoculars and scopes, as well as getting acquainted with the Birds of Sapsucker Woods checklist.  If the weather appears to be getting better (or if it turns out to be nicer from the get-go) we’ll spend some time outdoors looking for birds, too!

This will be a perfect opportunity to improve your binocular skills and identification of most of the common birds of the woodlands!  Bring warm clothing in case the precip doesn’t happen, but it’s likely we’ll spend at least half the time birding from behind the glass.

See you in the AM!

Trip report from Mundy:

Tuesday’s trip to the Mundy Wildflower Garden was a bit of a raw morning, overcast, with the murmur of a swollen creek and the clank of a one-way metal bridge to compete with the birds for our attention.  Despite the distractions, we still managed to see some prime-time winter birds (many horrendously backlit against the bright white sky), and I commend the class for sticking to it in subpar conditions! I like to think that the final pair of cardinals that posed for us for several minutes were a sweet reward for the more difficult parts of the morning

Tomorrow finds us in a slightly different habitat: Cass Park.  Still noisy, but more open, with a chance for a variety of birds that you would be hard-pressed to find in the Mundy gardens.  I’ll bring along a telescope to try out, and there should be a little more space for us to spread out and all see birds at the same time.  See you tomorrow bright and early!

Plus-the first person who replies to this entry in the comments section below with the expected temperature tomorrow morning at 8 AM gets a special prize!

Northern Cardinal

Canada Goose

White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Song Sparrow

Ring-billed Gull

Eurpoean Starling

American Crow

American Robin

American Goldfinch

Blue Jay

Did I miss any?

It was great to meet all of you this past Thursday, and I’m already looking forward to the coming Tuesday to get out and see some birds!  One of the most important aspects to enjoying (and getting the most out of) these morning expeditions is dressing for the weather.

1. The first thing you should do is take a look at the “What to Wear” tab at the top of the page, to get an idea of how to dress for the outdoors appropriately.  But you can also do a little more to plan ahead…
2. Check the weather! There are plenty of ways online to check the weather for the morning–read this post from last year to get a look at the tools I use to plan our trips.
3. Check the blog! I’ll try and post the location of our next excursion at least a day in advance (usually based on the weather tools from #2).  This will also give you some idea about the kind of birding we’ll be doing: is it in the open?  Will we be in a forest? If you want to get notified when the blog is updated, try subscribing to the RSS feed (instructions here).
4. Get a good night’s rest! Waking up early is tough-I know!  It might seem simple, but getting even an extra half-hour of sleep can mean the difference between stumbling thru the morning and seeing some really great birds.
5. Look at your bird guide a little bit before coming on Tuesday morning (and bring the book with you). Get a sense of the diversity of shapes and sizes of birds and their various parts and field marks. It will also help you find a given bird in the book when looking for it!

So-if you have any questions, feel free to post them here in the comments–right now it looks like we’ll be moving the class time up to 7:45 AM, so I’ll see you bright and early on Tuesday morning…(weather currently forecasted to be between 30 and 35 degrees during class!)