Field Trip Report – February & March 2011
February 26, 2011
BU Nature Preserve
Season of Change
Partly sunny, cold, 12 degrees F
The Preserve was encased in ice from the previous day’s wet snow. A beautiful sight. Birds seen: Crow and Tree Sparrow. This was expected due to the extreme cold weather and time of year.
March 5, 2011
BU Nature Preserve
Season of Change
Partly sunny, warm, 40 degrees F
What a change from the previous Saturday! From just two birds to 14 species. This is what I expected and why it is called a Season of Change. Birds seen and/or heard: Turkey Vulture, Blue Jays, Red Wing Black Birds, Chickadee, Titmouse, Immature Red-tailed Hawk, Downey Wood Pecker, Hairy Wood Pecker, Northern Cardinal, Crows, Mallards, Canada Geese, Song Sparrow, and Mourning Dove.
March 19, 2011
Field Trip
Back Roads of Broome
I want to thank Marie for keeping our list for the day and Rich for volunteering to drive the second car. It was a frigid day as we drove the back roads of Broome and some of Tioga County looking for any early migrants. We were able to get quite a few birds despite the cold. The amazing thing was the number of species at River Road in Endwell. It was
the hot spot of the day.
Here is what we saw as recorded by Marie. Our first and most prolific stop beginning at 8:15am was River Rd. in Endwell where we tallied 21sp including Turkey Vulture, Wood Ducks, Am. Widgeon, Mallard, Ring-necked, Hooded & C. Mergansers, Bald Eagle-ad., Red-bellied/Downy/Hairy Woodpeckers, Song Sparrow and a flock of 2dz(est.) Tree Swallows picking off the surface of the water. Our trip into northern Broome gave us a beautiful male N. Harrier on Matt Ryan Rd., Cooper’s Hawk (George St), 3 Am. Kestrels (Pitkin, Nanticoke & Edwards Hill), E. Bluebird, Am. Tree Sparrow, 2 E. Meadowlarks (Cherry Valley Rd.), flocks of Am. Robins everywhere and 12plus Horned Larks on Howland Hill. Boland Pond was quiet with only a few Green-winged Teal, maybe due to the man in a boat rowing through. With 6 Red-tailed Hawks we totaled 37 species.
March 25, 2011, Saturday
BU Nature Preserve, “First weekend of Spring Walk”
Sunny, cold, 15 degrees F
It was pretty cold for the first weekend of spring, but 17 people dared the 15 degree temperature. At least it was not snowing or raining, so I consider it a good day to be out and about birding despite the cold. The walk started out with the boots of 17 people crunching the frozen snow cover making it impossible to hear. We soon learned the only way to hear any birds was to walk, then stop and listen. We did manage to see the following:
Robins, Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, Crows, Red Winged Black Birds, Blue Jays, Juncos, three separate Red Tailed Hawks, one of them an immature, two Great Blue Herons, Canada Geese, Hairy Woodpecker, Golden Crowned Kinglets and one unidentified hawk being mobbed by Crows.
Thank you to Victor for taking us to the Hemlock groves where we slipped and slid our way up the hill in search of porcupines. We found two of them and the partial remains of one dead one. I want to thank Dillon for piecing together bits of evidence and clues in the snow on what may have happened to the dead porcupine and the dead deer we found. On a trail above the porcupine, Dillon spotted more porcupine quills, blood, tracks and what was thought to be the hair of a Gray Fox. Over time, several predators probably shared in the disappearance of the porcupine remains. Around the deer he pointed out various tracks and evidence of coyotes feeding on the carcass by the way it was tangled and pulled and how coyotes can shear the hair. There was evidence of a hawk feeding there by seeing the spray of its droppings.
It is always good to be out and see what mysteries nature provides us to ponder over.
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