May Meeting Minutes

Cayuga Bird Club Meeting Minutes May 13, 2019
Cornell Lab of Ornithology 

Thanks to Ann Mitchell and Susan Soboroff for cookies. Welcome new members and visitors.  April meeting minutes posted to cayugabirdclub.org.  

Field trips and events since our April meeting: Four trips in April; trip reports in the May 2019 newsletter: April 13, Suan Yong & Bob McGuire, Woodcocks & Owl walk April 14, Gladys Birdsall, East side of Cayuga Lake April 20, Liisa Mobley, Monkey Run South April 27, Steve Kress, Meena Haribal, Diane Morton, Cayuga Lake and Montezuma  Three trips in early May: May 4, Josh Snodgrass, Finger Lakes National Forest. Very foggy at first but found a variety of Warblers including Magnolia, Nashville, Black-and-White, Palm, lots of Yellow-rumps. Field birds included Savannah Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks, Wilson’s Snipe.  May 11, SFO-style trip with Steve Kress, Meena Haribal, Diane Morton at Greensprings and Arnot Forest. Highlights: Bobolinks, Field Sparrows and Eastern Towhees at Greensprings, and Indigo Buntings, Veeries, Scarlet Tanager and warblers at Arnot Forest, including Blackburnian, Ovenbird, Nashville warblers - and a Ruffed Grouse crossing the road.  May 12, Chris Tessaglia-Hymes, assisted by Ken Kemphues & Diane Morton at Hawthorn Orchard. Cold, rainy, muddy, poor visibility. Nashville, American Redstart, Yellow warbler and Northern Parula seen. 
Other interesting sightings recently: Dickcissel visiting Carol Cedarholm’s yard in downtown Ithaca, Golden-winged Warbler at the Lab of O and other locations, Prothonotary Warbler at Myers Point (Bob McGuire), Summer Tanager near Jacksonville.  Leucistic Robin nesting in the yard of Allen Reed in Mecklenburg. The Reed home is across Route 79 from the Mecklenburg Post Office. Allen writes that “if any members want, they could park in the lot there, and scan around.” Contact Diane and she will give you Allen’s contact information if you’d like to make a visit to photograph this bird.  

Lighthouse Point update: Jody Enck reported that New Roots students in David Streib’s class will be helping to pull privet and plant native trees and shrubs at Lighthouse Point this month.  

Delaware Bird-a-thon going on this week. Worthwhile cause to provide habitat for migrating shorebirds. Last month the club made a $250 donation toward purchase of property in Mispillion Harbor to provide food for Red Knots and other shorebirds during spring migration. Brochures available; some of you may want to make a personal donation.  

Upcoming field trips and activities:  
Sat. May 18 Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, 5:15 am - 3:00 pm, led by Diane Morton and Sandy Podulka. Registration required. Will see birds collected from nets and being banded. Will also visit some nearby birding hotspots.  Memorial Day Weekend - Mark Chao, Spring Bird Quest. Bird walks on Saturday, Sunday & Monday May 25-27 at Finger Lakes Land Trust preserves. Fundraiser for FLLT. Goetchius & Park preserves on Sat, Bock-Harvey on Sun, Lindsay-Parsons on Mon. Details and directions on our club web calendar. 
Sat. June 1,  Danby area Hotspots with Wes Blauvelt & Ann Mitchell, 7 am-noon. Meet at Jennings Pond in Danby. 
Sun. June 2 Park Preserve with Paul Anderson 7am - noon. Meet at Cornell Lab of O for carpooling.  S
at, June 8 Connecticut Hill with Suan Yong and Dave Gislason Meet at 7:30 am at Wegmans or at 8 am at Connecticut Hill Boylan/Starks Rd intersection. Ends at noon.  Field trip details are on our web calendar, cayugabirdclub.org.  

Sat. June 8: Outreach project: Sciencenter Showtime activity, organized by Wes Blauvelt and Margaret Corbit, with Colleen Richards and Sandy Buckles. Will lead children on a bird walk near the Sciencenter and also teach kids about migratory birds.  

Monday, June 10, 6:00 pm, Annual Cayuga Bird Club Picnic at Myers Park, pavilion A. Bring your own place setting, beverage, and a dish to share. Family and friends are welcome. Bring your binoculars- there will be a short bird walk after dinner.   

Other Upcoming Events:  CLO seminar May 20, 7:30 pm Speaker: Dr. Alan Poole, Retired Editor: Birds of North America, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Title: Ospreys Across the Pond–A European Osprey Tour. Local Osprey expert Alan Poole will talk a trip through Europe, gathering material for his recently published book: Ospreys: The Revival of a Global Raptor. This event is free and open to the public, and will also be live-streamed.  

May 29 at Finger Lakes National Forest Ranger Station, 6:30 pm  Insects, Pollinators, and Grassland Birds: links, importance and meeting challenges  Farmers, woodlot owners, home owners and others interested in insects and birds are invited to an educational event at the Hector Ranger Station.   

Other new business: A Cornell graduate student, Bryant Dossman, is talking with us about the idea putting up a local Motus tower for tracking migratory birds. Motus tracking makes use of radio signals emitted from small tags attached to birds, replacing leg bands as a method for learning about bird movements. Such a tower could provide data on migratory birds that pass by the southern end of Cayuga Lake, and this information could be shared with the public and local groups as part of our outreach efforts to help people learn more about birds. Diane will be speaking with Bryant later this month to learn more.  

Summer: Friends of Salt Point have recently received a grant to improve plant diversity at Salt Point preserve, which will better serve birds and other wildlife. Diane wrote a letter of support for their grant application. They will need volunteers to pull out invasive plants and put in new native trees and shrubs. A sign-up sheet was passed around for people who’d like to help.  

There may be some guided shorebird walks at Knox Marsellus marsh at Montezuma in late August and early September. Those walks are generally posted on the Cayugabirds listserve or through the Montezuma NWR website. When these walks are announced, we will add them to the Cayuga Bird Club web calendar at cayugabirdclub.org.  

Fall: The annual Montezuma Muckrace will be begin at 7 pm Friday, September 6, and continue for 24 hours. This fundraiser is organized by the Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex. Cayuga Bird Club can sponsor two teams for the Muckrace; If you are interested representing the Cayuga Bird Club in the competition this September, please contact CBC president, Diane Morton. Anyone can register for and participate in this event, even without club sponsorship.  

Our next Cayuga Bird Club meeting will be Monday, September 9, 2019.  

September 13-15, 2019: NYSOA annual meeting will be in Kingston, NY, hosted by the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, with the John Burroughs Natural History Society. Nathan Pieplow, author of The Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America, will be the keynote speaker, with a talk entitled “The Amazing Sounds of Birds”.  

Cayuga Bird Club International Trip dates in 2020:  Costa Rica February 14 - 23, 2020 $3185 Colombia November 7-15, 2020, $3450. For detailed information about these trips, see the main page of the Cayuga Bird Club website.  

Reading of the list of Cayuga Lake Basin Birds was by Susan Soboroff. 184 birds were recorded in the last week.  

Program: Birding the Caldera of a Supervolcano in Arizona Speakers: Carl Steckler and Meg Richardson. Carl and Meg are long-time Cayuga Bird Club members who enjoy traveling to see new birds. Carl also enjoys bird photography. Carl and Meg told us about their trip to Tucson, Arizona, where they explored Southeastern Arizona and found a number of life birds.  

Respectfully submitted,  Poppy Singer Recording Secretary