Date: 7/23/26 1:28 pm From: Shelley Page <shelleypage.imagine...> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] July 23 Thursday Birding Meetup Recap and Next Week Plans
A little bit of everything birdy greeted us this morning at Hog Hole as the Thursday Birding Meetup convened. That hot spot offers variety with water, meadow and edgy woodland habitats and the birds that love to hang out in each of those areas, thirty of which we saw today. Thirteen of us appreciated seeing the young ospreys flexing their wings and practicing getting a bit airborne. The cormorant colony was busy as ever with older chicks now hanging out with the adults. Three kingfishers cavorted along the shore. A spotted sandpiper (in its plain nonbreeding plumage) surprised us for a moment (yes, the is it spotted?, is it solitary? discernment). A red-bellied woodpecker adult poked its head into a nest hole repeatedly with a fledged juvenile red-bellied nearby, causing speculation about a possible second brood (usually only one brood up north but who knows?). We enjoyed discovering a nesting goldfinch. All this going on while we're surrounded by song sparrow, catbird, warbling vireo and goldfinch song. Yet another ordinary yet extraordinary birding morning together, followed by a breakfast stop at Ithaca Bakery. Want to join us next week? We're gathering at 7:00 am at South Hill Cider (550 Sandbank Road) to bird on their land and adjacent Finger Lakes Land Trust areas. The South Hill Cider folks have offered to make us breakfast. They would appreciate knowing the approximate number coming so please reply to me if you plan to join us. Deadline is Tuesday, July 28 in the evening. Directions from Ithaca: Head south on Route 13 and turn left on Sandbank Road. South Hill Cider will be up the hill on your right. Shelley Page *she/they/ki*
313-550-1437 261 Coddington Road Apt. B Ithaca, New York 14850
https://uuma.zoom.us/j/2065380867 "All that you touch you Change. All that you Change changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change." Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower
