Chirps and Cheeps

I headed out to Wyoming County today, making a quick stop at Sinking Ponds on the way.  As I was ready to leave Sinking Ponds, I heard a lot of whistling and noise from overhead, like that Tundra Swans make.  Sure enough, 3 separate flocks flew over during the next few minutes, their numbers estimated at around 150!  One flock was huge!

After that, I stopped at Glor Pond outside of Varysburg and was amazed at the huge number of Tundra Swans in the pond.  What a noise they made!  I tried to get an accurate count of them as I could, which came to 357.  The sight was incredible, especially for such a small pond!  I heard many reports later in the day of large numbers of Tundra Swans all over Western New York.  They were surely on the move today!

A short while later, as I continued to scope the perimeter of the pond, I came upon four Greater White-fronted Geese.  It turns out this was the first record ever recorded for this species in Wyoming County!  What a thrill to get this first county sighting!

Since I was close to Beaver Meadow, an Audubon nature preserve, I drove through there hoping for a sighting of a Pine Siskin.  No luck with that bird but I did get a nice view of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk.

I ended the day back a little closer to home at Winter's Pond in Langford.  Another huge number of Tundra Swans awaited.  This pond is much larger than Glor Pond but the sight was still overwhelming.  I didn't do an actual count this time, but I estimated around 400 Tundra Swans were there.  The noise, again, was deafening.