REGION 3 - FINGER LAKES 
Bill Ostrander 
80 Westmont Avenue 
Elmira, NY 14905 
The most important weather event of fall 1999 was the rain brought by 
Hurricane Floyd. The 3" that fell on the Region helped to relieve the 
drought conditions, which had continually worsened since April. 
September was the wettest month in the Region since August 1994. On 
the down side, both October and November were again drier than nor¬ 
mal. September was 2.9°F warmer than normal and November was 4.5° 
warmer than normal. October was 1.7° below normal. Only one day, 17 
November, remained below freezing. Ithaca received two snowfalls: 1.4" 
on 16 November and 2.3" on 30 November. Areas immediately south of 
the Finger Lakes received several inches of snow on 30 November. 
September's rain caused water levels in rivers to go from very low to 
rather high. As a consequence, little shorebird activity occurred in them, 
and the presence of gulls and ducks was reduced as islands and shallows 
disappeared. The rain did help dampen some of the dried up wetlands 
and provided some shorebird habitat. Montezuma National Wildlife 
Refuge managed water levels in Benning Marsh and the May's Point 
Pool, producing excellent shorebird numbers, especially at May's Point. 
The overall warmer than normal temperatures may have been partly 
responsible for the Regional record late occurrences of Lesser Yellowlegs, 
Semipalmated Sandpiper, Nashville Warbler and Chestnut-sided 
Warbler. Departures for most species, however, were near average. A 
cold front on 15 November, which ushered in the subfreezing tempera¬ 
tures of the following three days, also ushered in a spectacular flight of 
Common Loons past the Loonwatch at Taughannock Falls State Park. 
The 4414 Common Loons counted that day was the second highest single 
day count since the Loonwatch was established. 
At Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory, John and Sue 
Gregoire banded 3362 birds, the most they have banded in a single fall 
season in their 14 years of operation. Black-capped Chickadee, Downy 
Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco and Blackpoll Warbler were banded in sig¬ 
nificantly higher numbers than previous records. House Wrens and 
Nashville Warblers also ensnared themselves in record numbers. The sta¬ 
tion documented a major irruption of Black-capped Chickadees, with 600 
banded in October alone. In fact, John and Sue banded more chickadees 
The Kingbird 2000 March; 50(1) 
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