Field Trips

A highlight for many NYSOA conference attendees are the field trips to area birding hotspots.  We look forward to sharing with you a wide variety of birding sites and habitats in the Ithaca area, from the shores of Cayuga Lake to forest and wetland preserves to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge.

When you register for the conference, you'll be given the opportunity to sign up for Friday afternoon tours of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (2:00pm, 2:30pm, 3:00pm, 3:30pm). Apart from this, sign-ups for the remaining field trips will take place  in mid-August. (We will email registrants field trip sign-up information.)

Note that transportation for field trips is not provided.

NYSOA 2025 field trips will take place in three time slots: 

• Friday  2-4pm:

  • The focus of the afternoon will be at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Visitor Center, with 30-minute tours (sign-up during conference registration) and short bird walks (1 hour or 2 hours) in the surrounding Sapsucker Woods.

  • Field trips to other nearby sites will also be offered, including to Stewart Park and the Cornell Botanic Garden's F. R. Newman Arboretum.

• Saturday  7-11am:

  • Saturday trips will visit sites within a 20-minute drive from downtown Ithaca, including city parks, Cornell Natural Areas, and Finger Lakes Land Trust Preserves.  Saturday trips are timed for participants to return to the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center by 11am for the opportunity to socialize, visit vendor displays, and take part in other Conference activities.

• Sunday  7-11:30am:

  • Heading out on one of Sunday morning’s field trips will be a great way to wrap up your NYSOA weekend before heading home. We’ll have guided trips to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR), located an hour's drive north of Ithaca, as well as sites to the south (Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve), east (Roy H. Park Preserve), and west (Finger Lakes National Forest).  

Sapsucker Woods, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

 (15 minutes northeast from downtown, easy level trails, restrooms available)

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is nestled within the 220-acre Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary, which features a variety of wetland, forest, and field habitats. Trails are flat and well-marked, with some boardwalks, benches, and shelters. Sapsucker Woods is a great spot for birding at all times of the year, but perhaps most exciting during migration, when it is possible to find 15-20 species of warblers, plus thrushes, vireos, and flycatchers. True to its name, this is also a great spot for Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and other woodpeckers. ebird.org/hotspot/L97555

Trip offerings:

• Friday 30-minute tour of Cornell Lab (2:00pm, 2:30pm, 3:00pm, 3:30pm), sign up during conference registration.

• Friday 1-hour bird walk (2:00pm, 3:00pm), to complement lab tours above.

• Friday 2-hour bird walk (2:00pm-4:00pm).

• Saturday bird walk (7:30am-10:00am), with time to explore Visitor Center afterwards.

Finger Lakes National Forest

(30 minutes west of downtown, birding along roads and trails)

The Finger Lakes National forest, located between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, encompasses more than 16,000 acres and includes grasslands, scrubland, ponds, deciduous forests, and hemlock-filled gorges. This trip will visit a selection of  habitats, including several eBird hotspots. These areas can be great for raptors, a variety of sparrows, and for migrating songbirds. ebird.org/hotspot/L260091

Trip offering: Sunday 7:30am-11:30am (convenient for departing West)

F.R. Newman Arboretum

 (10 minutes east from downtown, easy paths with some gentle slopes, porta-john available)

This 100-acre parcel is the crown jewel of Cornell’s Botanic Gardens Complex. With a large pond as its centerpiece, it harbors collections of nut trees, crabapples, oaks, maples, shrubs and urban trees. A paved road makes a long loop, and there are miles of walking paths, most of them paved. The gardens, fields, and wooded areas provide good habitat for a wide variety of year-round and migratory songbirds.  ebird.org/hotspot/L799199

Trip offerings:

• Friday 2:00pm-4:00pm

• Saturday 7:30am-10:30am (trip may visit other sites)

Hawthorn Thicket

(6 minutes east from downtown, rougher trails, potentially muddy, no restrooms on site)

The Hawthorn Thicket (also known as the Hawthorn Orchard) is a unique habitat of mostly mature hawthorns and buckthorns, riddled with paths for deer and horses from the nearby Oxley Equestrian Center. This area has been growing wild for nearly 60 years and is preserved from future development as a Cornell Natural Area. The primary hawthorn habitat is approximately 15 acres, which alongside surrounding habitat forms nearly 35 acres of important green space. The site acts as a migrant trap corridor particularly during Spring migration, and can be good for Fall migrants as well.  ebird.org/hotspot/L122418

Trip offerings:

• Saturday 7:00am-10:30am

• Sunday 7:00am-10:30am

Lighthouse Point

(8 minutes north from downtown, easy level path, potentially muddy, restroom nearby)

Lighthouse Point Woods is a Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Area at the south end of Cayuga Lake. A track leads through a thicket of privet, mature willows, and tall cottonwoods to a concrete jetty that juts into the lake, ending at a small lighthouse. A colony of Double-crested Cormorant nests in the tall trees along the lake shore. Bald Eagles are frequently seen, and several species of warblers nest here. 

Lighthouse Point Woods is the primary site of an ongoing Habitat Restoration Project by the Cayuga Bird Club. Since 2018, we have engaged more than 200 community members in removing thousands of non-native, invasive plants, replacing them with hundreds of native trees and shrubs.  Join us while we look for fall migrants and resident birds, and for discussion of practical approaches we've learned for achieving our habitat improvement goals, such as (a) what plant species survive best in a seasonally flooded forest area, (b) how to create habitat to accommodate birds at all layers in the forest, (c) how to provide good host plants for insects (food for birds!) and berries to fuel both migrants and overwintering resident birds, (d) how to keep rabbits and deer from impacting our hard work, (e) how to engage community members in our project, including youth groups, and engaging volunteers in a plant-fostering project.

This trip will also go to Stewart Park's Renwick Wildwood, another important stopover spot for migratory songbirds. ebird.org/hotspot/L130619

Trip offering: Saturday 7:30am-10:30am 

Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve

(20 minutes south from downtown, longer trails with hills, no restrooms)

Owned by the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve was established in 1995 as the world’s first temperate zone preserve for research in biodiversity and chemical ecology. Consisting of 545 acres, it is located near the headwaters of the Cayuga Inlet. The habitat is diverse and includes a lake, large beaver ponds, marsh, open fields, hardwood forest, hemlock groves, and steep, wooded hillsides. Because of the variety of habitats and the extensive trail system, this is one of the most rewarding birding sites in this area. The site includes a heron rookery, and the wetlands are home to river otters. 

If the weather cooperates, there will be a bird-banding station set up here on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  ebird.org/hotspot/L109055

Trip offerings:

• Saturday 7:00am-10:30am

• Sunday 7:00am-11:30am (convenient for departing South)

Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR)

 (1 hour north of Ithaca, driving and level walking; trips that include the dike walk may include a short steep hill and unmowed path, restrooms available at the Visitor Center)

Montezuma is the premier birding site in Central New York, with the MNWR encompassing 10,000-acres of managed wetlands, plus other parcels of NYSDEC and other natural lands making up the greater Montezuma Wetland Complex. The pools and marshes provide excellent habitat for waterfowl and for migratory shorebirds. Bald Eagles and Ospreys nest here in large numbers, and Sandhill Cranes have been increasing in number in recent years. Participants in the annual Montezuma Muckrace, held in September each year, have collectively found up to 180 species in a 24-hour period.

For NYSOA 2025, we have been granted permission to access the dike around Knox-Marsellus and Puddler's Marsh, where we hope shorebird migration habitat will be good in September. The dike walk may involve walking a short steep hill and some uneven ground; there will be concurrent field trips to other parts of the refuge with easier walking. ebird.org/region/USFWS_268

Trip offerings: Sunday, 8:00am-11:30am (convenient for departing North)

Myers Park and Salt Point Natural Area

(20 minutes north from downtown, easy level paths and trails, restroom available)

Myers Point, which is within the town of Lansing's Myers Park, is one of the premier birding local spots because of its location on Cayuga Lake. A small gravel spit from Salmon Creek attracts a wide variety of shorebirds to drop in for a break during migration, and waterfowl can be seen in all seasons. The Cayuga Bird Club has a Motus tower at this site, which has detected 32 birds (23 different species) since its installation in 2019. (Find out more at Cayuga Bird Club's Motus page.) ebird.org/hotspot/L99615

Salt Point Natural Area, just across Salmon Creek from Myers Park, is a great place to watch nesting Ospreys, and includes level trails through a small woodlot and good viewing up the lake. ebird.org/hotspot/L353038

Trip offerings:

• Friday 2:00pm-4:00pm

• Saturday 7:00am-10:30am

Roy H. Park Preserve

(17 minutes east from downtown, mostly flat trails)

Nestled between Hammond Hill and Yellow Barn State Forests, the preserve is owned and maintained by the Finger Lakes Land Trust and is one of the a part of the “emerald necklace”— a ring of preserved lands surrounding Ithaca. The field trip will be via the South entrance of the preserve; this section is composed of a conifer plantation, several small meadows, mixed hardwoods forest and a hemlock-lined gorge above Six-mile Creek.

This is an excellent spot for raptors, kinglets, thrushes, and a nice sampling of warbler species. ebird.org/hotspot/L305381

Trip offering: Sunday 7:30am-11:00am (convenient for departing East)

Sims-Jennings Preserve at Cayuga Cliffs

(19 minutes north of downtown, some hilly trails)

This new Finger Lakes Land Trust Preserve features large meadows that are managed for nesting Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows and other grassland species, as well as over 4000 feet of wooded bluffs above the lake. Thrushes, Cuckoos, Ovenbirds and Louisiana Waterthrushes occupy the wooded area above the steep slope.  The preserve provides outstanding stopover habitat for myriad migrating songbird species. Because this area is only recently open to the public, birders are still finding out what this preserve has to offer! ebird.org/hotspot/L31803072

Trip offering: Saturday 7:00am-10:30am

Stewart Park

(8 minutes north from downtown, easy level paths and trails)

Located at the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Stewart Park is an Ithaca landmark and a popular community gathering place.  The adjoining Renwick Wildwood is a floodplain forest established as a bird sanctuary in 1914 through efforts by the nascent Cayuga Bird Club against growing pressure for development. At the end of the park is the Louis Agassiz Fuertes Bird Sanctuary, established in memory of the club's first president and renowned bird artist who died tragically in a car accident in 1927.

Stewart Park is the highest ranked local birding hotspot and features wide views of the lake and shoreline, a paved waterfront trail, creek, and a small pond. Fall brings overwintering ducks and grebes, plus migrating shorebirds, gulls, terns, and woodland migrants. You never know what you might find here! ebird.org/hotspot/L99381

Trip offerings:

• Friday 2:00pm-4:00pm

• Saturday 7:00am-10:30am (trip may visit other sites)