Birds of the Genesee
100 Years of History - Species Profiles
compiled by Bob Marcotte
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"This region consists of the counties of Monroe, Wayne and Livingston; the eastern halves of Orleans and Genesee and part of Wyoming; and the western portions of Ontario County.” The Federation of New York State Bird Clubs 1954 description of Region 2 in the Kingbird, the quarterly publication of that organization.
In 2020, I became aware of this compilation of species profiles by Robert (Bob) Marcotte thanks to Bob Spahn who shared the materials with me. Bob Spahn had been given permission to use and disseminate to interested birders by Bob Marcotte in 2008. This project took Bob M. many years to compile using records from many publications dating from the early 1900s through part of 2007. By 2008, eBird had become a primary source for records. Before eBird, sightings were listed in monthly publications such as the Little Gull (Rochester Birding Association), the Goshawk (Genesee Ornithological Society - no longer existing), and the Kingbird (NYSOA.) All had review committees of some kind. There are also collections such as Eaton’s Birds of New York (1910), Bull’s Birds of New York State (1974) and Birds of Monroe County (1985). Many well known local names like William Edson, Howard Miller, Walt Listman, Richard Horsey, Laura Moon, John Brown and Allan Klonick contributed to these publications.
Bob’s work collects the information from all of these sources and puts it in one place. He had intended to create a second book (following his “Birds of the Genesee” 2005) but it never reached publication stage. It is a remarkable collection of data for each species that adds to the rich history of birds in our area by providing a detailed history of each species including anecdotes, local history, status and occurrence.
It is very important that one read Bob’s Introduction to this work to understand his methods and the caveats to a project of this size. The user should keep in mind that proof reading and follow-up on some questionable data was not completed.
With his blessing, I share this work with you as he presented, with some formatting for better website navigation.
Kim Hartquist, editor (2025)
In 2020, I became aware of this compilation of species profiles by Robert (Bob) Marcotte thanks to Bob Spahn who shared the materials with me. Bob Spahn had been given permission to use and disseminate to interested birders by Bob Marcotte in 2008. This project took Bob M. many years to compile using records from many publications dating from the early 1900s through part of 2007. By 2008, eBird had become a primary source for records. Before eBird, sightings were listed in monthly publications such as the Little Gull (Rochester Birding Association), the Goshawk (Genesee Ornithological Society - no longer existing), and the Kingbird (NYSOA.) All had review committees of some kind. There are also collections such as Eaton’s Birds of New York (1910), Bull’s Birds of New York State (1974) and Birds of Monroe County (1985). Many well known local names like William Edson, Howard Miller, Walt Listman, Richard Horsey, Laura Moon, John Brown and Allan Klonick contributed to these publications.
Bob’s work collects the information from all of these sources and puts it in one place. He had intended to create a second book (following his “Birds of the Genesee” 2005) but it never reached publication stage. It is a remarkable collection of data for each species that adds to the rich history of birds in our area by providing a detailed history of each species including anecdotes, local history, status and occurrence.
It is very important that one read Bob’s Introduction to this work to understand his methods and the caveats to a project of this size. The user should keep in mind that proof reading and follow-up on some questionable data was not completed.
With his blessing, I share this work with you as he presented, with some formatting for better website navigation.
Kim Hartquist, editor (2025)
Anecdote Excerpts
Northern Cardinal (1928)Clarence Barg was 15, an eager young birder, when his buddy Earl Phillips rode up to Barg’s Cedarwood Terrace home one morning to report a rare sighting at Highland Park. The two boys rode their bikes back to the park, and there it was: a male Northern Cardinal, its red plumage “a stunning contrast to the light coating of snow in the park that morning.” It was 21 April 1928. “That was a thrill,” Barg recalled in an interview 70 years later. It was the first Northern Cardinal he had ever seen, despite two years of diligently observing birds in Rochester. It was another eleven years before he saw another.
Tricolored Heron (1950)Walt Listman was on the east spit of Braddock Bay, the afternoon of 31 May 1950, when a heron flew “almost directly over his head and then landed in a dead willow facing him,” according to Beardslee and Mitchell (B&M: 99). When overhead the light wing linings and darker flight feathers were quite noticeable; as it perched in the tree, Listman could see a dark-streaked brown throat, “ending abruptly at the white belly. . . .“While Listman had never seen this species in life, later observations of it in Florida strengthened his conviction as to the identity of the Braddock’s Bay heron.” It was the first reliable record of Tricolored (then called Louisiana) Heron in upstate New York (Bull, p. 81).
Sage Thrasher (1942)On 12 April 1942, Charles Evans, Joseph Taylor and Gordon Meade were driving along East Manitou Road about a quarter mile south of Braddock’s Bay when “we chanced to note an unfamiliar bird feeding in dried portions of a flooded stubble field,” Meade wrote. (Auk 60:104) It turned out to be “possibly the most unusual record which we have for western New York,” Beardslee and Mitchell wrote in 1965. “The actions of this bird were similar to those of a Brown Thrasher, but its general color was gray,” Meade noted. The group spent a half hour observing it with binoculars and a scope before finally collecting it. It was a “perfectly healthy” female Sage Thrasher. It was the first state record of this “distinctly western” species (B&M, p. 338; Bull, p. 423), and the only one ever recorded in our region.
Silver Gull (1947)When the bird was shot, it flopped over into the lake. Allan Klonick promptly stripped down, dove in and retrieved it. It was a remarkable display of dedication, to say the least. And with every retelling in birding circles, the incident became further embellished in ways that Klonick was quick to dispel in an interview shortly before he died. No, he did not hold the bird between his teeth like a retriever! And, no, he did not have to dodge ice flows. Not in August! However, he conceded, he was not the best swimmer, so there was an element of risk involved.
Northern Cardinal (1928)Clarence Barg was 15, an eager young birder, when his buddy Earl Phillips rode up to Barg’s Cedarwood Terrace home one morning to report a rare sighting at Highland Park. The two boys rode their bikes back to the park, and there it was: a male Northern Cardinal, its red plumage “a stunning contrast to the light coating of snow in the park that morning.” It was 21 April 1928. “That was a thrill,” Barg recalled in an interview 70 years later. It was the first Northern Cardinal he had ever seen, despite two years of diligently observing birds in Rochester. It was another eleven years before he saw another.
Tricolored Heron (1950)Walt Listman was on the east spit of Braddock Bay, the afternoon of 31 May 1950, when a heron flew “almost directly over his head and then landed in a dead willow facing him,” according to Beardslee and Mitchell (B&M: 99). When overhead the light wing linings and darker flight feathers were quite noticeable; as it perched in the tree, Listman could see a dark-streaked brown throat, “ending abruptly at the white belly. . . .“While Listman had never seen this species in life, later observations of it in Florida strengthened his conviction as to the identity of the Braddock’s Bay heron.” It was the first reliable record of Tricolored (then called Louisiana) Heron in upstate New York (Bull, p. 81).
Sage Thrasher (1942)On 12 April 1942, Charles Evans, Joseph Taylor and Gordon Meade were driving along East Manitou Road about a quarter mile south of Braddock’s Bay when “we chanced to note an unfamiliar bird feeding in dried portions of a flooded stubble field,” Meade wrote. (Auk 60:104) It turned out to be “possibly the most unusual record which we have for western New York,” Beardslee and Mitchell wrote in 1965. “The actions of this bird were similar to those of a Brown Thrasher, but its general color was gray,” Meade noted. The group spent a half hour observing it with binoculars and a scope before finally collecting it. It was a “perfectly healthy” female Sage Thrasher. It was the first state record of this “distinctly western” species (B&M, p. 338; Bull, p. 423), and the only one ever recorded in our region.
Silver Gull (1947)When the bird was shot, it flopped over into the lake. Allan Klonick promptly stripped down, dove in and retrieved it. It was a remarkable display of dedication, to say the least. And with every retelling in birding circles, the incident became further embellished in ways that Klonick was quick to dispel in an interview shortly before he died. No, he did not hold the bird between his teeth like a retriever! And, no, he did not have to dodge ice flows. Not in August! However, he conceded, he was not the best swimmer, so there was an element of risk involved.
Contents
Abbreviations, Publications & Notable Names
Ducks, Geese, and Swans (Anatidae)
New World Quail (Odontophoidae)
Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys, and Old World Quail (Phasianidae)
Cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae)
Bitterns, Herons, and Allies (Ardeidae)
Ibisis and Spoonbills (Threskiornithidae)
New World Vultures (Cathartidae)
Hawks, Kites, Eagles and Allies (Accipitridae)
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