Sharpen your skills on wintering hawks and Short-eared Owls.  Other wintering birds such as Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, and Lapland Longspurs are often present.  This trip is a combination of driving and viewing at stops along roads. Length about .5 mile walking along the road.

Restroom facilities are not available except at Tops. Bring binoculars.

Meet at 2:00 p.m. at the Tops Plaza in Avon on Routes 5 and 20, 2 miles west of I-390.  If COVID guidelines allow, carpooling strongly advised.  Dress warmly and in layers. Spotting scopes and FRS radios would be very useful.

Note: This is a field trip for beginners. New birders should feel free to join these trips regardless of experience level: bring binoculars if you have them. The pace & focus of Beginner Trips may not be satisfying for experienced birders. Our Beginner Trips focus on teaching identification skills, learning new habitats, and answering questions. Experienced birders are welcome but may be pressed into service as educators!

RBA Guidelines for Field Trips

In order to protect the health of our birders and the wider community, and in order to ensure compliance with any NYS COVID-19 mandates that might be in effect, the following pol27icies and guidelines will govern our field trips for the foreseeable future. By registering for a field trip, you acknowledge that you have read and will abide by these policies.

Registration:

• Advance registration through Eventbrite will continue for all field trips.
• Registration opens at 7:30 p.m. seven days before the trip date.
• Generally, capacity limits have been greatly expanded, but will be determined on a trip-by-trip basis with input from leaders (or if there are NYS mandates).
• If you are not be able to attend, we encourage you to cancel your reservation before 1:00 p.m. the day before the trip to make room for others. (Canceling is done through the your Eventbrite confirmation email.)

Health Screening Considerations:

• Full contact information is required at registration, in case contact tracing is requested.
• No one who has any COVID-19 symptoms (or Flu or cold, for that matter!) should attend. 
Symptoms: cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, runny nose, fever of 100.4 F or greater without fever-reducing medications, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or loss of taste or smell.
• No one who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 10 days or who has been instructed to self-isolate or quarantine should attend. 
[The current (August 2022) CDC protocol, for COVID-19 is a minimum of 5 days isolation ended only if there is no fever, without medication, on day 6 or after 24 more hours without a fever. After that, one is to wear a mask for another 5 days when outside the home.]
• No one unwilling to wear a mask who has been in close contact (within 6 feet) with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or who has had symptoms of COVID-19 within the past 10 days, should attend.
• Participants who test positive for the coronavirus within 14 days after attending a field trip are encouraged to contact the RBA at info@rochesterbirding.org.

Safety Best Practices:

If participants have met the above requirements:

• Mask wearing is optional.
• Scope use/sharing is allowed.
• You are encouraged to keep hand sanitizer with you.

Waive and Release from Liability: By registering for this field trip you acknowledge that you assume all risks and hazards incidental to the activities of the event, including potential exposure to the novel coronavirus. You further release, absolve, hold harmless, defend and indemnify the Rochester Birding Association, Inc. and all individually named organizers, leaders, and participants of the event. In case of injury, you hereby waive all claims against all organizers, leaders, and participants.

Photo/Video Waiver: If you do not consent to have your image used by the RBA in the manner next described, check the appropriate box on the registration form. Otherwise, by registering for this field trip you hereby grant permission to the Rochester Birding Association to take and publish photos or videos of you in connection with the event listed above, with or without your name and for any lawful purpose including for example such purposes as publicity, illustration, advertising, and web content.