I didn't come up with much on the Wildlife Drive other than Merlin and Peregrine. There were a decent number of Semi-p Sandpiper at Benning, renewing hope for a Western. At dusk, Knox-Marsellus had 82 Great Egrets, one with an orange wing tag, and 325 Great Blue Herons amidst the other birds people have been reporting.
I'm also including an eBird checklist from August 27th for K-M which featured a flyby Whimbrel (it was circling in the K-M airspace for a few minutes but never seen on the ground). Apologies for forgetting to post. Dave W. tigge...@aol.com Montezuma NWR Knox-Marsellus Marsh, Seneca, US-NY Sep 6, 2012 5:00 PM - 7:30 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Hot and humid with a light breeze; hoping for something new but seemingly the same basic cast of characters; not a careful survey of the shorebirds but a scan for something new; listened to Sonic Youth while driving to/from MNWR 45 species Canada Goose 20 Trumpeter Swan 1 Wood Duck X American Wigeon X American Black Duck X Mallard X Blue-winged Teal X Northern Shoveler X Green-winged Teal X Double-crested Cormorant 1 Great Blue Heron 325 counted twice, +/- 10 birds Great Egret 82 counted twice, +/-3 birds; one bird had orange wing tag Osprey 1 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 2 Sandhill Crane 2 Black-bellied Plover X American Golden-Plover 1 Semipalmated Plover X Killdeer X Greater Yellowlegs X Lesser Yellowlegs X Semipalmated Sandpiper X Least Sandpiper X Pectoral Sandpiper X Stilt Sandpiper X Short-billed Dowitcher X Wilson's Phalarope 1 Red-necked Phalarope 1 Ring-billed Gull X Herring Gull 1 Great Black-backed Gull 1 Caspian Tern 3 American Crow 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow X Purple Martin X Tree Swallow X Bank Swallow X Barn Swallow X Gray Catbird 1 Common Yellowthroat 2 Song Sparrow 2 Bobolink 1 Red-winged Blackbird X American Goldfinch X Montezuma NWR Knox-Marsellus Marsh, Seneca, US-NY Aug 27, 2012 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Protocol: Traveling 0.25 mile(s) Comments: With Jim Tarolli; light rain; observing from both Towpath Rd in rain and East Rd (no rain) 32 species (+1 other taxa) Canada Goose 20 Trumpeter Swan 3 Wood Duck X Mallard X Green-winged Teal X Ring-necked Duck 1 Possibly an eclipse-plumaged male but I don't remember Double-crested Cormorant X Great Blue Heron X Great Egret X Black-crowned Night-Heron 4 Osprey 2 Northern Harrier 1 Bald Eagle 1 Common Gallinule 2 Sandhill Crane 2 Black-bellied Plover 3 Semipalmated Plover X Killdeer X Greater Yellowlegs 3 Lesser Yellowlegs X Whimbrel 1 Spiraled over K-M marsh for about 5 mins (stayed on it the entire time in the scope); eventually joined up with ~15 other (smaller but medium-sized) shorebirds and flew to the south; a long-awaited first Whimbrel for me at MNWR; possibly put down to the mudflats by rain but I never saw it on the ground Sanderling 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper X Least Sandpiper X White-rumped Sandpiper X Pectoral Sandpiper X Stilt Sandpiper X Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher X Wilson's Phalarope 1 Ring-billed Gull X Herring Gull X Caspian Tern X Black Tern 2 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
