On 12 October Barb Borelli found and photographed a Limpkin along the Chemung River in Elmira and reported it to eBird. This morning (22 October) Martin Cain refound & photographed it, also along the edge of the river. This afternoon Ann Mitchell & I went to look for it, and we were close by, as were Adam Farid & Mike Gullo, when Jeremy Collison discovered the Limpkin a hundred yards from the river standing and resting in the dead-leaf-strewn floodplain forest immediately southeast of Pirozzolo Park in an area which seemed to be associated with a culvert below the corner of the levee. The bird was standing almost under the Japanese Knotweed which covered the embankment above. We were surprised when it walked toward us, coming within a few yards behind a narrow screen of knotweed, then it turned and strolled toward the river, sometimes out in the open, and rested again at the top of the riverbank for several minutes, remaining there when we left at 4pm. During the 40 minutes we watched it, it was silent and neither flew nor fed but seemed relaxed & healthy. Later observers saw it catching worms in the leaf litter. If you seek this bird, don’t just look at the edge of the river, look in the woods, too. Pirozzolo Park is near the West Elmira fire station on Water Street. This is the second NYS record for this species. The first record was just last autumn along the Niagara River. That bird was captured just before the deadly blizzard hit Buffalo, and I believe it was released in South Carolina.
- - Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
