Went to KM and Puddler's Marsh Montezuma today given the recent influx of shorebirds as reported by others.
Started on Towpath road with the idea of getting some passerines, waders, waterfowl and maybe a few shorebirds. It was late morning so the lighting was great. There was a grater grating Towpath! road!! Its still bad but its getting better. Very muddy in spots. Highlights were large number of BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERONS. I counted more than 30 in the air with many more in the trees by Puddler's. There were also 2 EASTERN WOOD-PEWEES down low by the road calling and singing which was neat along with other passerines. Then I went to East Road and it was during the eclipse time. At first, the shimmer was bad and it was brutally hot but as the eclipse progressed it got cooler and the shimmer went away making for excellent viewing from East Road to the NE part of KM Marsh. Both phalarope species were easily found. The RED-NECKED PHALAROPE was swimming in the water with two and then eventually 3 WILSON'S PHALAROPES running around likely crazy. Their light plumage and behavior made it easy to find them. Additionally, there were nice numbers of STILT SANDPIPERS, lots of dowitchers. I saw SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS for sure, but there were many more that were too distant for me to call. I was impressed by the number of PECTORAL SANDPIPERS and in the drier areas LEAST SANDPIPERS. I didn't see as many SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS as I expected. There were also many KILLDEER, several SEMIPALAMATED PLOVERS and 2 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS. The habitat is starting to look very good for baird's and buff-breasted sandpipers as there is a lot of drier areas. Hopefully these birds will show up soon. My ebird list can be found here with some poor photos... http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38751626 Good birding to all Dave Nicosia -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
