Here are a couple shots of the godwit today: https://picasaweb.google.com/jmcgowan57/Spring2011#5598972578227976082 https://picasaweb.google.com/jmcgowan57/Spring2011#5598972831371726226 https://picasaweb.google.com/jmcgowan57/Spring2011#5598972956164524866 https://picasaweb.google.com/jmcgowan57/Spring2011#5598973022458336178
Andrew Van Norstrand and I had a few more interesting birds during the day. At Aurora we had a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL on the spit at the mouth of the creek and a Western PALM WARBLER with Yellow-rumped Warblers in the cedars on the bluffs. As Gary mentioned, Carncross Road had a lot of shorebirds, but unfortunately most of them were not visible until flushed. In flight we had approximately 250 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 100 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 30 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, 50 DUNLIN, and a mostly basic plumaged AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER (seen briefly in flight, but confirmed with my photos.) Jay McGowan Ithaca, NY On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 10:31 PM, Ann Mitchell <[email protected]>wrote: > I think I was so surprised to see the bird to begin with, I assumed it was > an Hudsonian Godwit. The bird was back lit and hard to see. When we drove > next to it, we could easily see that it was very clearly a Marbled Godwit. > Good Birding, Ann > > On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 9:41 PM, J. Gary Kohlenberg <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> On Apr 23, 2011, at 2:25 PM, Jay McGowan wrote: >> >> Ann and Gary just found a MARBLED GODWIT at Montezuma that we are now >> looking at. It is along the wildlife drive at the new shorebird flats just >> before the turn for Benning (visible from the photo blind pulloff.) >> >> Lucky for us Jay and Andrew VanNorstrand were close by when we texted >> initially of a Hudsonian Godwit at the new shorebird flats in Montezuma. >> Ann first spotted what we determined was a Godwit, but not being a >> breeding/nonbreeding male or juvenile I thought it might be a breeding >> female. It didn't seem quite right, not as buffy colored as I would have >> thought, some barring on the tertials, dark eyeline and white supercilium >> giving the face a contrasty look, but Marbled seemed less likely. When Jay >> and Andrew pulled in they immediately confirmed we were looking at a Marbled >> Godwit. >> >> Only the second Marbled for me and a lifer for Jennifer Rothe, who we had >> flagged down as she drove past on the wildlife drive. Jen is from Wisconsin >> and was on her way to Saratoga. When we drove farther up to get photos the >> light was much better and I could immediately see the overall buffy color, >> heavy barring on scapulars and tertials extending onto the breast and sides, >> dark legs, bicolored base of bill yellow to black at tip, the crown was >> darker and finely streaked. The eyebrow is more white than ground color as >> Sibley's shows though. >> >> A beautiful bird and very close to the road about 3/4 of the way from >> photo blind to corner. I hope it stays the night for others to see. Maybe >> Jay will post some pictures. I digiscoped, but not having a hosting site yet >> I can't post a link to them. >> >> There really are many shorebirds, mostly Yellowlegs but Jay and Andrew saw >> Dunlin too, in Northern Montezuma's corn stubble. They were hard to see >> until a Peregrine Falcon over Carncross Rd. put them all in the air. Then we >> could see many hundreds. They will probably reconstitute there because >> everywhere else is flooded. >> >> Gary >> >> > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
