This morning I attempted to do a better survey of the shorebirds at Tschache Pool than I had been able to the last few times I had been up. Unfortunately, diversity was down from Monday, but there were still good numbers of peeps, with the concentration being in the southeast part of the pool (to the right, looking from the tower). I got refuge sanction and checked around the back side of Tschache too, and although I did have a few birds around the corner, the majority of the birds were within sight of the public areas. Here are my numbers: Killdeer - 30, mostly among the stumps on the west side and in the back Semipalmated Plover - 78 Spotted Sandpiper - 1 Black-bellied Plover - 6 (4 in front and 2 in back) including a transitional bird that may have been the one Bob mentioned. Ruddy Turnstone - none seen, but I heard two flying by when I was in the back Semipalmated Sandpiper - 625 Least Sandpiper - 1 heard, amazingly none seen in the huge Semi flocks Dunlin - 27, many fewer than last week White-rumped Sandpiper - 7, fairly close to the tower
Tschache Pool is positively infested with Bald Eagles. I counted 40 birds, mostly sitting out on stumps on the flats, but many along the dikes in the trees too. I saw only one full adult bird, the rest were subadults. Other birds around the pool included over a hundred Great Blue Herons, the usual assortment of riparian woodland species (Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, Cerulean Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Great Crested Flycatcher), a few deeper woodland species (Wood Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo), and the most interesting bird, a singing PROTHONOTARY WARBLER just around the corner on the dike (just out of sight from the tower, not publicly accessible). I stopped by Armitage a little later and had both Prothonotaries singing there as well. No Acadians, though. I saw a decent flock of peeps at Knox-Marcellus Marsh too, which now has enough open mud to support shorebirds. Lighting and distance made good identification impossible, but I believe most of them were Semipalmated, perhaps another 300, with a handful of Dunlin mixed in. A SANDHILL CRANE was foraging out in the open water, and four GREAT EGRETS were along the Towpath Road side. Cheers. Jay -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology [email protected] -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
