Ann Mitchell and I spent the morning at the refuge and beyond,
watching a surprising variety of shorebirds and other birds of interest.
A brief stop at Myers at 7:30 yielded 5 Killdeer (no other
shorebirds), 1 Black-backed, 6 Herring, numerous Ring-billed Gulls,
and two each of Green-winged Teal and Hooded Mergansers.
May's Point Pool still has lots of exposed mud, and we were able to
find 3 Dunlin (one with still some flecks of black on the belly), 7
Pectoral Sandpipers, 6 Least Sandpipers, both yellowlegs, and a single
Black-bellied Plover. The number of Great Egrets was down to 5, and
there were two juvenile Black-crowned Night-Herons across the water
from the parking area.
As we drove out Towpath Road, there was a flock of some 150 Snow Geese
(approx 10 blue morphs) on the water along with Cormorants and a few
Canadas. Several yellowlegs flew into and disappeared in the reeds.
And a Black-bellied Plover called several times as well.
At Puddler's Marsh we ran into Brad Carlson who had the three
Hudsonian Godwits in his scope. They were feeding, almost dowitcher-
like, in the deeper water to the north. Also present were the
Sanderling, Avocet, at least five Black-bellied Plovers, three
Semipalmated Plovers, one Caspian Tern, several Least Sandpipers, a
couple of yellowlegs and one Pipit. Brad mentioned that a Harrier had
recently come though and put up a group of American Pipits and White-
rumped Sandpipers. We also spoke there with Louis (Lewis?) Grove and
another woman from Syracuse who had been there an hour earlier - and
had found no godwits. Obviously, then, those birds move around, and
anyone searching for them in the next few days should keep checking
back if they are not found immediately.
As we were leaving Puddler's several thousand Canada Geese piled in to
Knox-Marcellus. No Cackling that we could find.
We then stopped at Marten's Tract and Carncross Road to walk around
and search for Nelson's Sparrow. No luck there, but we did find at
least 6 Swamp Sparrows and a fly-over Cooper's Hawk.
Bob McGuire
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