I headed up to Montezuma early this morning with a crew of Golondrinas technicians (Justin Proctor, Maria Stager, Emilie Ospina, and Eric Lopresti). We got to Towpath Road while the marshes were still enveloped in the morning fog, so we birded the road for migrants for a while. We had one NASHVILLE, BLACKPOLLs, Palm, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, one LINCOLN'S SPARROW, many White-throated Sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
After the fog lifted, there was good shorebirding on the north end of Puddler's: Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) 3 Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) 8 Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) 5 AMERICAN AVOCET (Recurvirostra americana) 1 Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) 1 Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) 2 Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) 10 Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) 45 Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) 15 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER (Calidris fuscicollis) 45 Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) 3 DUNLIN (Calidris alpina) 3 The shorebirds were repeatedly flushed by a Peregrine and two Harriers. We were surprised when we realized one of the balls of shorebirds flying around was almost entirely White-rumps - we counted about 45 total in the flats, I think the most I've ever seen at once. The Avocet was still present. No sign of any Godwits. There was one female Common Merganser. Overhead and in the Knox-Marcellus half of the marshes were many thousands of ducks and geese. Hundreds of Snow Geese were flying around in large flocks, I think most of them originating in K-M and flying away. We estimated several thousand dabbling ducks were put up in great flocks by the raptors, but they were too far for us to estimate composition. On East Road, the highlight for the Golondrinas crew was of course the approximately 2000 Tree Swallows on the wires, overhead, over the fields, swarming the nest boxs and sign posts, and for some reason mobbing an immature PURPLE MARTIN. I didn't pick out any other swallow species. It is certainly pretty late for a Martin, but I got a great look as it passed over the car with Tree Swallows in pursuit. We also checked Mays Point and the Headquarters on the way back, but didn't see anything new. Best bird at May's was probably 2 White-rumped Sandpipers flying away. Good Birding, Nick -- 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/ --
