Judy Thoroughman, John, Confer, and I drove up the lake Sunday,
leaving Ithaca a little after 11 am. Our first stop was to view the
breakwater at the marina in Union Springs (best seen from Rt 90,
looking out between houses). Hoping for terns, we did find one
juvenile Caspian along with numerous Ring-billed Gulls, 6 Herring
Gulls, and a young Great Black-backed Gull.
The next stop was Mud Lock. 3 OSPREYs and a single BALD EAGLE were
perched on various snags along with a single BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD. A
GREEN HERON occupied a low snag directly across from the parking lot,
just downstream from a female GREATER SCAUP (the injured male scaup
was not seen). In addition, we had 8 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS and at
least 4 PIED-BILLED GREBES.
The shallow pond at the visitor's center held some 40 CASPIAN TERNS, a
few CANADA GEESE, numerous MALLARDS, at least one BLACK DUCK, a couple
of GREEN WING TEAL, and 19 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. I see that Tim
Lenz reported 17 Long-billed Dowitchers there on Saturday. Judy, John,
and I spent nearly an hour peering at those birds and discussing the
ID. There was nothing about the birds that said "long-billed" to me.
First of all, they all appeared to be moulting adults. Several times a
bird would stretch out a wing: no missing flight feathers. None of the
birds appeared to have a significant humped back nor did they look any
more like they had swallowed a grapefruit than any of the other
dowtichers I've seen this summer. The bars on the tails (alternately
black and white) all appeared to be the same width (so not a
particularly "darker" tail, which would say "long-billed"). Those were
the main features we were looking at. I'll have to speak with Tim to
see why he feels his birds were Long-billed Dowitchers.
LaRue's lagoon is newly-filled with water, but the only shorebirds
were 3 KILLDEER. The "new shorebird area" along the drive was dry. No
shorebirds. Not even a sparrow.
Bennings Marsh had a lot of water. Only 2 Lesser Yellowlegs but a
large group of some 65 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS and a carefully hidden
SNIPE. While we were there a flock of some 200 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 30
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, and 2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS flew in.
Tschache Pool had an even smaller diversity of birds than last
weekend: no Great Egrets, few GB Herons and Cormorants. We did pick
out a single RUDDY DUCK (male, breeding plumage) and a cooperative
AMERICAN BITTERN (foraging close-in). In addition, there were numerous
Pied-billed Grebes (adults and young), COOTS, and COMMON GALLINULES.
The pond at Marten's Tract was almost entirely covered with duckweed.
Nevertheless, it held a couple of WOOD DUCKS, 6 GREEN-WINGED TEAL and
several shorebirds: 5 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 2 SEMISANDPIPERS, and a single
PECTORAL SANDPIPER. Two ESTERN KINGBIRDS were still present atop
cattails at the back of the pond.
The right-hand impoundment at Railroad Road has dried up considerably
but was still deep enough for the family of 3 TRUMPETER SWANS, several
dozen WOOD DUCKS, 4 BLUE-WINGED TEAL and 8 GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 5
WILSON'S SNIPE were hiding in plain view. The "swallow tree" at the
back edge held a flock of Starlings.
We saved Knox-Marsellus for last, waiting for more favorable lighting.
The marsh continues to dry up with most of the shorebirds moving
farther and farther away to the east (closer to the dike but not much
closer to Towpath Road). Gary Kohlenberg joined us, and we spent about
an hour squinting at the distant specks. No Buff-breasted Sandpiper,
no Curlew Sandpiper, no phalaropes. There were hundreds of yellowlegs,
Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, a good number of Semipalmated
Plovers and Pectoral Sandpipers. Also several hundred Great Blue
Herons and a dozen Great Egrets. There were no Peregrines, but a
couple of Harriers stirred the birds up from time to time. And most
notably, a crop dusting airplane flew low over the area several times,
putting up all the birds with each pass. I find it ironic that the
dike is off limits to visitors for fear that we might disturb the
birds!!
Highlights were: 4 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS, 4 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS, 1
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, 2 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, and 4 SANDHILL CRANES.
Bob McGuire
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