A trip along the wildlife drive at Montezuma just after 7 PM tMonday yielded some nice views at Eaton Marsh of a pair of Trumpeter Swans preening in the gorgeous evening light, while a rather mottled-looking American Golden-Plover picked along a ridge of mud behind them. Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were behaving in typical fall fashion, chasing and calling and being very vocal, while Short-billed and, I think, Long-billed Dowitchers continued to plumb the depths. An American Bittern briefly hopped up into view, then settled down to stalk the far bank. I was unable to relocate the Wilson's Snipe I had seen scuttling along near the road edge earlier, but was treated to the sight of 22 Great Egrets (no leg bands) tucked in a corner of Benning Marsh farther along the drive. As I scanned the cattail edges hoping for a Sora (no luck) parts of the Egret flock took off, in turn, to head to Eaton or to the middle of the drive out of view. Bobolinks chwinked, Marsh wrens burbled, and Swamp Sparrows worked the treadle on their eternal sewing-machine sound as the light dimmed. If you can see my posts on Facebook you'll see my pictures of the swans in the setting sun - such a breathtaking sight, poorly captured but still a joy to me!
-kimberly -ks...@eznet.net -- 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/ --
