Went to K-M marsh this morning on Towpath Road (its really bad by the way). I got there around 830 am and parked close to the dike and almost immediately I got on the 2 HUDSONIAN GODWITS found by Dave Wheeler the night before. I was soon joined by fellow birders Bob McGuire and Dave Nutter and eventually Gary Kohlenberg. As Bob stated from a couple days ago, the shorebird habitat here is growing with plenty of mudflats now and many many shorebirds.
Besides the HUDSONIAN GODWITS, we found 2 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS and got great looks. These birds were so much buffier and sleaker with a more "tapered" look and the primary projection just past the tail. They also had scaly scapulars. We also found at least 2 WHITE-RUMPED SANPIPERS. In addition, there was one BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER in worn adult plumage and many SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS and several KILLDEER. Peeps were abundant with most of them being SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS. There were also a fair amount of LEAST SANDPIPERS and several PECTORAL SANDPIPERS here and there. Bob also found a SANDERLING of which I think each of us refound at one point. There could be two of them but we were not sure if it was the same bird. There were also many LESSER YELLOWLEGS and much fewer GREATER YELLOWLEGS. We also had about a dozen or so DOWITCHER sp. They were too distant for us to make a call on species. Some other birds seen here were CASPIAN TERNS, RING-BILLED GULLS, a couple HERRING GULLS, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, HOODED MERGANSERS, 1 AMERICAN WIGEON, 3 PINTAIL,5 NORTHERN SHOVELORS and MALLARDS. Waders were the typical numerous GREAT-BLUE HERONS and many GREAT EGRETS. The Montezuma Audubon Center has a quite a bit of shorebirds much closer than what was seen at K-M marsh. There were many dowitchers. There was at least 1 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER and around 35 or so SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. In addition, there was one STILT SANDPIPER.The peeps were both SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS and LEAST SANDPIPERS. There were also KILLDEER and several SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. It was great day of shorebirds and I thank Dave, Bob and Gary for making the day even more fun and enjoyable. Dave -- 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/ --
