Susan Danskin, Gary Kohlenberg, Ann Mitchell, Dave Nutter, and I ran the 2014
Muckrace as the Arrogant Bustards, sponsored by the Cayuga Bird Club. Here is
our (long) report.
The 18th annual Montezuma Muckrace came to a close at 7 pm on Saturday. The
Muckrace is a fundraiser for bird and habitat conservation in the Montezuma
Wetlands Complex that, over the years, has brought in more than $100,000.
This year some 100 individuals in 30+ teams competed to see how many species of
birds could be found in a 24 hour period, 7 pm Friday to 7 pm Saturday. The
winner was a team from Rochester with 121 species. Our team, the Arrogant
Bustards, sponsored by the Cayuga Bird Club, took a somewhat relaxed approach
to the whole thing, getting a good night's sleep Friday night and beginning
around first light on Saturday morning. From past experience we knew that
staying up all night to listen for owls and overhead migrants was more
exhausting than productive and would leave us far too grumpy to have any fun.
After 12 hours of recreational birding, in spite of the cold early on, a
lengthy late morning shower, and high winds in the afternoon, we still managed
to see or hear 99 species. Our target had been 100. And that hundredth bird
flew past the window of the Audubon Center just after we had submitted out
totals at 7:05 pm!
We began at the very north end of Cayuga Lake, our first bird being House
Sparrow (often a difficult bird to find!) as we crossed into Muckrace territory
in the Village of Cayuga. An Osprey called from its nest on a nearby tower,
Ring-billed and Herring Gulls flew by, and multiple Pied-billed Grebes dove in
the distance. An adult bald Eagle perched in a dead tree was replaced minutes
later by a merlin. Finally, we picked out a singing Carolina Wren before moving
on the the Refuge itself. From the tower overlooking the Main Pool we scoped
most of our ducks for the day: Mallard, Black Duck, American Wigeon, Northern
Shoveler, Northern PIntail, both Teals as well as a distant family of Trumpeter
Swans. We heard the first of several Marsh Wrens and then noted Solitary
Sandpiper and Eastern Phoebe on a walk along the Seneca Trail. Calling crows
drew attention to a Cooper's hawk.
Back in the car (five of us, stuffed into Gary's new Subaru) we cruised the
Wildlife Drive, picking up Coots, Pied-Billed Grebes, Common Gallinules,
Bobolink, and our first shorebirds: both Yellowlegs and Killdeer. We climbed
the tower at Tschache Pool just as the rain moved in and found, well, nothing
new. We then spent a few minutes at May's Pool hoping for Red-headed Woodpecker
and again came up empty. In fact, the woodpecker, which nested there this
summer, was not found by anyone.
We spent the next hour-and-a-half on the dike at Knox-Marsellus in the rain,
under umbrellas, scoping the mudflats for shorebirds. The highlight was the
lingering Hudsonian Godwit, but we also picked up Stilt, Pectoral,
Semipalmated, Least, and White-rumped Sandpipers, Golden, Black-bellied, and
Semipalmated Plovers, Dowitcher, Caspian Tern, Sandhill Crane, and Yellow
Warbler. A Peregrine Falcon made several passes, stirring up the shorebird
flock, then moved on. By then it was late morning and still raining, so we
decided to take an early lunch and check in at the Montezuma Audubon Center.
By early afternoon the rain had moved on, and we headed out to Howland Island
to look for woodland birds. Driving, then walking a couple of the dirt roads,
we ran into several foraging flocks and picked up a few good birds: Magnolia,
Blackburnian, and Black-throated Green Warblers, Northern Parula, Eastern
Wood-Pewee, and our only Hairy Woodpecker. We had great looks at best bird of
the day so far - a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. But the highlight of the day
came on the way off the Island. We were about to drive over what looked like a
handful of fluff in the middle of the road. Suddenly it became a Common
Nighthawk, circling our car with deep, irregular wing beats then coasting on
narrow, bent wings. It eventually settled nearby, and we shared great scope
views of its gray and brown camouflage.
After that we checked Tschache pool again for Black Tern (none) and May's for
Red-headed Woodpecker, then spent a half hour at the north end of
Knox-Marsellus to pick up our only Baird's Sandpipers. The last stop was a mad
dash to the South Butler Cemetery for Chipping Sparrow, then back to the MAC to
hand in our list and wait for the results. The 100th bird that flew past the
window at 7:05? A Purple Martin that was still using the martin house right
outside the building - which we never thought to check!
Bob McGuire
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