Next Sunday:
This coming Sunday another trip is planned with Dave Nicosia in charge, and
myself among the assistants. I believe the meeting places and times will be the
same, but I'll let him announce any further specifics. We now have permission
with a guided field trip to get out of our cars on the Wildlife Drive, provided
we keep the cars together and keep the people with them on the road. This is a
great help for sharing sightings, scope views, and ID tips. People who were not
originally part of the trip may get out to join us as well. For those going on
the dikes, if the weather is sunny and warm again, be sure to bring a sun hat,
plenty of water, and a snack - it got quite hot toward the end.
Last Sunday:
Sorry for the delay in reporting about last Sunday's shorebird trip at
Montezuma NWR. As planned, Dave Nicosia and I split this trip so as to cover
more habitat locations. From the Visitor Center at 7am I took people on the
Wildlife Drive, while at 7:15am Dave Nicosia took folks down onto the K-M &
Puddler dikes from the overlook on East Road. Then each took our group to the
other place. I particularly want to thank Menachem Goldstein, an experienced
young Cornellian, for assisting in finding shorebirds and sharing views and ID
tips.
Our first shorebirds were near the start of the Wildlife Drive on the right
side where the Seneca Trail crosses and there is a canal-like connection to the
Seneca River. I don't know of any official name for this spot, but I call it
the Seneca Slough. When the river is low, as recently, there is attractive wet
mud and shallow water. We had long clear scope views of 1 Solitary Sandpiper
and 3 Lesser Yellowlegs, which made for a great comparison of these two members
of the genus Tringa. They share and elegantly elongated shape, but have
different sizes and colors. This spot is also often good for Killdeer, Spotted
Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper and other shorebirds.
Our next stop was along the channel on the left side of the Wildlife Drive
opposite Larue's, a place which also needs a concise name. Here we had great
scope views of a full-size Sora, a non-breeding plumage adult, I believe,
foraging on algae-covered mud near the base of the far cattails. At least 2
Virginia Rails were heard as well. Rails are not shorebirds, but I happily
shifted focus a bit, especially because seeing a Sora had been a goal for
Menachem.
Larue's is nearly devoid of water but at the NE corner there was still a large
puddle surrounded by mud. Ann Mitchell & Gary Kohlenberg were ahead of us, but
Ann called me about a wonderful sight there: an adult Spotted Sandpiper with 3
downy chicks running around on very long legs and dipping their fluffy rear
ends down & up just like grown-ups do.
In the interest of time I ignored most of the main pool despite Wood Ducks,
Common Gallinules, and families of Pied-billed Grebes.
At Eaton there is water, but also plenty of emergent/flooded vegetation, so
viewing the shorebirds was trickier. There were a couple dozen Lesser
Yellowlegs and at least 3 Greater Yellowlegs so occasionally they could be seen
well enough together for a comparison. Several Killdeer and Least Sandpipers
were there, too, but the best find, again by Menachem, was a breeding plumage
Dowitcher. He explained how he concluded that this bird, with extensive reddish
on its neck, breast, and belly, was a Short-billed of the priarie (hendersoni)
race.
Benning Marsh has been disked and flooded, and it had plenty of shorebirds and
lumps of mud for them to hide behind. Killdeer and Lesser Yellowlegs were most
numerous, but there were also plenty of Least Sandpipers and several more
Solitary Sandpipers. Bob McGuire and Susan Danskin had earlier found 2 Wilson's
Snipes but we overlooked them. We did spend considerable time studying a
preening peep. I have learned to be cautious identifying preening shorebirds
because their size, shape, color, and pattern can be distorted. It's better to
wait until a shorebird settles its feathers and begins walking and feeding in
the postures the field guides use, but this bird was adamant. Eventually
Menachem and I concluded that it was a Baird's Sandpiper even though we never
had the typical view of a horizontal bird whose long rear end includes wingtips
beyond the tail. It did show us the generally pale tan head, neck, and breast
(washed, not streaked), a broad vague light brow, several large dark spots on
the otherwise plain grayish back and wings and a dark rump. The size was larger
than a Least. The legs were black. The bill was black and fine-pointed. Later,
other observers did get to see a more typical view. This bird was of interest
because they are generally rare in the eastern US, migrating to and from the
arctic through the center of the continent. Although Montezuma's extensive
habitat manages to attract a few every year, usually they arrive later in the
season. Kevin McGowan fo
