This morning Dave Nicosia led a free public field trip for shorebirds at Montezuma NWR. He is scheduled to lead one next Saturday as well (27 Aug), starting at 7am at the Visitor Center on NYS-5/US-20. There are several advantages of such trips: * permission to get out of one's car on the Wildlife Drive, which allows easier use of a scope, better viewing generally, and conferring with other birders * access to dikes around Knox-Marsellus and Puddler marshes, which are generally off-limits to the public * help finding and identifying birds from an experienced teacher and leader
Dave Nicosia took most participants on the Wildlife Drive, where there are several areas with potential shorebird habitat. Meanwhile I went with a much smaller group for a brief look at Puddler and Knox-Marsellus, where this summer's drought has reduced the water and mud to relatively small areas along the NE sides of these impoundments, which in normal summers are deep water at the edge of a vast expanse of shallow water and mud flats attracting large numbers and a great variety of shorebirds. Creating freshwater shorebird habitat every year is always a tough job, but this year it has been especially challenging. Ken Kemphues and Diane Morton volunteered to drive their car on Towpath Road, which has a small amount of mud (thanks to some recent rain) in the craters (thanks to wantonly destructive recreational riders) to the east end. We walked out on the dike partway around Puddler and found zero shorebirds, although there were several Great Blue Herons in the last of the water. We saw several Bobolinks in the smartweed. They were quite buffy in non-breeding plumage, although one still showed a few black belly and side feathers from its breeding male attire. An immature Northern Harrier coursed close to us, and the reeds along the dike hosted many Songs and least one Savannah Sparrow, a female plumage Common Yellowthroat, and a Yellow Warbler. The biggest spectacle, however was a low cloud of thousands of Tree Swallows in and over the vegetation in the impoundment. Among them was a small minority of Bank and Barn Swallows. We also saw a single Cliff Swallow, which left the hordes and flew NE on its own shortly after being discovered. We took a second jaunt onto the dike between Puddler and Knox-Marsellus. From Towpath Road we had scoped a couple of Yellowlegs and a flock of twenty or so Least Sandpipers with perhaps another peep among them. It turns out we were not alone in seeking closer encounters with shorebirds. Our competitor, an immature Peregrine Falcon, got there first, ousting most of them, but we had an excellent view of the falcon flying past. We also had a nice scope view of two remaining peeps, an adult Least Sandpiper, brown and crouching on dull yellow legs, and a juvenile of what appeared, by its upright shape and stance, pale breast, and dark legs, to be a Semipalmated Sandpiper, even though it also appeared to be slightly smaller than the Least. There were also 8 Great Egrets among the Great Blue Herons, and the continuing Snow Goose and domestic Greylag among the Canada Geese. I did not notice any cranes, but we did not give either Towpath Road or K-M the time and attention they deserved because I wanted to be back at the Visitor Center at mid-morning where Dominic Sherony had asked me to join him leading another group seeking shorebirds on the Wildlife Drive. Along the Wildlife Drive the the best area for us by far was the new impoundment on the right just after Larue's, named Seneca Flats if I recall correctly. Among resting Ring-billed Gulls, Caspian Terns, Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal, and Canada Geese we saw nine species of shorebirds: Killdeer, both breeding and non-breeding plumage Spotted Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary, Least, Pectoral, and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 3 juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers. A Great Egret even came to join the gathering while over 20 of us were standing around scopes, watching and discussing the birds. At Benning there were a few Yellowlegs and Leasts, and a worn adult Dowitcher whose domed back suggested Long-billed. This was likely the same bird reported by Jay McGowan earlier in the day and possibly the same bird identified by Ann Mitchell a week ago. The highlight, however, was a Wilson's Snipe found by Kimberly Sucy. Dominic's group also went to Morgan Road despite Jay's report of no shorebirds there this morning. The situation was a bit better by the time we arrived in that there were several Yellowlegs, but the huge flock of peeps from last week had moved on, perhaps influenced by a rise in the Seneca River of an inch or two. We had another nice close fly-by of an immature Northern Harrier along the river, and the impoundment nearby hosted Blue-winged Teal and Hooded Mergansers, both in dull summer plumage. Jay McGowan also reported an Olive-sided Flycatcher from South Mays Point Road near the river, canal, and community and a Red-headed Woodpecker in dead trees near the Montezuma NWR headquarters buildings. Good birding to all tomorrow. --Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
