I led the CBC field trip this morning to Montezuma.
We started at 7:30am at the CLO and headed straight up north with our
only stop being a brief one at Myers where we had the usual suspects
plus a single Semipalmated Plover on the spit.
We stopped at the MNWR visitors center where we were to rendezvous with
others. From there we saw many Yellowlegs and at least two, maybe three
Pectoral Sandpipers.
We then drove Wildlife Drive, which we found more teeming with birds
than we had expected. At least two prowling Harriers were scaring birds
out of the reeds. Most striking were the hundreds of Blue-winged Teal,
lots of Marsh Wrens calling, and 6-8 very vocal Sora.
Next stop was Towpath Road, where we picked up some other people. At
this point our group was up to about 40! We had special permission from
the managers of the reserve to go out on the dikes, so we trekked out a
few hundred yards on the middle dike. It was great that we were able to
do so as it allowed us to get much better views than we would otherwise
have managed. Although at first some of the cormorants flew as we got
close, the other birds seemed oblivious to our presence, and at various
points several shorebirds flew right over our heads and then settled in
quite close. Best of all, the great variety of birds and the relatively
close distance allowed us to compare different species directly, both in
flight and on the ground. The mild weather meant that viewing was great
with little shimmer.
As we arrived a Forster's Tern that had been with the gulls flew up and
out of sight. The first special shorebird was a Whimbrel foraging alone
in the grass. The two White Pelicans were together and treated us to an
aerial display as they flew up, circled and came back down again. We saw
a distant Red-necked Phalarope that kept moving and eventually was
nowhere to be found. We had three American Golden Plovers, and three
Black-bellied Plovers. Among the peeps were several White-rumped
Sandpipers. A Merlin buzzed over and then settled on the shore in the
distance. Several Black-crowned Night Herons were visible in the little
cattail island in Puddlers. A juvenile Sanderling showed up mixing with
some peeps, affording very nice views.
There were of course many other species I haven't mentioned. Jay McGowan
was taking notes and photos and was kind enough to put everything in
eBird. I encourage readers to take a look at the photos in the eBird
listing.
Myers: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15183618
Knox-Marsellus: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15183646
Thanks to everyone who showed up to enjoy this wonderful spot, and
especially to Andrea at MNWR who helped get us permission to view from
the dikes.
-Paul
--
Paul Anderson, VP of Engineering, GrammaTech, Inc.
531 Esty St., Ithaca, NY 14850
Tel: +1 607 273-7340 x118; http://www.grammatech.com
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