Have you ever been to Helmer Marsh? Any idea where it is?
Helmer Marsh is a DEC wildlife management area just north of the Village of Montezuma. It looks to be about 100 acres with easy access along an old RR bed or along the paved road. Dave Nutter and I explored it yesterday and came away impressed. As a cheerleader for birding in and around the Basin, I am going to add it to my list of "must visit" sites (the list includes the Seneca Meadows Preserve). The habitat is a combination of open water, lots of standing dead trees, cattail marsh, brushy edges, low, wet areas (read "Rusty Blackbird") and woods.
Here is a list of the birds we actually encountered, followed by a list of birds we would expect to find a bit later in the season and with a bit of digging.
Canada Goose Malland Wood Duck Green-winged Teal Double-crested Cormorant American Kestrel Red-tailed hawk Turkey Vulture Mourning Dove American Crow Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Flicker Belted Kingfisher American Robin Eastern Bluebird Black-capped Chickadee Yellow-rumped Warbler RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET Song Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Common Grackle Red-winged blackbird Brown-headed Cowbird PURPLE FINCH Birds we will find there another time: swans Pied-billed Grebe American & Least Bittern Virginia Rail & Sora Great Blue & Green Heron Great Egret BC Night Heron Osprey gulls cuckoos hummingbird RED-HEADED, Downy, Hairy, Pileated Woodpeckers Willow Flycatcher OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Tree & Barn Swallows Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Yellow Warbler Common Yellowthroat Rose-breasted Grosbeak RUSTY BLACKBIRD Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch So much for virtually birding! Check it out. It deserves attention. Bob McGuire -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
