On our way to Buffalo on Friday, Tilden and I stopped at Knox-Marsellus Marsh at around noon. We watched mostly from Towpath Road. Through the first gap, we saw a large juvenile PEREGRINE FALCON perching in a tree across the marsh. We also saw a lot of BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS flying around, plus two at rest. Only a third of the way down the road, where the potholes are like muddy kettle lakes, we decided to turn around, lest we get stuck.
As usual, the landscape and birds are spectacular at East Road, but it's hard to identify and enjoy individual birds because they are so far away. In about 15 minutes, we saw the AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, a few dozen BLACK TERNS, many herons and egrets, and hundreds of shorebirds, including a SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, some PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, a probable BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, maybe 25 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS (distant flocks identifiable on the basis of slower wingbeats, I learned), and many yellowlegs and smaller Calidris. The Peregrine Falcon made one pass over the marsh, sending all the smaller birds scattering dramatically across the vast space. Unseen BOBOLINKS clanked musically throughout our visit. Mark Chao -- 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/ --
