Hi all, I birded Montezuma yesterday evening. It was a nice evening to be out and lots of birds were around, but I did not find too much out of the ordinary. The wildlife drive was quiet. Shorebird numbers continue to be good as Knox-Marsellus, where the evening light was nice but distance difficult as always. STILT SANDPIPERS were still in good numbers, with about 19 scattered amongst the yellowlegs in the deep water as well as a few closer in with the peeps. Dowitcher numbers were down from last week. I saw my first WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER of the season with the Semipalmated flock. A breeding adult BONAPARTE'S GULL was sitting with the Caspian Tern flock for a while. The AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN continued in the same place it was sitting Sunday morning, on the back side of the main island complex in the middle of the pool, alternatively sleeping and preening. A LEAST BITTERN sat out in the cattails on the small cattail island near the dike off Towpath Road, a distant but enjoyable yellow smudge from East Road. Finally, BANK SWALLOW numbers were impressive, both out over the marsh and perched on the power lines near the south end of East Road where I counted over 450 with Tree, Barn, and Northern Rough-winged mixed in.
Stuart Krasnoff joined me and together we watched at Van Dyne Spoor from 7:40-9:00. At least 74 GREAT EGRETS flew in to the roost out in the marsh near the end of the road, but we saw no sign of the immature Little Blue Heron. Did anyone look for the bird on Wednesday night? I hope it is still in the area, so it is definitely worth checking this spot another night. Please post your results if you do! It's certainly an enjoyable spot to be at sunset regardless, with the egrets, night-herons, gallinules, various ducks, and swallows flying in all directions. Good birding, -Jay -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu -- 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/ --
