Today (Sat 2 July) I went to the Montezuma area with Gary Kohlenberg and Ann Mitchell.
On our way north mid-morning we paused at Mud Lock at the north end of Cayuga Lake. The Bald Eagle nest atop the high-tension power line pylon west of the lock appeared unoccupied, but one fledgling BALD EAGLE was in the crown of a nearby tall dead tree.
On our way south late afternoon we paused on Maplewood Rd, Town of Ulysses, Tompkins County to look at the hard-to-see Bald Eagle nest whose 2 young were reported to have fledged (first flown, anyway) a few days ago. We saw one juvenile BALD EAGLE on a branch adjacent to the nest. This is not necessarily a contradiction, as it may have flown and returned. We did not see a second youngster. The one we saw called at times, but we may have heard 2 Bald Eagles calling at a time when we could not see any. We also saw one adult flying overhead which did not appear to be carrying anything. It's also not clear whether it perched in the area before or after we saw it in flight, but it does seem that the nest and this young have not been abandoned yet.
At Montezuma NWR we did not get out at the visitor center, so who knows what lurks in the lush vegetation of that sometimes pond. PURPLE MARTINS were busy around the nest boxes, a female RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD was at the feeder, and WARBLING and YELLOW-THROATED VIREOS and a LEAST FLYCATCHER sang from the woods. We saw very few waterfowl on the Main Pool, just CANADA GEESE families with adolescent offspring, the domestic Greylag goose, looking like an inflated floating toy, and a family of WOOD DUCKS with adolescent offspring.
Tschache Pool was another grassland with half a dozen distant TRUMPETER SWANS in adult plumage. An immature BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON flew overhead toward Mays Point Pool. A WILLOW FLYCATCHER sang near the tower.
Mays Point Pool had 3 GREAT EGRETS, a COMMON MOORHEN, a few adolescent WOOD DUCKS, a single adult TUNDRA SWAN, and lots of GREAT BLUE HERONS. By the parking lot we saw a female YELLOW WARBLER feeding a fledgling BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD.
SHOREBIRD REPORT:
From East Road south of the formal overlook we saw many distant LESSER YELLOWLEGS and a couple each of KILLDEER and SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, one BLACK TERN, 5 CASPIAN TERNS, several RING-BILLED GULLS, and a large group of molting/eclipse ducks preening and sleeping in vegetation, backlit, with heat shimmer, about a half mile away. This group included MALLARDS, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, AMERICAN WIGEON and probably other species. We were unable to find the recently reported Dowitchers, Least Sandpipers, or Greater Yellowlegs.
END OF SHOREBIRD REPORT.
At Railroad Road we had close looks at 3 BLACK TERNS There were also a distant adult and immature COMMON MOORHEN, a family of TRUMPETER SWANS including 5 downy young, 2 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 3 KILLDEER, and the sounds of MARSH WRENS, SWAMP SPARROWS, INDIGO BUNTING, YELLOW WARBLER, and more (but no bitterns of any ilk).
At Morgan Rd the DEC's stubble field in which Ann & I recently found a singing Vesper Sparrow has been plowed and disked (a single adult EUROPEAN STARLING foraged in it followed by a begging fledgling BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD). but we found a VESPER SPARROW in the weedy field across the street. If anybody understands what the operation in this field is with the long hose and the tank truck of (apparently) liquid manure, please let me know off list. We were puzzled. At the end of the road we saw a female AMERICAN KESTREL poking its head out of the nest box, with colors and patterns similar to the grain of the wood.
We also stopped at the corral at Martens Tract which was nice, but I was hot and tired and don't recall anything exciting.
We did see quite a few immature BALD EAGLES and at least one adult in the Montezuma area, and quite a few OSPREYS, some at nests, some in flight, plus lots of other locally breeding birds. Sorry, I'm not listing them.
--Dave Nutter
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