Shorebird habitat at Montezuma (the Refuge and DEC lands north) continues to change rapidly. Mays Point Pool has lost considerable water in the past few days leaving much mud exposed. Birds like the phalaropes and avocet seemed to have moved on. Both dowitchers are still there along with numerous peeps. But there again the turnover is rapid. Tuesday evening I had Stilt, Baird's and Sanderling. At noon today they appeared to be gone, replaced by 20 Pectoral Sandpipers.
At the end of Van Dyne Spoor Rd is a large area of shallow water/mud flats. Yesterday afternoon there were many Killdeer, a dozen Lesser and three Greater Yellowlegs as well as some 20 Least Sandpipers and three Semipalmateds. And one Stilt. As evening came on, two Wilson's Snipe appeared and just before dark, 5 Black-crowned NightHerons flew in. At first light this morning the nightherons were gone, replaced by three Great Blue Herons and a harrier. Muckrace Flats along Savannah-Spring Lake Rd is also slowly drying. 3-4 Green Herons continue there as do Killdeer. But the number of yellowlegs has dropped considerably. I walked the dike and paddled the canals at Marten's Tract this morning. A Virginia Rail called. Numerous Common Moorhens, American Coots, and Pied-billed Grebes gave out a variety of vocalizations (including some begging young) which I'm still trying to sort out. Around the back of the dike I flushed a Least Bittern which flew north, back into the reeds. Bob McGuire 46 Whitted Road, Ithaca 256 0460 b...@lightlink.com -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES Temporary archive: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
