All, I was lucky to enjoy a great morning of birding today in the Montezuma area (Seneca and Wayne Co.) with Nancy Chen, Tim Lenz, Alberto Lopez, and Jay McGowan. We headed up from Ithaca and had a nice start with a predawn Great Horned Owl perched on a barn on Rt. 34B in North Lansing (Tompkins Co.). Shorebird habitat was a bit lean at the visitor center and main pool of Montezuma NWR, and so we focused on the refuge's Tschache Pool, Mays Point Pool, and the Knox-Marcellus Impoundments instead. Along with the usual suspects, Tschache Pool held the continuing adult Tundra Swan (mega rarity in summer) and a surprise Black-and-white Warbler in the parking lot. With Black-and-whites not breeding locally, this was a surprising find and perhaps indicative of the recent push of landbird migrants (which has recently included some swallows, Yellow Warblers, Bobolinks, etc). At Mays Point Pool, one of the first birds we encountered was a singing Acadian Flycatcher, quite rare in well-covered Seneca County and a new county bird for everyone in the party. Also here were Cerulean Warblers feeding young, Black Terns feeding young, Common Moorhens feeding young, Pied-billed Grebes feeding young... and a female Redhead. The western Knox-Marcellus Impoundment was impressive with the recent drawdown, with excellent numbers of wildfowl, herons, shorebirds, terns, and swallows. A family group of Trumpeter Swans (with 6 juveniles) was feeding along Towpath Rd. and provided for some close photos. Other wildfowl highlights included the continuing adult Snow Goose, high numbers of Wood Duck, Mallard, Green-winged Teal and Gadwall, lower numbers of American Wigeon and Northern Shoveler, and a single drake Blue-winged Teal. Herons included 268 Great Blue Herons and 8 Great Egrets. An uptick in coast-bound shorebirds was revealed by increased numbers of Lesser Yellowlegs (35), Least Sandpipers (45), and Short-billed Dowitchers (24; all hendersoni); these attracted the attention of a subadult Sharp-shinned Hawk, which surprisingly managed to pick off a Least Sandpiper from the panicked pack. The extensive cattail marsh at the east end of Van Dyne Spoor Rd. in Savannah (Wayne Co.) is hosting lots of interesting marshbirds this summer. We had close views here of Black Tern (which we also saw at Tschache, Mays Point, and Knox-Marcellus, albeit at greater distances) and a stellar Least Bittern that called and flew a short distance. A Wilson's Snipe, presumably breeding, flew a circuit here as well. Martens Tract, also near Savannah, had several species of marshbirds with young and a flyby American Bittern. A short stop at the Empire Farm Days fairgrounds in Seneca Falls turned up lots of Horned Larks (25) and a single Upland Sandpiper, though up to 15, including juveniles, have been seen here in recent weeks. Back in Ithaca, a swing by the Bluegrass Lane horse barns turned up nearly 400 Bank Swallows on the wires - a very nice count for Tompkins Co. With a combination of great breeders and the beginning of the southbound pendulum swing, we had a really nice morning of birding. Cheers, Tom
-- Thomas Brodie Johnson Ithaca, NY t...@cornell.edu mobile: 717.991.5727 -- 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/ --
