Although Bob McGuire and Susan Soboroff saw the WHIMBRELS fly in at noon, it turns out this was not the first time today they did so. Doug Daniels saw the birds earlier and reported them to Genessebirds-L (see below), which is why I subscribe to that digest. Thanks to Bob McGuire for calling me at noon today to have me get the word out to Cayugabirds-L and to the CayugaRBA, and thanks also to Gary Kohlenberg for the ride offer to chase them this afternoon.
While we were there the two WHIMBRELS were quietly standing around in the open on the mud about 2/3 of the way along the new shorebird flats on the left side of the wildlife drive past the main pool. They weren't actively feeding, although one of them picked up a crayfish carcass that was lying nearby and worked at it for awhile. They mostly just stood, sometimes on one leg - yes at times even one leg for both birds as one sat directly on the ground. They weren't tucked in to sleep, although one had its eyes shut at times. With the south winds I'm surprised they stuck around. Perhaps they are tired or weak, or maybe just one of them is, if the other is loyal. I wonder if they will find food hereabouts and stick around awhile to regain strength, or whether they will skedattle. Anyway, it was great to be able to observe them standing in the open at relatively close range, rather than hidden in saltmarsh grass half a mile away as I normally see them at Forsythe NWR on SFO's NJ trip - a cool new basin bird for me.
We also observed a slightly different mix of shorebirds than Doug Daniels did:
KILLDEER - 1
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER - several
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - 3
PECTORAL SANDPIPER - 1
DUNLIN - several
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER - 2
LEAST SANDPIPER - several
The shorebirds did not seem perturbed by a small group of quiet observers on the road nor by 3 OSPREYS on the mud. An immature BALD EAGLE was more distant. Waterfowl included several families of CANADA GEESE, several male MALLARDS, some starting to molt, and briefly a male BLUE-WINGED TEAL.
Begin forwarded message:Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 12:50:19 -0400
From: "Doug Daniels" <doug...@rochester.rr.com>
To: "'Genesee Birds'" <geneseebird...@geneseo.edu>
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] MNWR - 8 species of shorebird, incl. 2
Whimbrel
Message-ID: <2815CBCA993C4D8AA1D6CCE3ACDB8C36@Home1>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The phrase "dumb luck" has been used a lot on this listserve. It certainly
applied to my experiences today.
First, at 8 am, I was at Railroad Ave, near Van Dyne Spoor hoping to locate
rails & bittern. In the 45 minutes I was there, 5 long trains passed,
taking up about half of that time with noisy clatter I did hear one
American Bittern.
Second, the good luck at the new shorebird area along the Dike Road, Main
Pool area of Montezuma, I had 8 species of shorebirds, from 9:45 until 11:00
am:
5 Black-bellied Plover - 3 adult in breeding plumage, 2 imm.
2 Whimbrel
10 Semi-palmated Plovers
2 Dunlin
5 Killdeer
9 Least Sandpipers
2 Semi-palmated Sandpipers
1 Solitary Sandpiper
As I was scoping the Whimbrel, a van of environmental tech. students exited
enmass to see what I was looking at. Some of the shorebirds flew. Next,
the many Bald Eagles in the area, flew over causing the 2 Whimbrel to fly,
They did, hover, after circling twice, land again nearby. 5 minutes later,
another Bald Eagle caused them to fly. This time, to the NE and I did not
see them return. By the time I left, only a few Least Sandpipers and
Killdeer were left
Also seen on the day was 1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher at the Tshchache Tower,
2 Trumpeter Swans at the wet area off Savannah Springs Rd.
Doug Daniels
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