A bunch of Ithacans went to Montezuma NWR this morning (Sat 30 July). Paul Anderson, Gary Kohlenberg, Bob McGuire, Ann Mitchell, and I were in one group, and we ran into Jay McGowan and a woman I don't know. We were mainly interested in shorebirds, and we found the most at the Visitor Center, and at Puddler's, with a few at the Seneca River slough near the start of the Wildlife Drive, at the Shorebird Flats later on, and at Muckrace Flats on Savannah-Spring Lake Rd near Bixby Hill Rd.
The Visitor Center had:
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper - 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe - 1
The peeps included a flock of several score which preened, making ID a bit challenging, then flew off to an out-of-view location in the marsh to the west. They did this twice, once when we first arrived, then again when we checked it out on our way south again.
Puddler's had the same variety, minus the snipe and plus a couple Semipalmated Plovers, and several each of Stilt Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. There were also a dozen or more of the Pectoral Sandpipers there. Black Tern numbers are way down, with only a couple at Puddler's.
As an added treat for those fanatics who read to the end of boring posts such as this and are interested in birds which are out-of-season but not out-of-range, we saw a single male Lesser Scaup at Stewart Park in Ithaca at 6:30am.
--Dave Nutter
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