Sorry for the late post. Livia Santana and I birded Montezuma in the late afternoon yesterday (10 August 2011). We didn't find anything too exciting, but some of the usual specialties. Highlights included continuing RED-NECKED PHALAROPES at Puddlers Marsh, viewed from Towpath Road (looked to be one juvenile and one basic adult bird). As others have reported, the water is pretty high here and shorebird numbers are way down, but we did see a few Short-billed Dowitchers (including the first juveniles I have seen this year), as well as Lesser and Greater yellowlegs (juvenile Lessers as well), and only a handful of peeps (one of which was a basic adult WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER). No Stilt Sandpipers. Mays Point had two SANDHILL CRANES foraging along the back, but very few shorebirds. The visitor center pond is in good condition at the moment. It didn't have too much on our first pass, but later in the evening (when we were out of time to scan it thoroughly) there were about 8 dowitchers, at least one of which looked to be an adult LONG-BILLED. A few more ducks were around, including Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal (flock of 90 at Knox-Marcellus), Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Wood Duck, and Hooded Merganser. The main drive had many juvenile American Coots and at least one juvenile Common Gallinule, and four Trumpeter Swans were hanging out at Benning Marsh.
On the way up we saw the juvenile BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON in its usual spot near the low dead tree in Fall Creek, just up from the mouth at Myers Point. This bird has been there since at least July 24th. Good birding, Jay McGowan -- Jay McGowan Macaulay Library Cornell Lab of Ornithology jw...@cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
