On Apr 23, 2011, at 2:25 PM, Jay McGowan wrote:
Ann and Gary just found a MARBLED GODWIT at Montezuma that we are now looking at. It is along the wildlife drive at the new shorebird flats just before the turn for Benning (visible from the photo blind pulloff.) Lucky for us Jay and Andrew VanNorstrand were close by when we texted initially of a Hudsonian Godwit at the new shorebird flats in Montezuma. Ann first spotted what we determined was a Godwit, but not being a breeding/nonbreeding male or juvenile I thought it might be a breeding female. It didn't seem quite right, not as buffy colored as I would have thought, some barring on the tertials, dark eyeline and white supercilium giving the face a contrasty look, but Marbled seemed less likely. When Jay and Andrew pulled in they immediately confirmed we were looking at a Marbled Godwit. Only the second Marbled for me and a lifer for Jennifer Rothe, who we had flagged down as she drove past on the wildlife drive. Jen is from Wisconsin and was on her way to Saratoga. When we drove farther up to get photos the light was much better and I could immediately see the overall buffy color, heavy barring on scapulars and tertials extending onto the breast and sides, dark legs, bicolored base of bill yellow to black at tip, the crown was darker and finely streaked. The eyebrow is more white than ground color as Sibley's shows though. A beautiful bird and very close to the road about 3/4 of the way from photo blind to corner. I hope it stays the night for others to see. Maybe Jay will post some pictures. I digiscoped, but not having a hosting site yet I can't post a link to them. There really are many shorebirds, mostly Yellowlegs but Jay and Andrew saw Dunlin too, in Northern Montezuma's corn stubble. They were hard to see until a Peregrine Falcon over Carncross Rd. put them all in the air. Then we could see many hundreds. They will probably reconstitute there because everywhere else is flooded. Gary -- 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/ --
