I decided to head up to Montezuma in the late afternoon, and although the Pelican had long departed, I was able to enjoy the perfect evening lighting (for a change!) as I scanned Knox Marcellus Marsh from East Road. It was a spectacular evening, cool, no mosquitos, beautiful light, tons of birds, and a rising full moon.
I pulled up next to 3 birders from Syracuse (Drew Weber, Jim Tarolli, and ???(sorry)), and within a minute or so they spotted a WILSON'S PHALAROPE -- it was a juvenile bird feeding jerkily on the strip of mud and grass about halfway across the impoundment. A bit later, I picked out an adult BAIRD's SANDPIPER feeding in shallow water with many SEMIPALMATEDs -- not their usual behavior, but the excellent light with no heat shimmer allowed us to see the sandy-colored back and head, long pointy wings, black bill and dark legs. A couple of PECTORAL SANDPIPERS were nearby for comparison as well. Other highlights included 16 adult STILT SANDPIPERS, and 16 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, as well as excellent counts of LESSER (320) and GREATER (60) YELLOWLEGS, and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (285), plus the same mix of other shorebirds and ducks, herons, terns, and gulls reported by Dave Nicosia earlier. Altogether roughly 750 shorebirds of 13 species, and 400 ducks of 8 species. Two SANDHILL CRANES were very reddish in the evening light, and I watched them bowing their necks and raising their bills skyward as they trumpeted in duet, answered by another more distant, unseen, trumpeting pair. At least 8 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS came out to the edge of the marsh as it got late. Another highlight was watching the thousands of swallows gathering and feeding over the impoundments at dusk, then heading over towards the west to roost (at Tsatche?). These were roughly half BANK SWALLOWS and half TREE SWALLOWS, with a few BARN and PURPLE MARTINs. KEN Ken Rosenberg Conservation Science Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 607-254-2412 607-342-4594 (cell) k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@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/ --
