I went north today seeking the Prothonotary Warbler (no luck for me, although others heard it earlier in the distance), and shorebirds, which turned out to be more interesting. In fact it was shorebirds that delayed my arrival at the hardwood swamp on Armitage Road where the Prothonotaries have been. The field on the south side of Armitage is still flooded, and the northeast corner (where one can conveniently pull off with a car and set up a scope) hosted a goodly number and variety of shorebirds. Although they flushed, flew, rearranged, and returned or added several times while I was there, I saw:
1 KILLDEER 5 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER 1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS 3 LESSER YELLOWLEGS 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER 47 DUNLIN 25 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER - most arrived in a later batch 100 LEAST SANDPIPER (estimate) 1 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER. Although I was unable to pick it out when they flushed, and didn't refind it afterward, and was a bit frustrated while viewing it, I've become more confident of the ID based on large size, including width end-on, and rufous stripe on back. The spotting on the side was minimal, but the breast & face were streaked with gray a bit more than I would expect on Semipalmated.) Later Ann Mitchell, Gary Kohlenberg & I found some shorebirds and others at the flooded field (in distant cornstubble on the west side) on Carncross Rd in Savannah: SEMIPALMATED PLOVER - several KILLDEER - at least 1 3 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER. The bird I studied most (which was plenty orange-red on face, neck, & breast) appeared to be Short-billed based on gold-spotted back, whitish lower belly & undertail, and more white than black top of tail seen during preening. Another individual showed a flat back when feeding. 50 DUNLIN SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER - several LEAST SANDPIPER - several 1 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, flew into my scope view with 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers, it was similarly grayish tan & white in color but substantially larger and with a slightly downcurved bill, and as it alit I saw the broad white band across the upper tail. Unfortunately it landed behind a dense row of cornstubble, so Gary & Ann did not get to see it. Other neat birds at Carncross included a breeding plumage RED-NECKED GREBE swimming, diving and sleeping near a female RUDDY DUCK, a male NORTHERN PINTAIL (late), a male (American) GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and 2 adult SANDHILL CRANES which observers from a different vantage said had 2 youngsters. An AMERICAN BITTERN gallunked from the north side of the road and then flushed when a car stopped on the road nearby. MARSH WRENS were unusually visible. At the "Sandhill Crane Unit" (the flooded land south of Van Dyne Spoor Rd) we scoped a distant pair of SANDHILL CRANES with at least 1 youngster atop a muskrat mansion. The RED-HEADED WOODPECKER pair continues to give a fine show in the dead trees on South May's Point Rd. While there I heard a single song which made me think of Yellow-throated Warbler (a full clear "tuwee, tuwee, tuwee, tu tu") but was probably something else, like a Baltimore Oriole. I also heard a BLACKPOLL WARBLER sing nearby. My last new bird, found as I was about to leave the Tschache Pool tower parking lot, was a single west-bound BLACK TERN. By the way, there were lots of fine songbirds singing in the woods along Van Dyne Spoor Rd and along Armitage Rd, although most were invisible. --Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
