Here's a quick report, even though I was not the leader for today's shorebird field trip onto the otherwise-restricted dikes around Knox-Marsellus marsh at Montezuma NWR. The heavy rains of the past few days have raised the water level enough to cover all mud and flood much of the grass. The number of shorebirds is down, and the viewing is challenging but there is still a good variety.
Semipalmated Plover - 1 Greater Yellowlegs - several in water past their bellies, apparently swimming in channels between peninsulas Lesser Yellowlegs - several feeding the wet grass of what used to be dry part of peninsulas Ruddy Turnstone - 1 non-breeding plumage, mostly very hard to see in wet grass of peninsulas among gulls Sanderling - 1 adult non-breeding plumage, mostly very hard to see in wet grass Pectoral Sandpiper - 2 White-rumped Sandpiper - 2 at north end, only seen by me after everyone else turned back Semipalmated Sandpiper - a few seen by the group, a couple dozen at the north end Least Sandpiper - a few seen by the group, some flew into grass and disappeared Short-billed Dowitcher - at least 3 juveniles of the 5 dowitchers I saw Long-billed Dowitcher - seen by the main group before I was part of it I understand that efforts are already underway to drain water from the impoundment and expose the mudflats again, but the process takes a few days. More shorebirds should be on the way, including additional possible species and the juveniles of species we've seen so far. I'll be leading a field trip to the same area on Sunday 31 August. We'll meet at the Montezuma NWR Visitor Center at 8am and caravan from there. Please sign up through the refuge by calling 315-568-5987. These trips are open to the public and there is no fee. I encourage people who have scopes to bring and share them so everyone can learn more about these cool long-distance migrants. The following field trip in this series after that is three weeks later on Sunday 21 September, meeting at the Montezuma NWR Visitor Center at 8:30am and hosted by Cayuga Bird Club President Paul Anderson. --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/ --
