Hi all, I sent a more detailed report (below) of last Sunday's Knox-Marsellus field trip to Wildlife Biologist Linda Ziemba and Visitor Services Manager Andrea VanBeusichem at Montezuma NWR, as well as to Dave Nicosia. He will be leading the trip this Sunday 9 August, also meeting at the Visitor Center at 8am and walking down from the overlook at 8:20am. I hope to see many of you there. It's a chance to learn about shorebirds, get scope views even if you don't own one, practice your ID skills, and see cool birds, perhaps additional species. With this many shorebirds a Peregrine or Merlin is bound to show up soon.
--Dave Nutter Begin forwarded message: > From: Dave Nutter <nutter.d...@me.com> > Date: August 04, 2015 11:29:59 AM > To: linda_zie...@fws.gov, andrea_vanbeusic...@fws.gov, > daven102...@gmail.com > Subject: 2 Aug shorebird field trip report > > Linda, Andrea, & Dave, > > The Knox-Marsellus shorebird field trip was a success. The weather was sunny > and pleasant. I only noticed 1 mosquito and no biting flies during the group > walk. The water level was ideal, with both wet mud and deeper water within > binocular view of the east dike, and as a result of your water-level > management there were plenty of shorebirds. They included: > > * Semipalmated Plover - a few foraging on close ends of mud strips; more > resting in distant large flock of peeps > * Killdeer - several on mud > * Spotted Sandpiper - several on the extensive mud in the NW part of K-M, I > saw at least 3 > * Greater Yellowlegs - a few scattered in deeper water or among wading Lessers > * Lesser Yellowlegs - the great majority of wading shorebirds > * Solitary Sandpiper - observed by others; I missed this as the group got > spread out > * Stilt Sandpiper - a few individuals feeding among Lesser Yellowlegs, I saw > at least 5 > * Least Sandpiper - some on close end of mud strips; many more among distant > resting peep flock > * Pectoral Sandpiper - several on wet mud and in shallow water > * Semipalmated Sandpiper - some on close ends of mud & shallow water; many > more among distant peep flock resting on mud > * Short-billed Dowitcher - a few in water, not as red, extensively colored > below, nor as hump-backed as Long-billed > * Long-billed Dowitcher - 1 in breeding plumage, in deep water not near other > dowitchers, ID by extensive reddish below, black bars on side of neck, fairly > dark tail, pronounced and ruffled hump on back when feeding, and distinctive > call note heard by others. > > Other birds of note were: > * 4 Black Terns in non-breeding plumage who briefly visited K-M foraging > together > * a single breeding-plumage Bonaparte's Gull resting on the mud with numerous > Ring-billed Gulls and Caspian Terns, both of which included several juveniles > * a flock of 16 Sandhill Cranes which flew in from the north, alit in > Puddler, and were joined by 2 of the family of 3 from K-M, a total of 19, > which eBird flagged as unusually large this early. > > Although I saw both Wilson's Phalarope and the first-of-the-year-reported > Red-necked Phalarope on my scouting trip the previous Tuesday, which eBird > flagged as rare that early, no phalaropes were seen on the field trip. > Long-billed Dowitcher was also early in the season, having first been found > the previous day. We found no Pluvialis although there were a couple recent > reports, one having positive ID as Black-bellied Plover. > > The vegetation alongside the dike was only a minor challenge, not a problem. > Again, if up to half a dozen "windows" of 10 yards width were cut, that would > be ideal, but if it doesn't happen, that would be fine, too, I think. > > Towpath Road had dried out and would have been only mildly unreasonable to > drive in due to uneven surface and actually preferable to walk from in order > to spend less time facing the sun. Spotted Sandpiper was the only shorebird > added in the NW area. Perhaps it would be better to delay committing where to > start each walk until we know how full Towpath's puddles are. However it was > good that folks coming directly to the wak instead of to the Visitor Center > first knew where and when to meet. > > Some participants wondered why we started at 8am instead of 7, but others had > traveled 3 hours to attend, and they appreciated not having to arise any > earlier. Sunrise was at 6am so we wasted a couple of hours of great light > (birding was lovely on the Wildlife Drive at that time), so that's yet > another possible start time to consider. > > I worked with participants on shorebird ID skills: looking at proportions of > legs, neck & bill; body shape, especially the curve of back to > rump/wingtips/tail; learning Tringa and typical Calidris genus shape; using > relative size for ID; habits and plumage field marks of various species; > direct comparisons of Killdeer v Semipalmated Plover, Greater v Lesser > Yellowlegs, Least v Semipalmated Sandpiper; Stilt Sandpiper v Lesser > Yellowlegs; Short-billed v Long-billed Dowitcher (difficult because they were > not in view together). > > The field trip was large, with about 40 participants. This is really more > people than a single leader can handle, but I would not want to limit their > number. Fortunately the group included several other knowledgeable people > with experience leading trips, and they became de facto co-leaders. I > encouraged participants to ask questions, point out birds, and share scopes > and expertise. Some people were also fairly self-sufficient, and their number > is growing as we do more of these field trips. If people had more > opportunities to visit the dike on their own, the field trips might not be so > unwieldy. > > The best way to observe and learn about shorebirds is to stand with a few > companions next to mudflats and shallow waters with the sun low at one's > back, use a spotting scope on a tripod, keep a good field guide such as > Sibley handy, and share observations and scope views. Both the Wildlife Drive > and the dike between Knox-Marsellus and Puddler Marshes can provide this > situation if it is allowed. Shorebirds as a rule are not disturbed by birders > in such a situation. On our field trip I only saw 2 Great Blue Herons move > off as a result of our presence. The educational benefits of providing such > opportunities are great, and there are benefits to wildlife too, because the > most observant and knowledgeable birders input the species and numbers they > observe into the eBird database more frequently than NWR staff have time to > do. These data demonstrate how successfully the refuge serves shorebirds and > other species, and they add to our knowledge of the birds. From the K-M dike > I found the first Red-necked Phalarope this year on my scouting trip, and Ken > Rosenberg found the first Long-billed Dowitcher the day before my field trip. > These species are difficult to see or identify from Towpath Road or East > Road. The refuge's counts typcally don't specify Long- v Short-billed > Dowitchers. Ken, whose conservation work at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology > takes him all over the Americas, couldn't attend the field trip, so he came > up the day before with a visiting ornithologist. Seeing no signs prohibiting > entry from Towpath Road they walked out on the dike, as is permitted in many > National Wildlife Refuges. As you consider what to do about the lack of signs > there, I urge that the refuge allow birders on foot to access the K-M dike > after nesting season, from early July through early October, particularly to > observe shorebirds. Similarly, allowing birders to observe while standing > next to their car on the Wildlife Drive can provide a great deal more > information without disturbing the birds. > > Again, thank-you for encouraging shorebirds and our observation of them at > Montezuma NWR. I'm looking forward to field trips by Dave Nicosia this coming > Sunday and the trips after that as well. > > --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/ --
