The Roseate Spoonbill at Montezuma NWR remained all afternoon today (11 July) and was seen well by many people from the Wildlife Drive. While I was there (twice around the drive) it was in one of the pools alongside the Thruway near the large Bald Eagle sculpture. It spent its time standing on a log resting, preening, and sometimes wading either to wet its bill for preening or to feed. At one point I saw it catch and eat a fish that was longer than the widest part of its bill. During most of the time, no other large waders were in that pool, although there was a Great Blue Heron visible around the bend in the next pool. Some time after 5pm a Great Egret dropped gently from the sky and alit close to the Roseate Spoonbill. They tolerated each other well enough, often standing only a few feet apart, and the egret walked directly through a video I took of the spoonbill feeding. At 5:45pm the Roseate Spoonbill took flight as did the Great Egret (I think the spoonbill took off first but I’m open to correction on this point). Both flew NW over the Thruway staying fairly close to each other even though the spoonbill’s flight wandered left & right quite a bit more from my vantage as they got farther away. Last I saw them at about 5:48 they were descending toward what I believe was the northeastern part of Tschache Pool. About 15 minutes later I tried looking from the Tschache tower along NYS-89 near I-90 but could only discern a few Great Blue Herons in that area. My guess is that the spoonbill is spending the night roosting wherever the Great Egrets roost, and that there’s a good chance it will be somewhere around the Montezuma Wetlands Complex tomorrow.
This is a lovely bird. As Kevin mentioned it’s a juvenile, which means just a couple months ago it was a nestling, probably in south Florida although they also breed along the gulf coast of Louisiana & Texas. This bird lacks the bare gray & black crown that forms by their second year, and it lacks the bold rose areas on the wings and the orange tail of the adults. Instead it is fully feathered white on the head & neck and evenly pale pink on the body & wings. The long flat bill is a fantastic thing, gray on the basal half and along the midline, but pink on the distal half, especially on the margins around the very broad tip. The upper bill is slightly broader and longer than the lower bill. The upper legs are pink, the ankle joint is gray, and the lower legs are pink in front and gray behind. Each foot has 4 toes, gray (at least below), with no webbing. The most contrasting part of the bird is in the outer primaries which are mainly pale pink but which also have a narrow edge of bold black, visible both when it preened and when it flew. I hope it gets refound. Very cool bird, a first for the Cayuga Lake Basin, and tied for first in upstate NY according to eBird. - - Dave Nutter > On Jul 11, 2021, at 4:19 PM, Kevin J. McGowan <[email protected]> wrote: > > Timing of surge of spoonbills out of the south over the last month doesn’t > fit with the storm. > > Here are ebird reports for June: > https://ebird.org/map/rosspo1?neg=true&env.minX=-100.76926532551144&env.minY=31.833515337185677&env.maxX=-64.20676532551144&env.maxY=45.82328941682119&zh=true&gp=true&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=6&emo=6&yr=cur&byr=2021&eyr=2021 > > You can see a movement already. > > Here are ebird reports for July: > https://ebird.org/map/rosspo1?neg=true&env.minX=-130.14670673176144&env.minY=23.68895634547458&env.maxX=-57.02170673176145&env.maxY=51.648127862764916&zh=true&gp=true&ev=Z&mr=on&bmo=7&emo=7&yr=cur&byr=2021&eyr=2021 > > Look at that straight line of reports from Florida to New York! Amazing. > > Pennsylvania had 4 spoonbills this week, 3 in one spot. > > Was this just a really good year for spoonbill breeding in the southeast? And > maybe for wading birds in general? The juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in > Tompkins Co this month seems more than coincidental. Juvenile wading birds > (egrets, herons, storks, etc) are known to wander widely in summer after they > reach independence. I don’t know of any theories about what influences these > movements. But, it is logical that the more young produced, perhaps above an > average number (?), the more likely it would be for strays to end up in the > north. > > Amazing to have a juvenile Roseate Spoonbill at Montezuma NWR and Chenango > River State Park in the same day! Both an hour from Ithaca. I was already > committed to going south when the Montezuma report came in and didn’t have > enough stamina to go see both. > > > > Kevin > > Kevin McGowan > Freeville > > From: [email protected] > <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Asher Hockett > Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2021 3:42 PM > To: Donna Lee Scott <[email protected]> > Cc: Dave K <[email protected]>; CAYUGABIRDS-L > <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Spoonbill Montezuma's Thruway Pool > > Wondering from our here in NM, diid these spoonbills get pushed to upstate by > Elsa? > > On Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 11:42 AM Donna Lee Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > Still here by eagle sculpture. > Perched on big fallen tree. Easy to see. > > Donna Scott > Lansing > Sent from my iPhone > > > On Jul 11, 2021, at 1:02 PM, Dave K <[email protected]> wrote: > > > 1 PM.......feeding mid pool. Pond East of Eagle platform......has flown to > Eaton Marsh and back again > > Get Outlook for Android > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
