[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma waterfowl migration updates

[Johnson, Alyssa]

Good morning everyone,

We've been beginning to get a lot of calls, emails, and Facebook messages 
asking about the return of the Snow Geese, and other migratory waterfowl! I 
will try to share updates this way, as well as on our Montezuma Audubon Center 
Facebook page. Feel free to 
reach out directly to me or our Center as well. I took a drive to most of the 
"hot spots" within the Montezuma Wetlands Complex yesterday to get a feel for 
what conditions are like, and where the birds are hanging out. The following 
are my observations:


  1.  Montezuma Audubon Center: the trails fluctuate between patchy ground and 
ice. We had a lot of snowshoeing happening this winter, and so its really 
packed down the trails. That'll all disappear after Sundays weather. The 
marshes are still frozen, except for small pockets. I haven't seen any water 
birds, just songbirds including Eastern Bluebirds, American Goldfinches, House 
Finches, American Tree Sparrows, Tufted Titmice, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, 
Song Sparrows (heard on singing!), Dark-eyed Juncos, Red-winged Blackbirds, and 
Common Grackles (who are both are now regulars at the feeders). Raptors like 
Bald Eagles, a male Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawks, and I saw a lone Turkey 
Vulture soaring yesterday. Crusoe Creek, which runs just along the south edge 
of the MAC property, and route 89 crosses, is open and very full of water. I 
saw a bunch of Canada Geese and a few Mallards in there.
  2.  Carncross Road/Van Dyne Spoor Road: both not maintained, both snowy and 
icy, I can tell there are ruts where others have driven. Even when the snow and 
ice melt, the roads will be VERY soft. Also, Carncross is flooded over I 
believe, I couldn't get too close but I've heard other recent reports that it 
is. Proceed with caution! Or better yet, just don't attempt to drive down 
either yet. I was hoping to look for Sandhill Cranes at both. Last year 2/28/21 
is when I saw Sandhills on Carncross. I saw cranes every month of 2021, but in 
February they disappeared because it got very cold and snowy. So even though I 
saw them in January, I call my "FOY" 2/28 because they had returned again.
  3.  Armitage Road: the flooded private ag fields are completely frozen over 
still. Between the flooded fields closer to the canal, and the fields closer to 
the route 89 intersection, the only birds I saw were American Crows (by the 
hundreds) as well as gulls (also by the hundreds). They were all flying around 
or landed on the ground, feeding on something but I'm not sure what. It was 
cool to see so many. I have seen the Bald Eagles that are known to nest on 
Armitage Road recently, and this morning  stopped to take a look. One adult was 
sitting in a nearby tree, and I believe I saw a white head poking up from the 
nest. It is baby eagle making season! Once the fields thaw, I expect that there 
will be a lot of waterfowl action here, as well as cranes in the drier fields.
  4.  Route 31 Muck: Again HUNDREDS of crows and gulls in the air, in the 
trees, on the ground. They were everywhere. I drove down to the old "potato 
barn" pull off spot in the middle of that stretch of 31 to take a look and to 
turn around. I saw a flock of Snow Buntings, Horned Larks, and maybe a lapspur 
or two flitting around that pull off, and the corn stubble. I love them, some 
of my favorites. There were hundreds of swans, mostly Tundra based off of their 
sounds. I'm sure a few Trumpeters could have been in there too, but the white 
birds on white snow and ice, on very sunny day, made it difficulty to pick them 
out. Most of the swans were on the north side of 31, closer to the 89 
intersection, but back from the road. Directly across 89 on the south side, 
there were more swans though not as many, Canadas, and ducks (Mallards and 
Pintails were the two I noticed while driving by). There are small pockets of 
water interspersed across the fields, and I think they were all just trying to 
fit in together. A lot in the air, but in hundreds maybe, and not thousands 
like are expected. A lot crows here too.
  5.  Knox Marsellus Marsh/East Road: The marsh is completely frozen over and I 
saw no signs of life except more crows!
  6.  May's Point: The canal/Clyde River is frozen in some spots, and open in 
others. The only water birds I saw were 4 Hooded Mergansers which were to the 
east of the lock on the canal. There is open water in front of the May's Point 
observation deck, but no birds. I did see 1 Rough-legged Hawk here though! I've 
seen them in this spot other times as well. There is a Bald Eagle nest viewable 
from that deck looking to the east, and there was 1 eagle on the nest, and 1 in 
the air soaring.
  7.  Wil-Goose on Route 89 just north of Montezuma Winery: Pretty quiet here 
as well, although a great spot to look for raptors. I saw another Rough-legged 
here as well as 2 Northern Harriers hunting the field.
  8.  Montezuma NWR visit

[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma Waterfowl Tour Wed. March 1, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

[Chris Lajewski]

Montezuma Waterfowl Tour Wed. March 1, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Join Montezuma 
Audubon Center Director Chris Lajewski for a tour of the Montezuma Wetlands 
Complex to experience the incredible number of waterfowl that are migrating 
through right now! Hop in our van and Chris will take you to Montezuma's 
birding hotspots where 30 species of ducks, geese and swans can be seen. Bald 
eagles and other raptors are a possibility too! Fee: $8/child; $15/adult. Space 
is limited and registration is required. Call 315-365-3588 or email 
montez...@audubon.org.
The Montezuma Audubon Center is located at 2295 State Route 89, Savannah, NY 
13146.
Chris LajewskiCenter DirectorMontezuma Audubon 
Center315-365-3588clajewski@audubon.orghttp://ny.audubon.org/montezuma
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[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma Waterfowl. Snow buntings Larks, longspurs

[Michael Tetlow]

Yesterday Dominic Sherony and I put a fair amount of time in to
estimating numbers and percentages of waterfowl on the main pool at
Montezuma. Here is the ebird checklist. Particularly noteworthy for me is
the decrease in Ring-necks and huge increase in Lesser Scaup over the last
couple weeks although Ring-necks do tend to hide among the distant cattails
so I'm sure some were missed.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32616439.

Also on Wednesday evening at knox-marcellus I was able to get an
accurate count as 54 Sandhill Cranes flew out to the corn fields and the
remaining 18 all put their heads up. So 72. We'll see if more come in on
this front or if that's it.

 I also had a flock of about 200 Horned larks with at least 2 longspurs
followed by a flock of about 200 Snow Buntings all flying west over East
road around 2:30 pm. Mike Tetlow 

 


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[cayugabirds-l] Montezuma Waterfowl

[bob mcguire]

John Confer and I spent the morning in the Montezuma area helping with the 
spring waterfowl count. We checked with the other counters at noon and found 
that there was nothing new for the Basin to report (no more Shovelers, no 
Blue-winged Teal, no Ospreys).

As we got out of the car at the DEC office on Morgan Road we were greeted by a 
Red-winged Blackbird singing “konk-ker-ree”. Driving south on Rt 31/89 below 
Savannah we had a flock of some 200 Common Grackles. 

Most of the fields and impoundments in the Montezuma Complex were still frozen 
with nothing but an occasional small flock of gulls or loafing Canada Geese. 
But the streams and rivers were mainly open water, and that’s where we found 
the birds. The areas we covered (Seneca River at Montezuma, Owasco Inlet from 
Port Byron north to Mosquito Point, including the iron bridge to Howland 
Island) contained numerous Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Common and Hooded 
Mergansers (and a few Red-breasted Mergs), an occasional scaup, Northern 
Pintail, a few Mallards and Black Ducks, a few Tundra Swans, and a dozen Wood 
Ducks. 

The Mucklands were completely snowed in, but we did have a single fly-over 
American Pipit.

On the way home we stopped at Mud Lock, Beacon Marine, and Harris Park where we 
had more of the same birds as in the morning (plus 2 Snow Geese: one white and 
one blue morph). In the open water at Frontenac Park (Union Springs) we had 
more of the same plus 7 Green-winged Teal. The open water of Mill Pond had two 
Red-necked Grebes. Along the way we also had several American Wigeons (no 
Eurasian) and a couple of Gadwalls. 

Bob McGuire


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