Took another trip to Montezuma Today with Dan Watkins. Once again we made a quick stop at Myer's before heading up and we only had 1 ORCHARD ORIOLE by the entrance today...an adult male. We got great looks of this guy as he was singing erratically. We also had a singing NORTHERN PARULA near the entrance as well. There were many gulls loafing on the point of which water levels are now falling. We had all the "usual" gulls with one winter plumage BONAPARTE'S GULL.
I was able to snap a couple photos of this guy. There were also 3 GREATER YELLOWLEGS. We also stopped at Lake Road on the way and got most of the typical field birds including BOBOLINKS, EASTERN MEADOWLARKS, and SAVANNAH SPARROWS. I also thought I had a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW but was not sure. I only heard it twice..."PITUK...ZEEEEEE." It was fairly distant and it did not sing again. I know others have had this bird near here but I did not list it for my records at this point. If others go up there, I would check it out. The bird was on the lower field before the road gets into the woodlands. Up the road from Long Point SP there was a flowering apple tree which had another singing ORCHARD ORIOLE ...a 1st year male...yellowish bird with a black bib. There was also a YELLOW WARBLER and NASHVILLE WARBLER in this tree. Next stop was the Marina in Union Springs and we had 7 COMMON TERNS loafing with a bunch of gulls. I got a couple photos. At the Montezuma Visitors centers there continued to be some waterfowl plus some peeps, all LEAST SANDPIPERS. We also had 2 singing CERULEAN WARBLERS near the restrooms and nice look at a PALM WARBLER near the ground. Wildlife drive was quiet. The shorebird area had a flock of shorebirds which flew out shortly after we got there. We identified just LEAST SANDPIPERS. There could have been others that we did not get on before they flew off. At Tschache Pool, the water is falling as it is being drained. There is more shorebird habitat there as a result. We found basically just GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, LEAST SANDPIPERS and 2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. There could have been more as they is a lot of area to cover that we ran out of time for. We also had 6 BALD EAGLES there. May's Point had less than previous trips but still a decent variety of birds. We had COMMON MOORHEN, AMERICAN COOT, PIED-BILLED GREBE and BLACK TERNS. There was less waterfowl. We still had REDHEAD and BUFFLEHEAD. We tried in vain to find Chris Wood's Prothonary Warbler. Towpath road was also quiet. The BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS continue to evade us. We typically arrive there early afternoon since we come up from Binghamton. I wonder if this is too late? Of course, no AM. WHITE PELICANS anywhere today as well. We looked all over and I don't think we would have missed them. They either evaded us or are long on their way out west. The best bird from East Road was a LESSER SCAUP. We got nice looks at this bird. Isn't it getting late for this guy? >From Marten's Tract we had AMERICAN BITTERN, SORA, and VIRGINIA RAIL. Carncross road had many many yellowlegs, both greater and lesser. I got a great shot of a lesser and greater next to each other for nice comparision. There were also many waterfowl, loafing CASPIAN TERNS and a small flock of BONAPARTE'S GULLS that flew in. Our last stop of the day in the basin was the Seneca Co Ag. Fairgrounds(after receiving permission). We got killer views of an UPLAND SANDPIPER taking a bath in a puddle. The bird was close enough to see without bins and with bins it was awesome. The bird flew off and we followed it as it landed to a distance where I got decent digiscope images. After we tallied the day up our total was 124 species. We also enjoyed the beautiful weather and the fine scenery of the finger lakes and montezuma area. What a great day. A few select photos of the trip can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/davenicosia/sets/72157626569755755/ Dave Nicosia Johnson City, NY -- 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/ --
