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| Red headed Woodpecker, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
We travelled out to the Finger Lakes region of New York last
Thursday and came back yesterday. Although not a birding trip I managed to hit
a few spots each day including two morning outings with Ian D. Before the trip
my New York list stood at just 66 so I set a goal of reaching 100 species by the
end of my few days out there. With much help from Ian I managed to reach 118
species over the four days I was there with most of those on the weekend
mornings so easily hit my 100 species goal.
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| Watkins Glen SP, NY, July 31, 2015 |
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| Bird families of the world mural, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, July 31, 2015 |
We arrived out there on
Thursday and visited a variety of wineries and other attractions late in the day
but didn't really do any birding at all. On Friday we visited Watkins Glen
State Park, a variety of wineries and then over to the Cornell Lab of
Ornithology where we got a behind the scenes look at the operation. The lab
building was a very impressive new building set in among the woods northeast of
the main campus of Cornell. It was neat to see where all the bird related
activities are developed and maintained by Cornell although I was expecting a
real time status board for eBird constantly updating (I envisioned something
akin to the stock exchange...I suspect that is in the works now that I have
given them the idea!) One of the more impressive sights in the public area was
a mural with life size representations of every bird family in the world painted
onto a map of the world. The details on the birds of the nearly completed
project were truly impressive.
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| Least Bittern, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
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| Red headed Woodpecker, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
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| Common Gallinule, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
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| Black Tern, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
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| Pied billed Grebes, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
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| Snow Goose, Montezuma NWR, NY, Aug 1, 2015 |
Saturday morning I met Ian at 4:30 and we headed about an hour
north to Montezuma NWR where we spent the next five and a half hours exploring a
variety of locations within the large refuge including the Wildlife Drive, Mays
Point Pool, Towpath Road, Van Dyne Spoor Road and Tschache Pool. The refuge
features a very large expanse of freshwater marsh as well as extensive mudflats
which attract a large selection of waterfowl, marsh birds and shorebirds.
Waterfowl included such highlights as a Snow Goose, Green winged and Blue winged
Teal and Gadwall. Marsh bird highlights included Pied billed Grebe, Least
Bittern, Black crowned Night Heron, Virginia Rail, Sora, Common Gallinule,
American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Black Tern, Caspian Tern and Marsh Wren. A total
of eleven species of shorebirds were seen with the main concentrations along the
Wildlife Drive and Towpath Road. Other highlights included a pair of Red headed
Woodpecker plus thousands of swallows plus a few Purple Martins. Overall we
managed to find a total of 83 species on the refuge as well as few other species
on our way back.
Wildlife Drive:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24453710
Mays Point Pool:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24453591
Towpath Road:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24453586
Van Dyne Spoor Road:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24453521
Tschache Pool:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24454000
On Sunday morning we headed out once again but I slept in a bit so
we didn't meet up until just before 5 AM and then we headed over to Catherine
Creek Marsh to check out the birds leaving their morning roost. The first
species to leave the marsh were Barn Swallows which numbered well over 4000 (and
likely much more...tough to keep a good count as they milled around). Oddly the
only other swallow species I saw was a single Tree Swallow flying low heading
south. The next group to leave their roost included a mix flock of blackbirds,
grackles, cowbirds and starlings. Overall count totaled over 23,000 individuals
(more details in the list below). We also added a few more species as we walked
the road coaxing in early migrants and dispersals. By mid morning I had to get
back to the hotel to check out so managed less stops and therefore less birds on
Sunday compared to Saturday. After parting ways with Ian I headed back over
Sapsucker Woods for a few walks beginning the long trek home. Not lots of bird
activity around but did get to watch a Mink apparently building a den. It would
reach out from a hole in the roots of a tree and drag in leaves and sticks. I
didn't have my DSLR so I was not able to get any photos but it was very
interesting to watch.
Sapsucker Woods:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24466026
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| Solitary Sandpiper, Hadley, MA, Aug 3, 2015 |
A stop this morning in the East Meadows on my way to work produced
my 15,000th eBird checklist for Massachusetts. Unfortunately it did not produce
any notable birds for me.
