AT LAST, we had a wonderfully pleasant, lower temperatures and nice breeze, day to survey! Allyn filled in for Linda and was a great help. Thanks Allyn!!
They’re B-A-A-A-C-K!! We have shorebirds in the Visitors’ Center Wetland again!! There were loads of killdeer and semipalmated plovers. Those plovers are “off the chart”, CUTE, about a 15 on a scale of 1 – 10!! We also found some least and semipalmated sandpipers there too. There were 2 solitary sandpipers in the slough before Larue’s Lagoon and 3 pectoral, a spotted and some semipalmated sandpipers in Larue’s. We found mostly yellowlegs in the Main Pool, seen from the Wildlife Drive. However, many were out in some stubbly material and were really difficult to see! There were also some Canada geese, mallards, ring-billed gulls and Caspian terns. We did not see the sandhill crane family. On Monday morning there was an adult bald eagle in the spillway tree and yesterday there was a juvenile peregrine falcon perched in the tree! I suspect it was using that vantage point to check out the lunch menu!! I am including a picture of some of the many, beautiful woodland sunflowers in bloom along the Wildlife Drive.
May’s Point continues having adult and young pied-billed grebes, American coots and common gallinules. The adult female redhead made a short appearance when we first arrived to the observation deck, then she quickly swam into the cattails. We heard, then saw two green herons fly out from the edge and land down in the cattails. COOL!
Allyn found the great egrets!! YAY!! There was a gathering of them that could be seen from the Tschache Pool Tower. From the tower look WAY out, to the left of center, for the white spots. She counted 29 but thought there could be more behind the cattails that she couldn’t see.
Knox-Marsellus had a mix of Canada geese, mallards, wood ducks, great blue herons, sandhill cranes, ring-billed gulls, some Caspian terns and a few shorebirds. The shorebirds were towards the east-southeast area, a long way from the overlook on East Road and probably could not be seen from there. We had a peregrine falcon flyover the vehicle. It was probably heading over to check out the shorebirds. We also got to watch two juvenile northern harriers performing some beautiful acrobatic maneuvers together along the edge of the marsh. FANTASTIC!!
I am unable to survey on Friday. Pete and Linda will post bird lists in the Visitors’ Center at the conclusion of their survey. I will not do a write up on Saturday.
The intense heat and humidity are supposed to moderate for a while. So hopefully you can get out soon to explore the Montezuma Wetlands Complex trails, towers and Refuge Wildlife Drive. The Refuge Wildlife Drive is open to hikers and cyclists as well as cars through August 15. Dogs on a leash are only allowed in and around the Visitors’ Center and on the Seneca Trail.
ENJOY, be respectful and safe.
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