I started my survey from the Seneca Trail tower. The sandhill cranes were right out in the open but I couldn’t see the colt. I looked and looked but didn’t see it. I was so bummed thinking something had made a meal of our little one. With a heavy heart I left the tower and started out on the Wildlife Drive. I could easily see the parents on the west side of the drive but no colt in their vicinity. But wait, all of a sudden I could see something that appeared white out in the vegetation then it would quickly disappear. Lo and behold, there was the colt laying down in the vegetation occasionally sticking its head up to look around!! (pic included) So we now have definitive proof that this colt is a teenager. At a little after 8:00 in the morning the parents are having breakfast and the kid is still in bed!

The large clusters of blooming pickerel weed in Seneca Flats is absolutely magnificent! The 2 eaglets are STILL hanging out in the Maple Island nest. I got great looks at 2 adult bald eagles in the spillway tree (the dead tree between the drive and the Seneca-Cayuga Canal at the spillway). I think it is safe to think that they are the parents from the Spillway nest.

There were a few unusual shorebirds in the mud near the spillway, greater and lesser yellowlegs and one I couldn’t identify as it stayed in the vegetation where I couldn’t get a good enough look at it. There was a spotted sandpiper and many killdeer that we would expect to see at this time of year. A little further north along the drive I saw a baby killdeer. I am including a pic of it and another pic with an adult. Oh they are so cute and fast!! I had a difficult time getting a photo.

From the Wildlife Drive you can still see mama ducks and ducklings and of course, Canada geese and goslings. Black terns are abundant from Tschache Tower and in smaller numbers in other units. I saw my first of the season least bittern! It flew out of May’s Point Pool across Route 89 towards Tschache Pool right in front of my car!! Holy cow, that was amazing!

Mallards are dominating at Knox-Marsellus Marsh. I had counted about 500 hundred on the water, then a first year bald eagle flew over and flushed at least one hundred more out of the cattails! I also saw the pair of trumpeter swans and cygnet.

Mallards are dominating the Sandhill Crane Unit (Van Dyne Spoor Rd). There could have been many in the vegetation that I couldn’t see because my count was substantially lower this time. As I was leaving the Crane Unit I noticed something in the road way up ahead. Through my bins I found a doe and fawn coming right down Van Dyne Spoor Road towards me. I stopped and turned off the car. I took some terrible photos through the windshield because I didn’t want to scare them by opening the door. The doe seemed to have a destination in mind and just kept approaching me. The fawn kept stopping for a second or two then gallop to catch up with its mom. It was so cool to watch! She eventually walked to the north through the trees. I will include a pic, and I apologize for the poor quality.

There are really great things to see and experience at Montezuma! I hope you can spend some time enjoying the flora and fauna the Refuge has to offer.
Jackie 🙂