My apologies for the lack of information earlier this week. It seems I picked up a stomach bug from my grandkids and had to “call in sick” on Tuesday. So, yesterday we surveyed all the public access areas to get up-to-date info for you!!  Allyn Paul is going to be joining me on Fridays from now on and Marsela, Andrea’s Summer Intern, is back and will join us as often as she can.

Even though most of the units are pretty quiet, there are some really cool things to see. Last Monday morning, I found a mama redhead with one duckling in the Main Pool in the section along I-90.  FINALLY, I have been keeping an eye out for them!! I hope to eventually see more at May’s Point and in the Sandhill Crane Unit.  In that same stretch along the interstate, there have been many wood ducks, mostly males, hanging around. But I have seen mama wood ducks with ducklings and mama mallards with ducklings there too!  In the Main Pool a little way south of the Seneca Spillway, way out to the West, we have had a couple of ring-necked ducks, a lesser scaup and ruddy ducks for several weeks! Don’t ask, I don’t know why but, I surely enjoy seeing them.  I frequently see black-crowned night herons flying low over the cattails behind the afore mentioned ducks.  However, yesterday one black-crowned flew from Larue’s Lagoon across the Drive to the Main Pool right in front of us!! Our often present and much appreciated, adult bald eagle was in the Spillway tree. Our visitors do enjoy seeing a bald eagle!! Around the corner, the two large, dark brown eaglets were easy to see in the nest.   Sadly, when we were at the Seneca Trail tower, we could see where the snapping turtle eggs (pics 060223) had been dug up and devoured. RATS!! I know, everybody has to eat. Over at Tschache Pool Tower we could see lots of young great blue herons standing in the nests!! Pretty soon we will be seeing them down in the marshes hunting! We will know they are the young great blues because they will have lots of striping down the front of their neck and on their breast that is not present in adults.  The treasure trove of babies can be found at the Sandhill Crane Unit (Van Dyne Spoor Road), especially at the eastern end.  We saw many pied-billed grebe babies and some American coot babies.  We didn’t see any common gallinule babies yesterday but we did last week. There are still Canada goose goslings in various stages of development in many areas.

This week’s sound challenge is the black tern.  Open up your Merlin app, go to Explore Birds and put in black tern.  Choose the “sounds” tab, then listen to the (American) choices. The first on the list sounds like many black terns calling at once, however, I usually hear one or just a couple at one time. To me they have a high-pitched squeaky call.  I often hear them before I see them and find them in many of our units.  Good luck and have FUN!!

The 1^st pic is the mama redhead with duckling, 2^nd pic a mama mallard with ducklings in the Main Pool, 3^rd pic bald eagle eaglets, 4^th pic snapping turtle nest disaster, 5^th pic great blue heron rookery at Tschache Pool, 6^th pic an Eastern cottontail at May’s Point, 7^th pic a mixed flock of Canada geese and goslings on Van Dyne Spoor Road, 8^th pic an Eastern kingbird on the water gauge stake at the Sandhill Crane Unit (Van Dyne Spoor Road), 9^th pic a pied-billed grebe family with some Canada geese behind them, 10^th pic 2 redhead ducks with a pied-billed grebe family behind and to the right, 11^th pic one of the redhead ducks in the Sandhill Crane Unit (seen from Van Dyne Spoor Road).  The last three pics are of a pied-billed grebe family in the Sandhill Crane Unit (seen from Van Dyne Spoor Road). I think the adult might be an inexperienced parent because it kept bringing fish to the young that seemed to be too large for them to swallow.  The poor grebelets (my word) struggled and kept dropping the fish.  I hope the adult figured it out and found something more manageable for them.

Hopefully, you can get out soon to explore and experience all the amazing things at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex trails, towers and the Refuge Wildlife Drive.  The Wildlife Drive is now open for hiking and biking until mid-August.  E-bikes are allowed but riders must observe the 15 mph speed limit on the Drive. Visitors who want to hike or bike on the Wildlife Drive MUST leave their vehicle in the VC parking area.  Hikers access the Drive via the Seneca Trail and cyclists via the Wildlife Drive from the parking area.  Visitors should NOT exit and abandon their vehicle on the Wildlife Drive to hike or bike. Visitors in vehicles may exit their vehicle, BUT they must stay with their vehicle, no wandering.  Anyone on the Wildlife Drive must stay on the Drive and not go onto any dikes or into any impoundment areas!! The only exception is that visitors may hike the trail to the photo blind.

Dogs on a leash are only allowed in and around the Visitors’ Center and on the Seneca Trail. Dog owners must clean up after their dog and take it with them when they leave. Dogs on a leash are not allowed walking on the Wildlife Drive or Esker Brook Trails, ever.  In the Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area, the DEC had new Wildlife Management Area land-use regulations pass in 2022.  The regulations state that dogs must remain on a leash and under control of the owner at all times on any WMA property, with a few exceptions related to hunting. Also, folks must clean up after their pets. All of this information can be found here:  https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/p51expressterms.pdf  if you’d like to take a closer look.

Fishing is not allowed in any of the Refuge impoundments, but fishing is allowed in the waters, canals, rivers and lakes, around the Refuge. Last year I checked with the DEC staff about fishing and was told that visitors may fish in the Northern Montezuma Wetlands Management Area (WMA).  I asked about the ponds on Howland’s Island and other areas.  My source said people can fish in them, but he doesn’t know why anyone would want to as they are not particularly good places to fish.  He said that the rivers, streams, canals and lakes in and around the WMA are way better for fishing.

ENJOY, be respectful and safe.