Dabbler duck and Canada goose numbers continue to increase around the Refuge. A great place from which to observe birds is the Seneca Trail Tower. From there one can see into the southern end of the Main Pool; that area cannot be seen from the Wildlife Drive. Yesterday from there, we saw hundreds of ducks, geese and 31 great egrets!! I must thank the adult bald eagle that flew low over the cattails way out toward Maple Island and flushed most of the 1900 unidentified ducks reported on yesterday’s list!! If not for that, they (the ducks) would have gone undetected!! Thank you, bald eagle for assisting our survey instead of mixing counted birds with uncounted birds giving us much frustration and angst!! Last weekend there were dozens of shorebirds in the Visitors’ Center Wetland. Monday there were mostly killdeers and a few other species. Yesterday we were disappointed to find no shorebirds there. RATS!!
I took the fall foliage picture from the VC deck looking West. The trees are looking magnificent in that area!! I am also including a picture of some of the sweet gum leaves on the tree by the VC parking area. Pete recently explained to me that the chlorophyll in the leaves recedes back into the limbs of the tree for the winter, exposing the true color of the leaves!! The reverse happens in the spring. That explains why the trees look red and yellow in the early spring before the chlorophyll moves back in and masks the colors with green!! HOLY COW!! Thanks Pete!!
Waterfowl hunting in the area begins on Saturday, October 21 and goes until November 12 (first split). It resumes on November 25 and goes until December 31 (second split). Hunting is allowed in some Refuge units on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Please remember and respect that these hunters have to purchase a Federal Duck Stamp ($25.00) to hunt waterfowl. Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge was purchased in 1937 using Duck Stamp monies. Duck stamps are not only for waterfowl hunters, anyone can purchase one to support waterfowl habitat!! Many, not all, Post Offices and some sporting goods retailers sell them. Call ahead to make sure.
Just a reminder that the Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex is having their annual meeting on Saturday, October 21 from 2PM to 4PM at the Montezuma Audubon Center, 2295 NY Rte. 89, Savannah, NY. Our guest speaker will be Christina Hoh from NYSDEC Morgan Road Office. If you are not a member yet, come along, meet some members, ask questions and join if you want to support the Wetlands Complex.
Hopefully, you can get out to explore and experience the Autumn grandeur and the awesome, magical migration at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex trails, towers and the Refuge Wildlife Drive.
I am including the bird list from last Friday, October 13, so you can get a sense of “who” is visiting other units. I should have been doing this since I dropped back to one write up per week. SORRY, I am such a knucklehead!! Pic #1: fall foliage from VC deck, #2: sweet gum leaves, #3: adult bald eagle spillway tree, #4: immature bald eagle spillway tree, #5: green-winged teal Main Pool near end of Wildlife Drive, #6: male Northern pintail and male American wigeon Main Pool, #7: sandhill cranes in Avery grassland (East Road), #8: trumpeter swans Puddler Marsh, #9: trumpeter swans Knox-Marsellus Marsh, #10: male wood duck Larue’s Lagoon
ENJOY, be respectful and safe.
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