Yesterday, we started our day by surveying the Visitors’ Center Wetland. We found OODLES of shorebirds there!! There were at least 8 different species!! It is a good thing we started there because, when we returned after surveying the Wildlife Drive there was not even one shorebird in the unit!! My guess is that there had been a “visit” by a peregrine falcon that flushed them out!!
I was extremely fortunate to “sort out” 10 Wilson’s snipes in Larue’s Lagoon. They were in the middle area where there was a little water and a lot of clumps!! A little further up the Drive while Pete was trying to count the copious amounts of ducks, the sandhill crane family flew in from the East!! Awww, our baby is flying now!! Kids, they grow so quickly!!
Speaking of the ducks in the Main Pool, HOLY COW, there were thousands!! They were mostly mallards, with some pintails, wigeon, blue and green winged teals, wood and black ducks. Unfortunately, we did not see the Eurasian wigeon, ibis, whimbrel, or the red-necked phalaropes!! RATS!! It was not for lack of trying, that’s for sure! I saw a frequent Montezuma birder a little later in the afternoon who said that he also didn’t see any of them when he went through yesterday morning.
Not too long ago I was whining because the great egrets seemed to have disappeared and it just seemed to be too early for them to be gone for the season. Yesterday the Main Pool had dozens!! Most of them were in the area near the spillway, but Pete found another 30 in one of the pools out along the interstate. In addition to the sandhill crane family and great egrets pictures, I’m including one of a double crested cormorant that was perched up in the spillway tree.
Remember, next Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10, is the annual Montezuma Muckrace, a 24 – hour fund raising birding extravaganza!! If you are not on a team, feel free to support a team with a $$ donation. Just go to friendsofmontezuma.org and click on the “visit our Muckrace page” link. You can choose a specific team to support or donate to the general fund. All monies go to assist the Refuge, DEC and Audubon projects and activities.
Hopefully, you can get out to explore and experience all the amazing things on the Montezuma Wetlands Complex trails, towers and the Refuge Wildlife Drive. The Refuge Wildlife Drive is no longer open to hikers and cyclists. It’s just cars until May 25, 2023. 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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