Today Dominic Sherony and I led the last guided shorebird walk on the
refuge this fall. The visitor center pond held good numbers of Lesser
Yellowlegs, 1 Greater Yellowlegs and 6 Pectoral Sandpipers among the
Northern Shoveler, Pintail, Teal, black Duck and Mallards. New waterfowl
arrivals included 2 Gadwall and 2 American Wigeon. A Trumpeter Swan flew in
after the group moved on and was only seen by those who were at the end of
the trip and heard that a WILSON's PHALAROPE was found there by Kim Sucy and
were able to go back and find this very pale , likely basic adult.
The birds most enjoyed there at the start by the original 35 attendees
were the beautiful adult Bald eagle soaring directly overhead and the 2
Peregrine Falcons that hunted together and even called as they passed over
together. Missed by only me!
Further down the Wildlife drive we had the benefit of getting out with
our scopes and closely studying the juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher with a
couple yellowlegs at the Seneca Flats. Expecting the small falcon coming
down the drive to be the fairly regular Merlin we were surprised that it was
a Kestrel. Moving on to Benning Marsh we scanned thoroughly and Dominic
found a secretive juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher followed by Kyle Gage and
Pete Saracino finding 2 out of 3 barely visible Snipe. A good find was Wood
Duck surprisingly absent up until that point as the high winds kept
waterfowl except Coot hidden on the main pool.
After some braved the terrifying restroom building at Tschasche Pool we
move to May's Point pool where we missed the recent Sandhill cranes and
walked down to look for Red-headed Woodpecker which likely have moved on
already.
At the East road overlook of Knox-Marcellus marsh we discussed how the
shorebird walk would have proceeded had there been any early season rains
and what concentrations we would normally find there. Birds there were a
single Northern Harrier, the lingering Snow Goose and Graylag type Goose
plus a few Great-Blue Herons. Not even a token yellowlegs in the remaining
puddle.
On to Morgan Road where the impoundment still had plenty of habitat but
there was only a small flock pf peep flushed by a Cooper's hawk. In flight
we heard the call of Least Sandpiper and Semi-palmated Plover but only a
Least returned to join 2 Greater yellowlegs. The highlight was 2 American
Pipits flying and calling overhead.
All in all we had 65 species and a beautiful day to be out. Guided
shorebird walk may not have been the best title but plenty of birds kept
everyone happy. Mike Tetlow
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