Montezuma NWR

As I mentioned, I swung over to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge on my way back to PA today. I was disappointed that they have the Visitors' Center/gift shop closed from Oct 31 thru April 1 due to lack of volunteers/staff I suppose. What's worse, there's no pamphlets available or even a map on site of the entire Montezuma Complex. As a result, I was flying blind and missed out on visiting the NYS North Montezuma Wildlife Management Area and the Audubon Center. (Well, the last was closed on Monday anyway.)

Still, I enjoyed my visit despite the strong, cold wind that was blowing out of the north. There were thousands of Snow Geese on the main pond as well as Canvasbacks, Canada Geese, American Coots, American Widgeons, Shovelers, and more. I got to see an immature Bald Eagle fighting with a mature adult as they flew over the Snow Geese.... Man! Did that upset the Geese and send them roiling about!

Anyway, now I have an idea of what to expect and know where the Refuge is located.

Oh, and the trip down Route 14 to Elmira is far prettier than the one down Route 13. Route 14 follows the western shore of Seneca Lake and is bordered by vineyards virtually from Geneva in the north to Watkins Glen in the south. I'll be taking Terry up that way for some wine tasting some day. Lots and lots of wine to taste!

Okay, I took a few pictures of the birds on the pond but am unhappy with the results the Sony Alpha and 300x lens produced. Perhaps on Wednesday, with the digiscoping setup I can do better. Anyway, here's the list I filed this evening with eBird:

Location: Montezuma NWR--Auto Loop
Observation date: 3/23/09
Notes: 5K Snow Geese including some Blue versions.
1 mat. Bald Eagle and 1 im. BE had fight over main pool spooking the Snow Geese.
Many hundreds of Tundra Swans, Ring-necked Ducks and Shovelers.
Quite the variety of water fowl.

Clear, windy and cold day (34-36 degrees).
Number of species: 19

Snow Goose X
Canada Goose X
Tundra Swan X
American Wigeon X
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X
Northern Pintail X
Ring-necked Duck X
Lesser Scaup X
Common Merganser X
Great Blue Heron X
Bald Eagle X
Red-tailed Hawk X
American Coot X
Ring-billed Gull X
Mourning Dove X
American Crow X
Song Sparrow X
Red-winged Blackbird X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)