Went with a group from the Baltimore Woods Nature Center to visit Montezuma. It was a cool and crisp day providing great camaraderie and many bird sightings. This 9000 acre preserve off the New York State Thruway is managed by the federal government and provides a stop off site and feeding ground for a variety of bird species.
The Visitor Center was currently closed, however, we were able to use the deck for viewing.
The Bird Watching Group
We saw a great variety of birds during our visit:
- Green Wing Teal
- Canadian Geese
- Bald Eagles
- Pintail Ducks
Some interesting bird houses on the site for Purple Martins.
For more information – here is the summary of our Visit from Anna Stunkel of the Baltimore Woods organization.
She says it best!
Hello:
Thank you for coming to the Spring Field Trip to Montezuma!
We hope you enjoyed seeing the incredible bird diversity at this refuge. Here is a list of the bird species that we observed this morning:
Great Blue Heron
Tundra Swan
Trumpeter Swan
Canada Goose
Snow Goose
Mallard
American Black Duck
Northern Pintail
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Bald Eagle
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Sandhill Crane
Ring-billed Gull
American Crow
Horned Lark
Eastern Bluebird
Red-winged Blackbird
Here are GPS points for the locations that we visited today, along with a few other birding locations of interest that were mentioned during the program:
Tschache Pool observation tower
Honeywell Visitor Center– Bald Eagles can be observed in the surrounding areas here
Johnson Road– many Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers can be seen at dusk in late winter. Please be respectful of the birds and if they are flying close to the road, observe them from your car.
We encourage you to learn more about the birds that we saw today by checking out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds website. There, you can search for individual species and find out more about their life history, calls, and ID tips.
I strongly recommend revisiting the Savannah Mucklands as the temperatures warm up to observe the Snow Geese later this month. To see just how important Central New York wetlands and fields are along the journey of Snow Geese, take a look at this interactive map: https://explorer.audubon.org/explore/species/1501/snow-goose/migration?sidebar=collapse&layersPanel=expand&zoom=3&x=807469.093080872&y=3208026.7411663136&hide=migration-journey-graphics&range=0.6925%2C0.7125
You can also search for other bird species to learn more about their migration routes with this amazing map tool above, created by the National Audubon Society and its many partnering organizations.
You can contribute to citizen science and help keep track of bird movements by submitting your observations to eBird. Sightings can be submitted via their website, or by downloading the free eBird app.
The Merlin app is also free, and it is an excellent and convenient bird guide resource.
For bird survey reports and other Montezuma news, take a look at the Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex Cattails page.
We would love to hear your feedback about this program and our program offerings in general, and would greatly appreciate it if you can fill out this brief survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BWNC2017
Hope to see you soon, and thanks for supporting Baltimore Woods Nature Center!
Anna Stunkel, Environmental Educator
Another great Central New York visit!
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