Day 31, East Cast trip , Thursday Oct. 19, 2023 MOntezuma NWR, NY

 Day 31, East Coast Trip, Th. Oct  19, 2023, Montezuma NWR NY

Was awakened this morning by the light coming through the shades. It was the sun! It promised to be a better day with some sunshine at least part of the day. We had planned to go to Montezuma's National Wildlife refuge again and we were going to do that

The sun seemed very warm and bright as we prepared to Head out toward the NWR. We made a few stops on the way for pictures of trees in the sunlight and also of a barn for Ruth's collection.

The early sun hits the trees on the road.

Look closely to see the Snipe. There were two.

Thousands of Canada Geese getting loaded  to head  south

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 We could say that the drive around the auto route at the NWR was about the same as yesterday except that we skipped going to the locks and the dam on the Clyde River. We did see they had finished the repairs on the Dam, and the water was blocked by the steel gates. We focused on the birds and found that there were about the same birds as yesterday except for one group. That was the shorebirds who were missing. Does that mean they had flown south, or did the sunshine move them to different areas? Either was possible as it's getting late in the season and many of the shorebirds have already left. The exception to that and maybe you don't think of them as shorebirds, but there were Killdeer that we saw.  It is interesting to note that's some of the shorebirds (Red Knot) fly through these areas getting food as they raise their young in the Arctic and in the winter fly to tear up dill for wiggle in Argentina's Southern most tip. Shorebirds are very endangered with a loss of habitat and changing changing of the climate.

One of the small ponds onMontezuma NWR

It's a Yellow Rump who stayed put for a few seconds

We saw them flying but not on the ground

 

Green Winged Teal

 

A couple of special treats in the bird kingdom were given to us today in the form of three American Bald Eagles, and one Kingfisher. There were no bald eagles sitting in trees, but they flew overhead and one pair stayed around and hovered for a few minutes. They are such graceful creatures with their soaring hang gliding that seems almost effortless. Do you know that at 1,000 feet n the air they can see prey, 3 square miles  around?

A very old cemetery at the side of the road.

Yes,this is the cecond buck we saw , this on the side of the Auto Loop.

One of the viewing stands for the small pond.

 

At one point on the Drive around the refuge the freeway I-90 comes within 100 feet of the refuge road. Of course it is very noisy and even though there are ponds there, most of the Refuge traffic moves along at the maximum speed of 10 mph. At the end of that stretch however, there is a small pond of 30 feet or so in diameter in which we found  both days a small raft of Green Winged Teal. We saw them both days but they're not a bird we see very often. A group of ducks swimming can be called a 'puddle', a 'pontoon', 'a paddle', a or 'raft' , Take your pick.

We did try one short trail that led to what was called South Pond and did see a small flock of Yellow Rumped Warblers who were fleeting from branch to branch very quickly so it is hard to get any kind of photo of them. But we did manage to get one. One of the birds we did not see today were the woodpeckers as we usually see at least one of them. We did hear some birds singing and  know their songs but we cannot count any birds unless we see them. That's a rule of birding.

We finished exploring that day by traveling to what is known as the unit 14, or the Crane marsh. As we were driving there we did see six or seven small groups of cranes in the air making their' luk luk' sounds so far away. The end that road that led to the crane marsh hey, did not showing a cranes.  The Yup'ik word for Crane is 'luk luk'.

Fall colors

Ruth resting by the tower

A close up of those wonderful milkweed seeds

 Our final stop of the day was at the the local Audubon Center which was on the way back to the campground. One of the staff, Teresa, answered our questions, told us about the use of the center for education,  School children's programs, public use for meetings, and as a wildlife center. They have two huge ponds on the property. It is an excellent use, and well-designed, building. It looks out on two ponds or pools, which she said is filled with many birds in the springtime.

We headed back to the campground having a satisfied day and getting some fairly decent color pictures of the maples. Ruth suggested that we have dinner out and so we went into the town, Walcott, and ate at the "Village" restaurant where Ruth had a seafood combo,, and I had chicken Parmesan over spaghetti. It was a simple meal but certainly the helpings were overpowering.  One thing they had that I'd never seen before in any kind of restaurant we have ever been in, was the blue cheese dressing, that had the largest chunks of blue cheese and any dressing I have ever seen anywhere at anytime. I did ask the waitress, Sherry where they got them from and she told me. I'm going to look that up and see if I can order some. It was unbelievable. Kecks was the distributor of PA.

The day ended as we realized we had a great day with the outdoors, birds,  quiet back roads and friendly people. Tomorrow we head further west for Jefferson OH, skirting around Niagara Falls and Buffalo as the road makes a slight north to south turn. We hope to see lighthouses there, and lots of history about the War of 1812. Thanks for reading. See you again in a few more times as we are down to five days to go.