Early fall at Montezuma

Drove up the Thruway from the city and pulled into Montezuma by 6:30 AM. The main pool was glassy, which is what you pray for when you want waterfowl reflections. The refuge was already in full early-fall migration mode.

The numbers weren’t at their October peak yet but there was variety: Wood Ducks in family groups, Northern Pintails sharp-edged in the low sun, Blue-winged Teal still hanging around, a few early Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Mallards, and a single Pied-billed Grebe that was closer to shore than politeness usually allows.

A Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron did some posturing over a fish that neither of them caught. Wilson’s Snipe in the mud at a corner pullout — two of them — let me get close enough for a sharp frame which is unusual for snipe.

Raptors: a Northern Harrier worked the big pool for an hour. Two Bald Eagles on the snag. A single Merlin ripped across the impoundment and up toward the woods without slowing.

Back at the visitor center a volunteer told me the October peak count last year was somewhere north of 50,000 waterfowl. I’ll come back for that.