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Was it Samuel Taylor Coleridge who famously wrote, “Birds, birds everywhere but not a one worth a @#*$” or was it just me? I’m sure plenty of birders know what I’m talking about… the summer doldrums. Despite the patently obvious fact that birding can be somewhat boring when one is confined to resident breeders, Seth [...]

Migration this spring has been more of a tease than a treat for me. That magical avian wave that sets the treetops swarming with flashy warblers never washed over me. My best day brought 8 warbler species rather than the 15-20 requires to get my adrenaline surging! It’s not as if I haven’t been trying; [...]

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge was long, loving looks at the rodent most associated with the refuge, the Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). The Main Pool at Montezuma is studded with muskrat lodges and the rats themselves, smaller than but similar to beavers, can usually be seen swimming at [...]

For months, I’ve been looking forward to making a trip to Montezuma NWR. This New York birding hotspot, conveniently located (for me, but YMMV) between Rochester and Syracuse, deserves consideration any time of year but my interest was the last waterfowl of winter. Was I too late for Snow Geese? The answer, sadly, was yes [...]

Though Mike has already put up a post about our Montezuma Muckrace experience so much happened during the loooong day of birding that there is plenty more to post.  It was a great day and Will, Jory and Mike were tenacious teammates: it’s unusual for four people, much less birders, to be in a somewhat [...]

This weekend two-thirds of the 10,000 Birds triumvirate participated in the 12th Annual Montezuma Muckrace. I’m pleased to report that we lived to tell the tale. Corey and I, accompanied by ace birders Jory Langner and Will Raup, ushered in a shining new era of competitive Big Day birding, the debut of the 10,000 Birds [...]

That’s right, for the first time ever 10,000 Birds will field a team in a birding competition!  The annual Montezuma Muckrace, scheduled for the end of next week, will be our inaugural event.  We can’t wait!  Our squad, composed of four guys hoping not to make fools of ourselves of the finest birders in New York [...]

When one thinks of Western New York, seabirds don’t immediately spring to mind. However, terns, sandpipers, plovers, and the like don’t mind drifting hundreds of miles from the seashore, particularly to lands rich with lakes. The corridor between Rochester and Syracuse apparently suits shorebirds just fine since Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge is renowned for its [...]

The Core Team just returned from a great long weekend in the Finger Lakes; the fun we have actually makes the four hours in transit each way worthwhile. It also helps that Lake Skaneateles is just a stone’s throw away from the magnificent Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Seth and I try to drop in at [...]

The early bird gets the worm and the early birder gets the birds. Once again awakening before dawn this morning, I met Zack in the parking lot of my apartment complex and after we loaded up my car with his gear we went and got Will and headed west. Our destination? The amazing marshes of [...]

My first bird sighting of the new year was a raucous murder of crows, which might have seemed ominous were it not so commonplace. One likes to start a new year (and year list) off right to set the appropriate tone for the coming months. The Core Team spent the last days of December in [...]

This weekend found the endlessly traveling Core Team at Lake Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes visiting Seth and Christine and her family. This annual pilgrimage to Skaneateles is always one of the high points of our summer. Not only do we enjoy the pleasures of the lake and its surrounding towns, along with the good [...]

This weekend, the Core Team motored up to the Finger Lakes in our brand new Subaru Outback to see Seth and Christine. Christine’s family has a camp on one of the lakes. Although most of the Finger Lakes have odd names, Skaneateles must be the strangest one. The name Skaneateles, pronounced “skinny atlas,” is derived [...]