Wildlife Festival at Montezuma NWR

AMGO

 I have felt like sharing my experience of helping out at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge for a while, so I am going to do a post about it even though it was back in May of 2012. I was lucky enough to be able to assist my professor, John Van Neil from Finger Lakes Community College with a bird banding booth at the festival. We set up one mist net near the feeders that are just outside of the Audubon center in Wayne county. At first we thought we may not be able to set up the net at all due to the wind, but it died down a little and we made sure that someone could see the net at all times. Through out the day we caught 4 different birds, all males. First we got an American Goldfinch, then a White-breasted Nuthatch, a Red-winged Blackbird and the last was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I helped John watch the net and helped in the banding process while John explained what we were doing to the public.

Red-Wing Blackbird

Removing the bird from the net

Aging the bird

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Near the end of the day the head of the Finger Lake Community College Conservation Dept brought out her captive Bald Eagle, Liberty. Liberty is in her mid-20's but has been in captivity since she broke her wing in AK at the age of 6 months. 

Liberty the Bald Eagle

Animals of the Tall Grass Prairie

Eastern Cottontail

As I am sure you can imagine, there are many animals that live in the tall grass prairie and the surrounding woodlands. I have gotten pictures of some, while others are a bit more illusive, though I still hope to snap a pic at some point in the season! One of the first pictures I got was of an eastern cottontail, though the first animals I saw were white-tail deer, thirteen line ground squirrels, and many types of birds, of which I have not been able to get pictures yet. I had the chance to help my supervisor in the Heartland Monitoring Network Bird Survey program. The survey basically had my supervisor and I out on the prairie and in the woodlands of the monument within the first 4 hours of sunlight during early June. We visited approximately 45 GPS location, that were established for specifically for this program. At each location we would record each species of bird that we saw or heard during a five minute period. We observed or heard many species of birds including, but not limited to: Indigo Bunting, Great Blue Heron, American Robin, American Crow, American Goldfinch, Eastern Phoebe, Northern Bobwhite, Spotted Towhee, Blue Jay, White Breasted Nuthatch, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Cardinal, Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, Grey Catbird, Mourning Dove, House Wren, Norther Flicker (Yellow Shafted), Rose breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, Turkey Vulture, Eastern Kingbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Bluebird, Warbling Vireo and Killdeer. Outside of the survey I have seen/heard wild turkey, Downy woodpeckers, Hairy woodpeckers, Red-headed woodpeckers and Barred Owls. However here are some of the pictures that I have been able to get:

 Eastern Comma Butterfly (Lepidoptera)

Crazy Fox Squirrel licking the pavement

Fresh Water Mussel in Cub Creek

Female Red-winged Black bird

American Goldfinch- male

Solider Beetle (Coleoptera) on a Milkweed plant

Dickcissel

Baltimore Oriole feeding the family

Phoebe feeding the family

American Carrion Beetle (Coleoptera)

Baby spiders

Juvenile Robins

There are many other interesting animals on the prairie, my roommate and fellow SCA intern Chelsea saw a mink and a beaver, which I have yet to see. I have had the opportunity to see many fledglings, mostly robin, barn swallow and phoebe. I also got to see a coyote cross the road while I was driving to Kansas. I have also been able to see what lives in Cub Creek, we have found some small fish, probably in the minnow family, crayfish and many interesting macroinverterbrates.  I hope to see many more animals and I hope to get more pictures too, so that I can share them with you!