Muckrace 2011 Review

I'm a month overdue with this report. My sincerest apologies.

First and foremost, a huge THANK YOU to the generosity of all those who contributed to our team! We raised over $700 towards conservation efforts in the Montezuma Wetlands! Amazing! Thank you to Micron Industries for again being the lead sponsor of our team! I would name you all, but fear some may not want their names printed, so I will again say THANK YOU, all of your donations were deeply appreciated.

Our team saw 68 bird species! I think this is only shy by three birds of our best year. The winning team saw over 100 birds, which is actually a little low this year, when last year the winning team saw almost 150 birds!

The real highlight of this year was having a new teammate, Dan Wood of Oswego fame. He is a great birder, but more importantly a really nice easy going guy who fit perfectly in to our team.

We were really excited to add two new owl species to our list this year with a little effort after dark. With risking starvation from not eating dinner, we pushed on after dark until we were satisfied we had heard Screech Owl and Great Horned Owl. We got to see some great displays of Sandhill Crane, Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, Black crowned Night Heron, and Glossy Ibis. Our only disappointment was not being able to find a blasted ROBIN! Go figure.

Once again, thanks to everyone for their love and support!

Photo credit: Dick Beery (from Montezuma Muckrace 2010)

Lyla at the Playground September 2011

Lyla at Strong Museum

These were taken by Dick Beery (grandpa) at the Strong Museum in late Summer 2011

Montezuma Muckrace 2011

John Ballou, Dick Beery, and Dan Wood are team Mottled Mucks and they are participating in the 2011 Montezuma Muckrace! They are going to be finding as many bird species as they can locate in the Montezuma Wetlands Complex in a 24 hour period beginning on September 9th.

They need your help!

This "Big Day" of birding helps to support the Friends of the Montezuma Wetlands Complex, which in turn helps to create and maintain bird habitat for over a hundred different types of migratory birds. Montezuma has been identified by the Audubon Society as a "Important Bird Area" for its key location in the Finger Lakes as a migratory stopover.

By donating to our team, the Mottled Mucks, you are also helping us reach our personal goal of $500 in pledges raised.

You can donate with any credit card or paypal by simply clicking on the donate button below. Thanks for your ongoing support.

(if you don't have a Paypal account you can still use your credit card. After you press the "Donate" button above look toward the botton of the next screen to where the credit card logo's are, and you will see a link there to click on)

photo credit: Dick Beery, 3 Oaks Enhancements

Animals attack letterboxes