Montezuma is extremely important to migrating shorebirds as a stopover point along their interior route of southward migration in the late summer/early fall. The mix of species found here certainly differs from that along the Atlantic Coast.

Mudflat and shallow water habitats throughout the Refuge during late summer/early fall provide prime habitat for migratory shorebirds. Here, they can find a feast of invertebrates as they stop and rest on their journeys south. Over twenty species of shorebirds may be sighted and heard, including: killdeer, spotted sandpiper, American woodcock (typically at night), common snipe, greater and lesser yellowlegs, dunlin, short- and long-billed dowitcher, black-bellied plover; and more rarely, several sandpiper species, Hudsonian godwit, American golden plover, and both red and Wilson's phalarope.

Attracted by the abundance of shorebirds, peregrine falcon and merlin may be spotted on the hunt!

Black terns (a NYS listed endangered species) have recently returned to nesting in the Montezuma wetlands. Black terns nest in small, loose colonies using floating masses of dead vegetation. Since the 1950s, when the population reached more than 2,000 terns, numbers and nesting had been on the decline--until recently. The drop in numbers is believed to be related to the invasion of purple loosestrife. Purple loosestrife "chokes out" other vegetation and open water areas, leaving the area undesirable to nesting terns. With our successful purple loosestrife control, Montezuma's habitats have once again attracted nesting black terns. A success story for conservations, for sure!