5/28/14 Hamilton & Franklin Counties
A migrant Blackpoll Warbler vocalized outside our house yesterday. I added a photo of a singing Philadelphia Vireo to my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian . (My hands and other exposed areas are covered in mosquito and black fly bites I got as I photographed the bird!) I also observed a Great Horned Owl carrying what looked like the leg of something (likely Snowshoe Hare). I will add a photo of the owl later today. I also encountered a Rusty Blackbird, which is becoming rarer each year. 5/27/14 Essex & Franklin Counties On a half-day tour with 3 birders from the Albany area, we found 61 species in lowland boreal and mixed forest habitats (& a Red Fox walking down the road!). We had many nice views of warblers. The highlight was observing a family of Gray Jays with 3 juveniles. The adults have a very loud vocalization to call them in which I have observed several times now. It was fascinating to watch the juveniles learning so quickly from the adults. One of the juveniles was hopping around the ground after a butterfly which was very comical! All the Gray Jays spent a great deal of time on the ground flushing insects. Here is our species list from the morning: Canada Goose Common Loon Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Mourning Dove Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Hairy Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker - bird in its nest hole on eggs Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay - many including 3 juveniles! Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Cliff Swallow - adorable! Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Veery Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Black-and-white Warbler Nashville Warbler Mourning Warbler - nice views! Common Yellowthroat Amer. Redstart - nice views! Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Pine Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler - nice views! Canada Warbler - nice views! Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow - nice views! Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Indigo Bunting Common Grackle Purple Finch American Goldfinch 5/25/14 Dawn Tour up Whiteface Mountain (Essex Co.) On this season's first dawn tour up Whiteface Mountain, followed by lowland boreal birding with a couple from Elmira, we found 67 species, including 19 warbler species. We did a bit of nocturnal birding on the way to Whiteface and found a tooting Northern Saw-whet Owl and calling Barred Owl in addition to other nocturnal species. We observed (& photographed) the Cape May Warbler for at least a half hour in the Bloomingdale area (where I have found them in past years also). Here is our list: Ruffed Grouse Common Loon Turkey Vulture Northern Harrier Broad-winged Hawk - 6 Red-tailed Hawk Wilson's Snipe Amer. Woodcock Mourning Dove Barred Owl - 1 Northern Saw-whet Owl - 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Black-backed Woodpecker - 5! Merlin Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay - many, including juveniles! A female Black-backed Woodpecker chased them. Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee - up on Whiteface Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Bicknell's Thrush - many! Several birds were singing and many were calling. Swainson's Thrush - 2 Amer. Robin Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush - great views of a bird high on a dead snag! Black-and-white Warbler Nashville Warbler Mourning Warbler - great views (photo posted to my Facebook page - I will be adding a video also) Common Yellowthroat Amer. Redstart Cape May Warbler - 1 singing male! Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Blackpoll Warbler - nice views! Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Pine Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler - nice views! Canada Warbler Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow - nice views! Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Purple Finch We also observed a Porcupine and Snowshoe Hare on the summit of Whiteface! We should have heard many Amer. Bitterns in marshes, but none were heard and the marshes are still all completely flooded from recent rains. 5/24/14 St. Lawrence & Jefferson Counties I had a wonderful night-day birding in the St. Lawrence Valley. It was a car birding trip from Winthrop all the way down to Chaumont Barrens. Here are just some of the birds found: Pied-billed Grebe American Bittern - pair that flew into a field near me and stood, with heads pointed straight up, about 10 feet from each other! Osprey Northern Harrier Virginia Rail - 2 Amer. Woodcock Wilson's Snipe Black Tern Common Tern Caspian Tern Yellow-billed Cuckoo - flushed at Chaumont Barrens Great Horned Owl - 1 Barred Owl - 7 Amer. Kestrel Eastern Wood-Pewee Alder Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Marsh Wren Veery Wood Thrush Brown Thrasher Louisiana Waterthrush - northern Jefferson Co. near the border with St. Lawrence Co. Golden-winged Warbler - photo and video on my Facebook page Blue-winged Warbler Prairie Warbler - photo on my Facebook page Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow - photos and video on my Facebook page I hiked the 2 miles trail at Chaumont Barrens (Nature Conservancy preserve), a unique Alvar habitat area in NYS. This is the perfect time to visit for wildflowers - I posted photos to my Facebook page. It is a captivating, peaceful place. There were many Prairie Warblers found. 5/19/14, 5/21/14, 5/22/14 Baker Mt., Jackrabbit Trail, Boreal habitat of Bloomingdale, and Intervale Lowlands I spent 3 wonderful days with the Wildlife Conservation Society's field staff last week. I haven't tallied the species, but it was likely between 80 to 90. The locations were chosen to include a wide variety of habitat areas. Juvenile Gray Jays were found - they fledge at the end of April, but it is usually later in May when they first appear, and I often wonder what they do for that unseen month! The adults quickly called them away so it was a very brief view. Subsequent observations in the past week have been much longer. We also found Boreal Chickadees. At Intervale, we found 65 species (there is an eBird report), including the first Mourning Warblers, Great Crested Flycatchers, and a migrant Wood Thrush on the property this year. 5/18/14 Whiteface Mountain Larry Master and I found 9 calling Bicknell's Thrushes at dawn on Whiteface. It was 32 degrees with strong winds! There were 5 Swainson's Thrushes and 5 Amer. Robins also. There was one Blackpoll Warbler heard. We also found a Boreal Chickadee. Last year, I was on the summit on 5/19 and found the same situation - Bicknell's Thrushes calling (8), but not yet singing. (I also noticed the same thing this year with Swainson's Thrushes as they arrived - calling, but no singing.) Joan Collins Long Lake, NY (315) 244-7127 cell (518) 624-5528 home http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/ http://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
