8/9/09 Potsdam (St. Lawrence Co.)
Sedge Wren the wren that arrived on 7/5/09 was singing from an exposed perch near Plum Brook behind our home. Our neighbors mow walking trails through the fields and I hiked near where the bird has been singing I have a good idea where the nest is located. I hope the young leave the nest before the annual August mowing takes place. There has been a trickle of migrants heard each night during the first week of August. 8/12/09 Long Lake (Hamilton Co.) A female Black Bear with 3 cubs was observed each day outside our Long Lake home. Until this summer, I had never observed bears with more than 2 cubs. Warbler waves were observed each day. Here are some of the species found on a short hike of the Northville-Placid Trail (S) in Long Lake (late morning): Broad-winged Hawk Merlin Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Winter Wren - several Golden-crowned Kinglet many Hermit Thrush singing Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Common Yellowthroat Also, several Pine Sawyers were heard chewing conifers. Indian Pipe, Bottle Gentian, Pearly Everlasting, and Touch-me-not were in bloom among many other wildflowers. 8/13/09 Lows Ridge-Upper Dam Trail (Piercefield-Colton, St. Lawrence Co.) 12:30 p.m. I hiked 1.5 miles on the Lows Ridge-Upper Dam Trail (3 miles round trip). I had this lovely trail to myself and I was surprised to find so much midday activity. I had wonderful views of 11 warbler species. Here are some of the species observed: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Common Raven Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Gray Jay at least 2 (I think there were 3, but I couldnt see them all at one time) at the location where there are wide open views of the bog ~ 1 mile in. Nashville Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Black-and-white Warbler Amer. Redstart Common Yellowthroat Canada Warbler singing at the trailhead Lincolns Sparrow nice views! White-throated Sparrow 8/14/09 Hewitt Eddy Boreas River Trails (Minerva in Essex Co.) 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It was a misty morning on Friday, and the myriad spider webs were all illuminated in dew. I wanted to hike the loop, so left my car at the Boreas River Trailhead and hiked the ¾ mile on Route 28N to the Hewitt Eddy Trailhead. As I neared the trailhead, I heard a woodpecker in boreal habitat down a steep embankment. I thought twice, and immediately dropped down the hill at the bottom, I heard a Black-backed Woodpecker vocalization. I hiked to a tree with 2 female Black-backed Woodpeckers with one vocalizing non-stop as I watched them. I had that wonderful primeval feeling in this misty world of spruce/fir, thick sphagnum moss, and all those illuminated spider webs around me. Boreal Chickadees began to vocalize deeper in the forest. I didnt have a compass or the sun to assist in a longer bushwhack, so I made my way through the forest in the direction of the trail but as it turned out, I encountered 3 different flocks of Boreal Chickadees along the Hewitt Eddy portion of the hike. Most of the birds I observed were along the Hewitt Eddy Trail (1 mile) which has beautiful boreal habitat. The Boreas River section (also 1 mile) is loud especially this summer with the river raging. The Boreas River section also had many difficult muddy sections and areas where the trail is eroding close to the river. Even so, I enjoy the Boreas River Trail because it is extremely scenic. But if you are interested in hearing/seeing birds, you can park at the Hewitt Eddy Trail and hike back out the same way (after hitting the eddy where the trail picks up the Boreas River). The vegetation was so wet from dew that I was soaked within a few minutes and my hiking boots felt like walking on sponges. The sun was just breaking through the mist while I was on the Boreas River Trail creating wild shadows through the conifers. This is always a great walk for mushrooms also! Here are some of the species found on the hike: Bald Eagle second year flying over the eddy beautiful! Broad-winged Hawk Ruby-throated Hummingbird buzzed me as I watched a flock of Boreal Chickadees Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Black-backed Woodpecker 2 females Boreal Chickadee at least 11 (flocks of at least 5, 3, and 3) Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Swainsons Thrush calling a few feet from me! Hermit Thrush Warblers: Nashville, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Common Yellowthroat, and Canada White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Later on Friday, our family boated to Turtle Beach at the north end of Long Lake. Six Common Loons were observed on the trip (1, 1, & 4). I canoed my mother a short distance into the Raquette River and we saw/heard many birds including a Common Merganser family of 10, 2 Great Blue Herons, many Belted Kingfishers, and a singing Eastern Wood-Pewee and Eastern Phoebe. She said it was one of the prettiest places she has ever seen, and she wants to take up canoeing and do the thru-trip to Axton Landing with me! (And she said shed like to learn how to camp too! Not bad for a 75-year old!) 8/15/09 Long Lake Our observations of the black bear family were usually made early in the morning (or middle of the night when our dogs went crazy) or in the evening, but on Saturday, the bears were feeding on raspberries right outside our house at 12:30 p.m. While it was wonderful to observe the adorable bear cubs, I was concerned that the mother bear was teaching her cubs to be so comfortable around houses (& humans). 8/16/09 Northville-Placid Trail (S) in Long Lake 8:30 a.m. I took an earlier hike on the N-P Trail on Sunday and found many species here are some of them: Broad-winged Hawk along the trail (and at our home) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker many observed during our time in Long Lake from Wed. to Sun. Common Raven Boreal Chickadee at least 6 in 2 different flocks Winter Wren singing Golden-crowned Kinglet kinglets and Red-breasted Nuthatches were abundant on all my hikes Hermit Thrush calling (the first day without singing almost the exact same date each year) Warblers: Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Common Yellowthroat, and 3 different singing Canada Warblers! White-throated Sparrow still singing Purple Finch Evening Grosbeak at least 3 I also saw a snowshoe hare that had been just a few feet from me when I stopped to observe a bird. The Red and Black Spruce (new) cone crops were excellent everywhere I hiked in the past week. (In addition to the excellent cone crop on Balsam Fir trees already discussed on the list.) Joan Collins Potsdam & Long Lake -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES Temporary archive: http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
