Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Essex, and Clinton Counties
I wanted to post a few highlights from my birding trips over the past month. I apologize for the lateness of some of my sightings (as I mentioned in mid July, I suffered a close loss in June, and energy for email has been difficult). The historic late-April flooding in northern NY took a huge toll on trails, bridges, and roads. I have found many bridges on trails completely destroyed (or moved!). Trails are littered with downed trees. Dirt roads and trails are washed out. Given the state budget situation and major cut backs in DEC personnel, it looks like the damage won't be fixed anytime soon. Cone crop: Remarkable! I have been observing the cone crop on conifers in the Adirondacks and it could be quite a year for finches! All spruce species look excellent. Balsam fir, white cedar, tamarack, and hemlock also look excellent. Some of the larger white pine trees have huge cone crops - looking like bunches of bananas. I still need to spend time checking on red pines. Matt Young has more detailed data (he actually counts the cones in quadrants!). 7/30/11 Low's Ridge - Upper Dam Trail (St. Lawrence Co.) Last evening, I hiked about 1 to 1.5 miles in on the Low's Ridge - Upper Dam Trail. I found numerous Palm Warblers (many juveniles) and Lincoln's Sparrows were singing (also many juveniles observed). There was also a family of 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers foraging together. 7/28/11 Moose River Plains/Ferd's Bog/Brown's Tract Inlet (Hamilton Co.) - some of the 48 species: Hooded Merganser - 2 females on Icehouse Pond Broad-winged Hawk - 2 juveniles in their nest - absolutely adorable - this is the second time I've observed them, and they are just about to leave the nest. The nest seems unusually low for this species. Thanks to Jeff Nadler for letting me know about this location. Black-billed Cuckoo - singing at Helldiver Pond in Moose River Plains Swainson's Thrush 13 warbler species including Northern Waterthrush & Canada Warbler (singing) Lincoln's Sparrow Indigo Bunting Red Crossbill - 1 flyover calling bird at Helldiver Pond, and several SINGING birds at Brown's Tract Inlet! 7/27/11 Massawepie Mire (St. Lawrence Co.) - some of the 35 species: Broad-winged Hawk Amer. Kestrel - 2 Gray Jay - at least 10! We found 2 adults at the beginning of the bog and at least 8 birds at the bridge over the South Branch of the Grass River (I suspect there were many more, but I could only count 8 at once). We observed many juveniles and adults - it was apparent that multiple families were together. This is the second time I have observed multiple families foraging together - I have also observed this behavior in Blue Jays. Also, there were multiple Blue Jay families interacting with the Gray Jay families - it was a wild scene! Palm Warbler Canada Warbler Lincoln's Sparrow (Interesting behavior note: I was guiding a group of 14 people on this hike, and one of the men kept holding out his hand with wild blueberries for the Cedar Waxwings. Several of the birds circled him and flew just over his hand - it certainly appeared as if they were debating landing on his hand!) 7/22/11 Moose River Plains (Hamilton Co.) - some of 41 species: Broad-winged Hawk - same 2 juveniles plus the adult Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Boreal Chickadee - at least 8; 2 before the Red River, 2 at the Red River, and 4 at Helldiver Pond Swainson's Thrush 14 warbler species including Northern Waterthrush & Canada Warbler Indigo Bunting - nest site with both adults observed 7/15/11 Mount Adams (Essex Co.) (Suspension bridge over the Hudson River was destroyed in the April floods - took us a LONG time to get across!) Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Bicknell's Thrush Swainson's Thrush Blackpoll Warbler - family group 7/2/11 and 7/4/11 Sabattis Bog (Hamilton Co.), Oregon Plains Rd. & Bloomingdale Bog (Franklin Co.), Whiteface Mountain (Essex Co.), Silver Lake Bog (Clinton Co.), Moose Pond Rd. (Essex Co.), Tupper Lake causeway (road between Simon Pond & Tupper Lake) (Franklin Co.), Massawepie Mire (St. Lawrence Co.), Dead Creek Flow Trail at Wanakena (St. Lawrence Co.) Some of the 86 species found: Virginia Rail - Trail to Dead Creek Flow at Wanakena (thanks to Bernie Carr who was on this trail earlier in the day and noted the species in the register) Black-backed Woodpecker Olive-sided Flycatcher - at least 3 along the trail to Dead Creek Flow in Wanakena, and 1 at Massawepie Eastern Wood-Pewee - numbers seem way down this year Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe - on Whiteface Mt's summit! Philadelphia Vireo - 4-way intersection at Massawepie Gray Jay Boreal Chickadee Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Whiteface Mt. Bicknell's Thrush - 4 singing males all within view, perched on dead snags on Whiteface Mt. We had fantastic scope views of 3 - we could see right into their mouths they were so close! The singing was non-stop on July 2nd for at least an hour. These are by far the best views I've ever had of this species. 18 warbler species, including beautiful scope views of a singing Blackpoll Warbler on Whiteface, and Canada and Mourning Warblers. Lincoln's Sparrow I wanted to note a few species from a trip in June to spectacular St. Lawrence County (Hammond, DeKalb and Canton). Here are a few of the 82 species found on 6/14/11: Olive-sided Flycatcher - juvenile! We found this bird foraging alone in Canton on Irish Settlement Road. It was not in its breeding habitat, nor was it with parents. I've observed juveniles of this species in late June and early July in their breeding habitat still being fed by parents, so finding a solo juvenile in 6/14 outside its breeding habitat seemed extremely unusual. 8 total flycatcher species, including lovely scope views of a singing Willow Flycatcher in Hammond Yellow-throated Vireo Golden-winged Warbler - several in DeKalb Cerulean Warbler - nice views (in DeKalb) 8 sparrow species including 8 Henslow's (wonderful scope views) and 2 Grasshopper Sparrows in Hammond Bobolink The Henslow's Sparrows and Bobolinks were all nest building. It seemed particularly late for Bobolinks, and I wondered if the constant severe downpours have taken a toll on ground nesters this year. (My experience with Bobolinks in Potsdam is that they arrived in the first week of May and were gone by the first week of July.) Outside our Long Lake home: 10 warbler species nested including Mourning (I keep thinking the vegetation has grown up too much for this species, but they were back in good numbers again this year). My two favorite species nested nearby once again - Barred Owl and Common Raven. I've had many "talks" with both species! The other day, I was chatting with a raven, and just in case I was talking with a female, I gave the knocking call and got an immediate knocking call back!!! An Amer. Bittern also nested within hearing. Broad-winged Hawks nested up on our hill and a very loud family of Pileated Woodpeckers (I observed the young being fed on 7/8/11). I found many different species nests this year. Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- 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/ --
