Spent a wonderful day at Doodletown. While I did not see or hear the Kentucky Warbler and missed seeing a timber rattlesnake by about 3 minutes, I saw four separate Hooded Warblers with two of them providing wonderful, close-up views while singing, and several singing male and female Cerulean Warblers. I had three highlights:
1. Watching a black rat snake, known to be a talented climber, move up the side of the 200 year old oak tree for which there is an interpretive sign alongside the trail. It was amazing to watch it work its way upward on the bark without the use of any limbs. I'm not sure how it did it but it looped its body against bark projections as it moved upward. After a few minutes it turned sideways and came back down and partially slithered into the base of a japanese barberry bush. I approached it and it began to make a rattling noise, presumably with its tail in the dead leaves. This made me pause for a minute wondering if it was the rat snake (which is known to do this) or a timber rattlesnake. It tunred out to be the rat snake as I watched the tail vibrate when it did it again. 2. On the way to the Herbert Cemetery a bird flying in the woods to the north of the trail caught my attention. It turned out to be a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and I was able to watch it land at the nest and feed two young that were eagerly begging. The other adult bird (I assumed the female) was next to the nest. I stayed there for nearly half an hour to watch the activity repeated two other times. From the view of the chicks I guessed they were 5-6 days old. While difficult to describe a birder might be able to see the nest if you stand on the trail facing north looking over a large barberry bush that is about 15 feet west of the large witch hazel growing along the trail leading to the cemetery. If you see a clump of downward pointing brown leaves in the lower canopy about 25 feet away look slightly to the left of the clump and about another 25 feet. The nest is on a slightly arched horizontal branch. 3. Heading back down on the main trail I was able to watch for about half-a-minute a female Cerulean Warbler bathing in a tiny, I mean tiny, puddle of water in a little rivulet that flows under the main trail. If you walk to the interpretive sign that denotes the "Gray Family" homestead walk up the trail about another 20 to 25 feet or so and you will see a rusted pipe culvert sticking out on your left. This culvert accommodates the water in the rivulet. She was bathing about three feet from the end of the culvert. I had first seen the male Ceulean fly out of the spot so I wouldn't be surprised if he uses it to bathe in as well. All in all a great day. John Turner -- 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/ --
