8/8/12 Massawepie Mire, southeastern St. Lawrence Co.
On Wednesday, I was out birding with Marnie Mitchell, from Tennessee, at Massawepie Mire (we also drove Sabattis Circle Road twice and birded at Tupper Lake Marsh). Marnie was interested in photographing birds, so we frequently stopped on the long drive into the mire (at every lake, wetland, or when we spotted raptors, etc.). I had a rather unusual experience. At nearly every stop, we found a singing Black-billed Cuckoo! I got to the point where I just started laughing every time we stopped and heard yet another singing Black-billed Cuckoo! We tallied TWELVE by the time we reached our hiking turn-around location (Silver Brook). The tenth bird was perched in a tree along the dirt road, nearly 3 miles in on our hike. It sang and called on and off, with another bird answering farther away. We had to ignore a group of Gray Jays as we observed the cuckoo! This is the second time I've observed a Black-billed Cuckoo in my scope at Massawepie this year. I was with a group of 3 birders on July 2nd when we found a family group of Black-billed Cuckoos. The red orbital ring is just beautiful to see through a scope! The birds were very vocal. On our drive out, in the afternoon, the birds were still singing! (. at a time of day, and year, when most species have become much less vocal) It was fascinating to find the cuckoos across such a wide range of habitats - deciduous forest, lake edges, mixed forest, boreal forest and bog, and open logged areas. (The family group found on July 2nd was in a heavily logged area.) The bird we observed captivated us with its interesting vocalizations and I wished Sean O'Brien had been there with his recording equipment. We left the bird after observing it for a long time. On our hike back out, the bird was still in the same place! Cuckoos, like crossbills, are intriguing and perplexing species to me! As expected after nesting this winter in the Adirondacks, I have been regularly hearing White-winged Crossbills this spring/summer. We heard them several times on Wednesday at Massawepie. Other highlights included at least two Evening Grosbeaks, three groups of Gray Jays, a female Black-backed Woodpecker, a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher family, and a Merlin family (in an area close to where they nested this year). Here is our complete list of species: Canada Goose Wood Duck American Black Duck - 3 Ruffed Grouse - at least 5 Common Loon - 9! (Deer Pond group of 2 adults/2 young, Tupper Lake group of 2 adults/2 young, and a flyover bird at Massawepie) Great Blue Heron Osprey Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Merlin - family of at least 4 by Catamount Pond, and a solo bird at the mire Ring-billed Gull Black-billed Cuckoo - 12!!! (Including a nice, long visual look at one!) Belted Kingfisher Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker - female (nice views!) Northern Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee - singing Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - family group (mostly calling, one song heard) Alder Flycatcher - singing Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay - 3 different groups (Including nice visuals of one group) Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper - a few songs heard! Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush - singing American Robin Gray Catbird Cedar Waxwing Nashville Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler - singing Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler - singing Blackburnian Warbler Palm Warbler American Redstart - singing Common Yellowthroat Canada Warbler - several singing! Scarlet Tanager - singing (female observed) Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow Swamp Sparrow - singing White-throated Sparrow - singing Dark-eyed Junco - singing White-winged Crossbill - heard calling several times as they fed in trees as we hiked out American Goldfinch Evening Grosbeak - at least 2 perched and vocalizing; a female flew over us as we were stopped on our drive in We also observed a coyote (very thin and unhealthy looking) and a snowshoe hare on Sabattis Circle Rd. 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/[email protected]/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/ --
