4/22/15 Long Lake (Hamilton Co.) First-of-the-Season: *
I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up and went birding at 3 a.m. As I left the house, I found a Flying Squirrel eating bird seed on our front porch. I had been hearing quiet vocalizations over our baby monitor. (A pair of Raccoons have been visiting most nights too!) The sky was clear and the winds calm for the 3 hours I was out. I drove to Sabattis Circle Road - the whole "circle" and the long drive to Sabattis Station. The Milky Way band was visible in a beautiful star-lit sky. I heard only a handful of *Spring Peepers (it was 30 degrees!). Here are some of the birds found during the night and at dawn/sunrise: Common Goldeneye Common Merganser - vocalizing in the dark north of Bear Pond Ruffed Grouse - several drumming *American Bittern - 1 at the inlet of Little Tupper Lake *Wilson's Snipe - at least one winnowing at Sabattis Station *American Woodcock - many "peenting" and displaying - everywhere I stopped Barred Owl - 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Winter Wren - several singing Hermit Thrush - many singing (dawn chorus began at 5:20 a.m.) Palm Warbler - several singing at Sabattis Bog A Song and Swamp Sparrow both belted out a song at 4:43 a.m. in the dark! White-throated Sparrow - several singing Purple Finch - singing at Sabattis Bog I found two Beavers at the Little Tupper Lake outlet area at dawn - chewing on large branches. One noticed me and gave a tail-smack, but then continued foraging! On my drive out, I found a Porcupine. (I put photos of both mammals on my Facebook page.) At our home, we still have 4 finch species at our feeders: Purple Finch, Common Redpoll (only 1 observed today), Pine Siskin, and Amer. Goldfinch. There are still large numbers of Dark-eyed Juncos, and many White-throated Sparrows showed up today. For the past week, a male Wild Turkey has been gobbling and displaying for the 3 females outside our home. Late this afternoon, I heard a Common Loon's haunting voice echo up from Long Lake. 4/21/15 Long Lake I made a brief side-trip to Sabattis Circle Road before leaving town yesterday. A Palm Warbler was found right outside my car - I snapped a few photos quickly. A River Otter was eating fish on Little Tupper Lake - popping up and down on openings in the ice. Two Great Blue Herons perched together at a nest on Minnow Pond (by Sabattis Road) along Route 30. In Indian Lake, a Turkey Vulture was perched at the top of a pole with its wings spread - drying out after all the rain - it looked like a totem pole! 4/19/15 Sabattis Bog in Long Lake Two Black-backed Woodpeckers were calling and rattling back and forth. I counted six singing Palm Warblers. 4/18/15 Newcomb AIC (Adirondack Interpretive Center) Essex Co. Fifteen people came on the bird walk at the Newcomb AIC - part of the Center's Migration Celebration event. We had calm winds and mild temps. The trails were still ice and snow covered, so we traveled slowly! Rich Lake was still ice-covered, but the connection to Belden Lake was open. We hiked two of the center's four trails. The only surprise species was a non-stop singing Northern Cardinal in a heavily forested habitat! I suspect it was attracted to the AIC's feeders, but they said they had not observed a cardinal all winter/spring. Here are some of the species found (many nice views): Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Common Raven Red-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Pine Warbler Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal! Purple Finch Common Redpoll Wendy Hall, of the Adirondack Wildlife Refuge and Rehabilitation Center, gave a presentation after the bird walk and brought along several raptors. The AIC provided food and drinks! Joan Collins Editor, New York Birders 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/[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/ --
