2/16/11 Long Lake (northern Hamilton County)
There are 4 finch species visiting our feeders. The Evening Grosbeak numbers continue to increase, and there are now between 100 and 110. It is quite loud outside our house and I am going through a LOT of seed! I haven't tried to get an exact count on the redpolls, but I'm certain it is well over 200. I've been observing a female Hoary Redpoll every day. This morning, I observed one on our back porch, and later, one of the front porch. I suspect there is more than one, but I haven't been able to see more than one at the same time. There are Pine Siskins mixed in with the redpolls - today, I spotted 4 on our back porch (yesterday, I observed 3 among a redpoll flock). Often, during a warm-up, we lose some of the finches. But oddly, the numbers seemed to increase during Monday's warm-up. With rain coming this week, I suspect we'll probably lose some of the birds. Other birds visiting the feeders: Hairy Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadees (not many!), and White-breasted Nuthatches. It will be interesting to see when the Red-breasted Nuthatches return from wherever they headed this winter. Common Ravens are heard throughout the day. Our feeders are so exciting this winter, that it is disappointing to go anywhere else in the area! My dogs can't get through the deep snow, so I've been walking them on roadways. We go to Sabattis Bog about once a week. Yesterday morning at Sabattis Bog, we found only 2 birds - a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a Common Raven! (Not even a Black-capped Chickadee!) We have had some trips where we have not found a bird at all. This has been the quietest winter that I can ever recall. I last saw the Barred Owl on Sunday, February 6th. My husband snow-blew a path around our house for the dogs that day. It created a 'slice' through the fascinating network of subnivean small mammal tunnels that we don't normally have a chance to observe. The tunnels were concentrated near the back and front porches (where the seed is located). I suspect this created a boon for the owl since the mammals had to cross a 2.5 foot exposed area in their tunnel systems. Charlotte Demers told me the Adirondack Interpretive Center (AIC - formerly the VIC) in Newcomb has Evening Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls visiting their feeders. (The AIC is open Tues.-Sat. New website is: http://www.esf.edu/aic/ ) Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
