Hamilton and Essex Counties
I just wanted to clarify one of the Red Crossbill locations: I joined Matt and Julie on Friday, August 12th, 2011. Red Crossbills have been found along Vanderwhacker Brook on an old railroad bed in the town of Minerva. (The Vanderwhacker Mountain Trail is 4 miles from this location.) Mike Moccio found the birds along the railroad bed on 7/30/11. I found at least 3 Red Crossbills at this location on 8/2/11. We found the birds again on Friday (8/12/11). The railroad bed location is just off Route 28N south. I found several White-winged Crossbills on Tahawus Road - Upper Works area (Newcomb) last fall - this location is always an excellent place to search for White-winged Crossbills. Hopefully, they will show up soon. I found Red Crossbills at Brown's Tract Inlet on 7/28/11 and again with Matt and Julie on 8/12/11. So the locations along Vanderwhacker Brook (railroad bed) and Brown's Tract Inlet are currently reliable sites for this species. Joan Collins Long Lake, NY From: northern_ny_bi...@yahoogroups.com [mailto:northern_ny_bi...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Young Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 4:28 PM To: northern_ny_bi...@yahoogroups.com; NNY Birds; NYSbirds-L@cornell.edu Cc: m...@cornell.edu Subject: NNYBirds: Red Crossbill report from around the state/cone crops (long) Hello all, Julie and I got back from Adirondacks last night (it's going to be a good year for crossbills in the northeast!): Red Crossbill tally from northern NY: Brown Tract Inlet western Adirondacks: 2-3 pairs of Type 10s and two pairs of Type 2 --all within the same general area breeding side-by-side. Tahawus Rd southern High Peaks Region eastern ADKS: one Type 10 Vanderwhacker Trail Newcomb just south of High Peaks east-central ADKS: 4-6 Type 10s In recent days, Red Crossbills have also been reported from near Tupper Lake (Dear Pond Trail), Paul Smiths and Boreas River areas. Cone crop assessment for Adirondacks: 5=excellent 4=good 3=fair 2=poor 1=bad White spruce: 4.75 Red spruce: 4.5 Black spruce: 4.0 Norway spruce: 4.75 (very local in North Country) Balsam fir: 4.5 N. white cedar: 5 Eastern hemlock: 5 Tamarack: 4 E. white pine: 3.75 Red Pine: 2.25 (fair crop in Sevey Coners area) Overall, best cone crop (bumper!) since 2000 and perhaps before. Spruce crop was a bit better in North Country in 2000 than this year, but when you add in the cone crops on the hemlock and white pine this year, I'd rate this one a bit better. The white pine cone crop in many areas of the central and northern Adirondacks is more in the good to very good range, but from Sevey Corners to Cranberry Lake it's rather poor. It's very unusual to have white pine producing a good cone crop in the same year that all the other soft-coned conifers are producing good to great crops. The tamarack crop is quite variable in spots as well, with some areas in the very good range, and others in the fair range. Tally from southern NY recent weeks: Month ago (mid July) I recorded 8-10 Type 1 Red Crossbills on territory in the Southern Hills south of Syracuse (i.e. Pharsalia, North Rd; Otselic, Ridge Rd; Muller Hill). Chris Wood and I did a tour of the same areas on 7/31 and had 3 Red Crossbills, one undetermined Type (probably Type 1 but it was too distant) and a pair of Type 10s on the same road (North Rd Pharsalia) there's been 1-2 pairs of Type 1s. Many Type 1s were likely just quiet and nesting. Cone crop assessment for central NY (there's great synchrony across much of the state and northeast this year!): 5=excellent 4=good 3=fair 2=poor 1=bad White spruce: 4.5 Red spruce: 4.75 Black spruce: (didn't look at enough in central NY where it is rare) Norway spruce: 4.5 (common in central NY) Balsam fir: 4.5 (local in central NY) Eastern hemlock: 5 N. white cedar: 4.5 (local in central NY) European larch: 4.25 (fairly common in central NY) Tamarack: 4.75 (local in central NY) E. white pine: 3.75 Red Pine: 2.50 WW Crossbills are already on territory in parts of New Hampshire and Maine, and I suspect some will start to turn up in the Adirondacks on territory by end of month/first half of September. I was a little surprised I did not turn a few up in the Tahawus Rd area where white spruce is quite common compared to other areas of the Adirondacks. If I were to predict, I'd say we'll have a good breeding year for Pine Siskin, WW Crossbills, and many types of Red Crossbills (1, 2, 10 and perhaps 3). If I were to compare, I'd say it'll end up being a better year than 2006-07 (which was a nice moderate invasion of siskins, WW Crossbills, and Red crossbill types 1, 3 and 10), but not quite as good a year for WW Crossbills as 2000-01....BUT, it will be better for Red Crossbills than in 2000-01 when Reds were nearly non-existent in that amazing WW Crossbill/siskin breeding invasion. cheers, and sorry for the ramblings, Matt Young [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] __._,_.___ Reply to <mailto:grosb...@mail.clarityconnect.com?subject=Re%3A%20Red%20Crossbill%20r eport%20from%20around%20the%20state%2Fcone%20crops%20%28long%29> sender | Reply to <mailto:northern_ny_bi...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Re%3A%20Red%20Crossbill%20 report%20from%20around%20the%20state%2Fcone%20crops%20%28long%29> group | Reply <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Northern_NY_Birds/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJwMDd1ZWIxB F9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQzMTIwMwRncnBzcElkAzE3MDUwNjU3ODcEbXNnSWQDMTE0OTkEc 2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDcnBseQRzdGltZQMxMzEzNDQwMTY3?act=reply&messageNum=11499> via web post | <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Northern_NY_Birds/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJkMGkxZWZvB F9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQzMTIwMwRncnBzcElkAzE3MDUwNjU3ODcEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDb nRwYwRzdGltZQMxMzEzNDQwMTY3> Start a New Topic Messages in this topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Northern_NY_Birds/message/11499;_ylc=X3oDMTM1 cDMzam9yBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQzMTIwMwRncnBzcElkAzE3MDUwNjU3ODcEbXNnSWQD MTE0OTkEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDdnRwYwRzdGltZQMxMzEzNDQwMTY3BHRwY0lkAzExNDk5> (1) Recent Activity: . <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Northern_NY_Birds/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJldmZicX RyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQzMTIwMwRncnBzcElkAzE3MDUwNjU3ODcEc2VjA3Z0bARzbG sDdm1icnMEc3RpbWUDMTMxMzQ0MDE2Nw--?o=6> New Members 2 <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Northern_NY_Birds;_ylc=X3oDMTJkdTBxb245BF9TAz k3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQzMTIwMwRncnBzcElkAzE3MDUwNjU3ODcEc2VjA3Z0bARzbGsDdmdocA RzdGltZQMxMzEzNDQwMTY3> Visit Your Group All postings to Northern_NY_Birds are protected by copyright law. <http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJjOTR2Ym5uBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzQzM TIwMwRncnBzcElkAzE3MDUwNjU3ODcEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDZ2ZwBHN0aW1lAzEzMTM0NDAxNjc-> Yahoo! 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