Fall migrants- Sat., Sept.12th

Cloudy and cool, upper 60s. Ran into three foraging mixed flocks during the day; chickadees were the main component, but you could hear other 'chip' sounds mixed in. We just stood still and tried to focus on one bird at a time. At the height of the passage, it was difficult to know which bird to go to next, they move so quickly in random directions. All the warblers, the kinglet, and the vireo were in these mixed groups. Best birds were seen on the service road behind the research ponds, and on the boardwalk next to the Beaver Pond. Adult Bald Eagle, circling at medium height, seen from the Heron Pond.

Location: Five Rivers
Observation date: 9/12/09
Time of day: 9:00am- 2:00pm
Number of species: 41
Wood Duck 1
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Bald Eagle 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 16
Black-capped Chickadee 12
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 4
Brown Thrasher 1
European Starling 40
Cedar Waxwing 20
Magnolia Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 3
Black-and-white Warbler 2
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Field Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 5
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org/ny)

Week in the Adirondacks- Part Five

Our destination on our last morning up north was the bog on Sabattis Circle Rd. We arrived at 8:30AM and began to slowly walk up and down the road, checking out each chip sound and bird movement; there was a lot of activity to try to identify. The bog is on the west/ northwest side of the road; the habitat is very boreal, with some deciduous trees mixed in right along the roadside (picture).

We tried to make a Boreal Chickadee out of a Black-capped; the song was right, but as easy as they were to see, there were no unmistakable field marks for verification. We'll leave the region without this bird, but I know they were there, several times; next year!

A Song Sparrow moved apace with us, and several White-throated Sparrows vocalized much of the morning. Hermit Thrush called, Cedar Waxwing flew over, and RB Nuthatch "yenked" here and there. Overall, though, it was pretty quiet, especially warbler-related. A disappointing end to.....

Bam. Just like that, a wave of birds started crossing the road from west to east. A bunch of Yellow-rumped warblers, an adult male and many juvies, swarmed through the trees. Common Yellowthroat were at the edge of the bog. A flame-throated Blackburnian male was heard, then seen (I had to chase him about a quarter-mile for a positive ID; finally got him to pop his head up just as I was turning back.)

Back at the bog (picture), we kept hearing a very high-pitched five note call; Cape May Warbler, no doubt about it, but I needed to see it. Voila! Up in the spruce trees, a beautiful Cape May, allowing a brief full glimpse. A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was singing out in the bog, and a Magnolia Warbler flitted about at eye level on the east side of the road. All this in half an hour. Now that's a good ending.

Boreal birds were harder to come by than we expected, but overall it was a great experience, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Just when you are experiencing the post-spring migration blues, an Adirondack trip is just the right cure.

Week in the Adirondacks- Part Four

Bloomingdale Bog (picture) is located just to the north of Saranac Lake, NY. The entrance to the trail (picture), which is an old rail bed, is located on County Rt. 55 west of the hamlet of Bloomingdale. As a location for birding, it is outstanding for it's varied habitat; the wide, dry, flat trail (picture); and the overall scenery encountered. The railroad bed continues to the north to Bigelow Rd. and beyond, and this is also a good area, especially for boreal species.

We arrived at 9:00AM, strapped on the gear, and set out in partial sunshine. There is a power line cut (picture) a short ways in, and we scanned in both directions for birds using the poles/wires as a perch, without luck. We did see two Mourning Doves, which I would not mention other than the fact that these were the only two seen or heard the entire week. On the same subject, we did not see a single cardinal the entire time, either.

The birding picked up pace rapidly thereafter. Two Pileated Woodpeckers doing a flyby got things going, with American Crows squawking in the distance, and Hermit Thrushes singing periodically. As we continued southward, we came to an area that had an extreme amount of bird activity, with most of it centered on a single tamarack (larch). Chickadees (no, not boreal) and R.B. Nuthatches were darting all around, and we counted five Yellow-rumped Warblers (one adult, four juveniles) in the mix as well. Don't know what about that particular tree was enticing, but they sure loved it. A short walk further down the path, what we expected would be a somewaht routine Yellow Warbler sighting turned out to be a Palm Warbler with his rusty headgear.

At a quiet, more wooded spot just before the bog opens up to a very wide, distant viewing area (picture), we scared up a predator bird. He glided from his perch low to our right, slowly disappearing from our view. Gray on top, white under the rump, somewhat pointed wings, and accipiter-type overall impression- a Northern Goshawk.

At the open bog, there are low bushes and small saplings along the edge of the railbed, and to a lesser extent scattered into the water. Here we saw and heard Yellow-bellied and Alder Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and White-throated, Song and Swamp Sparrows. On the way back to the vehicle we heard the distinct chattering sounds of a Gray Jay, but it stayed it's distance from us.

Bloomingdale Bog is a great place to be, and I suspect I will return here at least annually. On the way back to Long Lake, we stopped at Paul Smiths VIC (Black-throated Blue and Green Warblers, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet), and the Tupper Lake marsh, where we saw 3 Great Blue Heron, 10 Canada Geese, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallow, and a Broad-winged Hawk. A long satisfying day of birding. The next day would be the last of our trip, and I figured we'd give the bog on Sabattis Circle Rd. one more shot.

Week in the Adirondacks- Part Three

The Moose River Plains is a vast, remote wilderness area south of Raquette Lake and west of Indian Lake. You can access the Moose River Rd., a packed dirt logging road with exposed rocks (drive carefully), at either end. We entered from the west, at the gate near Limekiln State Park. Our first stop was the small bridge over the Red River. There was a tremendous amount of bird activity around us, but the only visuals we could get, even in this low, scrubby, open area were numerous White-throated Sparrows, a female Redstart, some distant Crows, and some fearless chickadees. On the way out, we did have a flycatcher sitting on the bridge railing, but he pleaded the fifth admendment and would not identify himself.

The trail to Icehouse Pond was overgrown with vegetation, and we decided to backtrack a bit before we got to the pond itself, doing some stationary observing in a spot without much in the way of taller trees. Other than a pair of Northern Flickers on top of a distant dead snag, it was very quiet, and we decide to move on. After reading quite a lot about the area, this was quite a disappointment, and I was beginning to wonder if we had wasted a day in an unproductive location.

Helldiver Pond offered hope, for as soon as we got out of the vehicle, there was a singing Nashville Warbler in the roadside edge. Red-breasted Nuthatch were abundant, along with chickadees (Black-capped only, sigh). A couple of Hermit Thrushes were make their fluting call. There were plenty of small songbirds moving around, tantalizingly just out of view. As we were about to give up, a very cooperative Canada Warbler flew down to eye-level, posed as he slowly moved even closer one branch at a time, and appeared to be just as curious about us as vice-versa. We had a good minute-long, unobstructed view of this guy. Thanks, pal. I needed that.

On the way back from the pond's edge, through the tall, dense forest (picture), we were stunned by the sound of an approaching vehicle. You are in such a desolate area, with nothing but natural sounds, that seeing/hearing anything man-made becomes odd. The SUV (family of four) pulled up to us, and the driver asked if we had gotten pictures of the moose. "Moose?", I said, as if this were akin to seeing a donkey on the moon. "Yeah, the guys here a little while ago got lots of pictures." Simultaneously, we all looked down at the large unmistakable tracks on the path that we had been walking for the better part of an hour. Oops. "Yeah, I saw the tracks out on the road this morning, and they led right down to here."

Anticipating your next question, YES, I did have a camera. Thisclose to a moose.

Our final destination was the Lost Ponds, where instead of driving up the side spur road, I decided we should walk it instead. Other than coming across a wide open clearing off to the side of the road, which we explored for a little while, there was not much happening, as it was nearly noon by now. We returned to the vehicle and headed back to base, and I had a melancholy feeling that we had been just this far from a great day, without quite being in sync with the environment. The birds will reveal themselves to you. Or not. Sometimes, you just miss. But not if you go to Bloomingdale Bog. Next.