Friday, 01 June 2012 Plateau Mountain, Greene County Early Friday morning I conducted an annual Vermont Center for Ecostudies Mountain Birdwatch survey for Bicknell's Thrush and additional high-elevation target species that breed in the coniferous forest on the summit of Plateau Mountain in the Catskills. The survey starts before sunrise and records all of the target species encountered at six pre-determined stations during 20-minute point counts. Weather conditions were about as ideal as it gets up on a Catskill High Peak in early June, with clear night/day skies, no wind, and a comfortable early morning temperature of 52° (F) rising to 65° (F) by mid-day.
Overall highlights from the mountain (including the early morning ascent in darkness, survey period, post-count walk across the plateau, and low elevation descent) included encountering 24 Bicknell's Thrush, 11 Swainson's Thrush, 22 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, 14 Blackpoll Warblers, 15 Winter Wrens, 14 Magnolia Warblers, 12 White-throated Sparrows, 6 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 9 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 2 Purple Finches, 4 Dark-eyed Juncos, and very nice looks at a singing male Canada Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, and paired Black-throated Blue Warblers. I did not detect any Northern Saw-whet Owls, Mourning Warbler, or Ruby-crowned Kinglets this year, and Juncos were scarce in comparison to typical numbers, but the Juncos may be between broods and relatively quiet for a time period. The traditional Barred Owl was once again calling from Devil's Tombstone, and I found a dead Luna Moth in an odd location along the high summit trail in an area of dense Balsam Fir and Red Spruce, with little in the way of deciduous host plants for some distance. Bicknell's Thrush started singing at 4:20 a.m., very consistent (to the minute) with what I have experienced on this mountain over the past decade of conducting these surveys, and remained uncharacteristically vocal well into the late morning hours, with a flurry of vocal activity between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. when I encountered four males singing simultaneously along the northern half of the plateau, and was treated to some unusually good visuals of two individuals. The final Bicknell's vocalization of the morning also occurred uncharacteristically late at 11:59 a.m. while I was finishing my lunch on the Orchard Ledge vista at the extreme northern end of the summit plateau. A firehouse siren sounded in the valley below at 12:00 noon, the thrush stopped singing, and I departed the mountain summit to begin my traditionally slow descent down the slope searching (unsuccessfully) for the elusive Early Hairstreak butterfly that inhabits the extensive Beech tree canopy and only occasionally drops down to the trail surface to imbibe soil moisture and nutrients. The following is a complete list of bird species encountered from Plateau Mountain on 01 June 2012. Barred Owl (1, vocalizing at 2:20 a.m. on the ascent) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Hairy Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Red-eyed Vireo Red-breasted Nuthatch (6) Brown Creeper (2) Winter Wren (15) Golden-crowned Kinglet (9) Bicknell's Thrush (24) Swainson's Thrush (11) Hermit Thrush (2) Magnolia Warbler (14) Black-throated Blue Warbler (3) Yellow-rumped Warbler Blackburnian Warbler (typically numerous) Blackpoll Warbler (14) Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Canada Warbler (1 male) Scarlet Tanager White-throated Sparrow (12) Dark-eyed Junco (4) Rose-breasted Grosbeak Purple Finch (2) Steve M. Chorvas Saugerties, 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/ --
