Ken McDermott sent a message that a friend of his had observed a Snowy Owl on an island in the St. Lawrence River (on the NY side of the river north of Chippewa Bay - St. Lawrence Co.) during a fishing trip. His friend photographed the bird and Ken sent the photo also. Quite an interesting August record for NY! Of course this follows a remarkable irruptive winter for this species in our area.
Ten people took part in the field trip to the Roosevelt Truck Trail (Minerva in Essex Co.) on August 11, 2014 cosponsored by the Long Lake Parks and Recreation Department and Northern NY Audubon. Long Lake's "Little Bus" dropped us at the trailhead on the Blue Ridge Road and picked us up at the Route 28/N trailhead - so we had a thru-hike of 2.5 miles. The wildflowers and mushrooms were lovely along this trail through boreal habitat. We found the following species: Broad-winged Hawk Hairy Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker - calling and rattling Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay - at least 2 calling along the trail Blue Jay Common Raven Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee - at least 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet - abundant, and we observed adults feeding young! Hermit Thrush Cedar Waxwing Nashville Warbler Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco At 7 p.m. that evening, my older son and I observed a Mink cross the road just before our driveway - heading toward our house! (See 8/8/14 report below) I took a late day excursion to the Spring Pond Bog area (Franklin Co.) on 8/10/14, hiking in a remote section. I found 6 woodpecker species during the hike! Here are the species found: Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Black-billed Cuckoo - a nice surprise! I find this species as intriguing as crossbill species! Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker - female Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Philadelphia Vireo - 2 Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee - at least 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush American Robin Cedar Waxwing Black-and-white Warbler Common Yellowthroat - feeding young Magnolia Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow American Goldfinch On August 8, 2014, around 7 p.m., my husband and I observed a Mink in our backyard! I followed it to the front lawn where it appeared to be following mouse tunnels in the grass. It was completely focused on hunting and seemed unafraid of my presence. Its face was adorable when it poked up through the grass - often just a few inches from my bare feet! I was thrilled to see it catch a mouse and disappear into our wood pile (that I have yet to stack)! We've had other weasel species in our yard, but a Mink was unexpected since I mostly find them by water (they are aquatic). They do venture away from water at times, and will catch small mammals or birds. It was interesting to see it heading toward our house again on August 11th. My husband said he'd like to invite it inside! On a half-day tour with an extended family group of 14 (from Maryland, Michigan, and Massachusetts) on August 6, 2014, we visited Upper and Lower Lake WMA including Indian Creek Nature Center in Canton (St. Lawrence Co.). We found the following 55 species: Canada Goose Wood Duck American Black Duck Mallard Ring-necked Pheasant - female along County Route 14 Common Loon - 3 Pied-billed Grebe - many! Double-crested Cormorant American Bittern - in the marsh at Indian Creek Nature Center Great Blue Heron Green Heron - perched in a tree after we flushed it from the edge of a pond at Indian Creek Nature Center Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle - adult perched Broad-winged Hawk - nice views! Greater Yellowlegs Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Black Tern Common Tern Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Belted Kingfisher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker - 2 heard American Kestrel Eastern Wood-Pewee - nice views! Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird - family group! Yellow-throated Vireo - nice views! Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Barn Swallow Marsh Wren Veery American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Ovenbird Black-and-white Warbler Common Yellowthroat Yellow Warbler - nice views! Chestnut-sided Warbler Eastern Towhee Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle American Goldfinch I posted photos of the female Black-backed Woodpecker, a juvenile Common Raven, and Bottle Gentian (all at Spring Pond Bog) to my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian . Joan Collins 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/ --
