In the past week of late July, warbler waves have started, and vocal activity has significantly dropped off - particularly in the hot, humid afternoons (but early mornings are still exciting!). Fortunately, Hermit Thrushes sing into mid-August and I've been listening to a solo Hermit Thrush sing into the dark each night outside our Long Lake home - ever thankful for that enchanting voice. Finding a vocalizing Black-billed Cuckoo two days in row was exciting - the locations were several miles apart, so it was likely two different birds. This species is as fascinating and perplexing to me as crossbills! It is difficult to predict what cuckoos will do in the Adirondacks year to year. Here are some sightings from the past week and a half:
On a half-day tour on July 28 , 2015 with a birder from Massachusetts, we found 53 species by visiting Sabattis Circle Road (Hamilton Co.), Tupper Lake causeway, and the boreal forest areas in the Spring Pond Bog complex (not the bog itself) (Franklin Co.). Here is our list: Canada Goose Wood Duck American Black Duck Ring-necked Duck Common Merganser Common Loon Turkey Vulture Broad-winged Hawk Mourning Dove Black-billed Cuckoo - vocalizing bird at Sabattis Bog! Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Olive-sided Flycatcher - 2 (both calling and one singing) one observed eating a dragonfly at Sabattis Bog! (Photo on my Facebook page below.) Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 2 calling at Sabattis Bog Alder Flycatcher - several Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay - 6; (at least 4 at Sabattis Bog (including a juvenile) and at least 2 in the Spring Pond Bog complex) Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee - at least 2 in the Spring Pond Bog complex Red-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush American Robin European Starling Cedar Waxwing Black-and-white Warbler Nashville Warbler Common Yellowthroat American Redstart Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler - feeding young in the Spring Pond Bog complex! Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Canada Warbler - nice view! Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow - singing at Sabattis Bog! Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle We also observed a Mink in the Spring Pond Bog complex! On a half-day tour on July 27, 2015 with a couple from Auburn, NY, we found 49 species by visiting Sabattis Circle Road, Tupper Lake causeway, and the boreal forest areas of the Spring Pond Bog complex (not the bog itself). We had heavy fog conditions for 3 hours of our morning trip, but the birds were quite active! Here is our list: Common Loon - on Tupper Lake along Route 30 Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Northern Goshawk - flyover at the Spring Pond Bog complex Broad-winged Hawk Mourning Dove Black-billed Cuckoo - vocalizing bird heard during our stop at the inlet of Little Tupper Lake! Belted Kingfisher Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 2 calling at Sabattis Bog (one observed) Alder Flycatcher - several Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray Jay - 5 (1 at Sabattis Bog, groups of 3, and at least one, in the Spring Pond Bog complex) Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee - 5! (family group in the Spring Pond Bog complex) Red-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush European Starling Cedar Waxwing Black-and-white Warbler Nashville Warbler Common Yellowthroat American Redstart Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Canada Warbler Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Scarlet Tanager Rose-breasted Grosbeak Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle July 23, 2015 Long Lake (Hamilton Co.) Broad-winged Hawks nested outside our Long Lake house once again and remain quite vocal each day. At Sabattis Bog, 4 Grays Jays (one juvenile - photo on Facebook below) came out for food. A pair of Blue Jays have been observed on most of my trips to the bog and on this day, they followed the Gray Jays and un-cached their food! One of the Gray Jays decided to fight, and successfully kept the Blue Jay away with aggressive maneuvers. It then took the piece of fought-over bread and cached it elsewhere! A Chimney Swift was observing flying over the bog. On a half-day July 22, 2015 (car-birding) tour with a birder from Rochester, NY, we found 54 species by visiting the Long Lake Town Beach, Shaw Pond, Newcomb (Hudson River and Marsh along Route 28N), Minerva roadside locations, and Tahawus Road (Hamilton and Essex Counties). Here is our list: Wood Duck Amer. Black Duck Mallard Ring-necked Duck Wild Turkey Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Broad-winged Hawk Herring Gull Mourning Dove Black-backed Woodpecker - female! (Two not-so-great photos on Facebook below!) Northern Flicker Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - one calling Alder Flycatcher - many! Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Common Raven Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee - at least 5 (groups of 3 (nice views!) and 2) Red-breasted Nuthatch Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Swainson's Thrush - several Hermit Thrush - several American Robin Gray Catbird Cedar Waxwing Northern Waterthrush - nice view at the marsh! Black-and-white Warbler Nashville Warbler Common Yellowthroat - many! Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak - nice view! Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Purple Finch Red Crossbill - 2! (Two birds calling as they flew over us on Santanoni Drive near the Hudson River in Newcomb) American Goldfinch On July 20. 2015, ten people went on the field trip to Massawepie Mire co-sponsored by the Long Lake Parks and Recreation Dept. and the Northern New York Audubon chapter. We took the Long Lake "Little Bus" and began our hike at 8:30 a.m. on a hot, humid day. We hiked nearly 6 miles round trip (turning around at Silver Brook). Here is our list of 31 species: Ruffed Grouse - several Turkey Vulture Broad-winged Hawk Chimney Swift Northern Flicker - several Alder Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay Common Raven Tree Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Cedar Waxwing Nashville Warbler Mourning Warbler - with a brief view! Common Yellowthroat Magnolia Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler - many! Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Lincoln's Sparrow - several singing! Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Purple Finch Also: We found Moose tracks along the mire road - it appeared to be a cow with a calf. Black Bear scat was found in several locations. There was a high school biology teacher on the trip and he collected some of the Black Bear scat for his class! Wildflowers: Steeplebush, Meadowsweet, Tall Meadow Rue, Twinflower, Turtlehead, Swamp Candles, Sundew, Pitcher Plant, and Pyrola. There were many butterflies, but one in particular caught our attention on the hike out - several of us photographed it. As it turns out, a few minutes later, we ran into Howard Hoople, President of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club, and his wife (I met him many years ago when he came on a field trip to Massawepie) and he identified the lovely butterfly - a Baltimore Checkerspot.and, it turns out this was just the species he was looking for that day!!! He told us that Turtlehead is one of its foods - and I had just photographed that wildflower exactly where we found the butterflies! It was terrific to run into Howard at that moment! He later emailed that they were hot, and just about to turn around when they ran into our group - our info about the butterfly gave them new energy to keep going and they found and photographed the Baltimore Checkerspots a few minutes later! Joan Collins Editor, New York Birders 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/ --
