Trip Highlights

The weekend of June 16-18 carried predictions of rainy skies and thunderstorms each day.  Did we dare continue with our plans to bird the north woods and lakes?  Of course we did.  Seven members opted to defy the odds and venture to New York.  (We also didn’t want to lose our room deposits!).  The trip proved to be a success; any trip where life birds (and mammals) are added is a success, after all!  Two participants saw life birds on this trip, and others had a life sighting of a Fisher.  

On Friday we drove the 12-mile entry road into the Moose River Plains area, and then out to the town of Inlet.  We made many of the stops we have done before, but also added a short walk to very pretty Lost Ponds. We heard or saw many woodland species including Magnolia, Blackburnian, and Nashville Warblers, Northern Parula, and several Swainson’s Thrushes (al-ways nice to hear). We did not linger in Inlet since the skies were threatening, but instead made our way to Ferd’s Bog.  We always hope for at least a glimpse of boreal species here, but this day we only heard a couple of specialties - Olive-sided Flycatcher (maybe 2) and Lincoln’s Spar-row - before distant thunder was heard and we made our way back to our cars.  We ended the afternoon at Raquette Lake marsh as an Osprey flew over.

Saturday was overcast and the views at Tupper Lake marsh were not great, but we did add some Ring-necked Ducks to our list.  Next stop was Massawepie Mire. Highlights on the drive through the Boy Scout camp gave us Tanager, Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, and Winter Wrens.  The mosquitoes at the Mire were as bad as we’ve ever seen them, especially through the woods.  But once the terrain opened up to the bog, they weren’t as fierce and we were able to have good looks at Nashville Warblers, and fleeting looks at Lincoln’s Sparrow.  The highlight here was a family of Gray Jays.  What turned out to be the high-pitched whiny calls of the juveniles confused some of us at first as we thought they were Waxwings.  Then the mob came into view and there was no mistaking the jays!

Rains began as we left the mire and headed back to Tupper Lake where we made a lunch stop eating in our cars.  It continued to rain as we headed to Bloomingdale Bog, but by the time we arrived, the rain had stopped.  Skies still threatened but we walked along the flat trail.  This time we had really nice looks at Olive-sided Flycatcher and Lincoln’s Sparrow as well as Nashville and Palm Warblers.  Some also had a glimpse of a Green Heron as it took off over the bog.  

Floodwood Road was next where our leaders promised a look at Common Loon with babies (“we always get them here…”).  It wasn’t until we were on our way back out that we did finally see one adult loon!  The best birds here, though were seen by only two, who lingered in the last car.  They saw a Hooded Merganser, then heard and had great looks at Canada Warbler.  At least this time it was best to be in the last vehicle!

Sunday also began drizzly and overcast.  A drive up Whiteface was not in our plan this year, so rather than make the long drive back up through Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, we decided to simply head east on 28N out of Long Lake toward our afternoon destination of the Fort Edwards grasslands.  First, we spent some time at Shaw Pond scanning and listening for any marsh birds and waterfowl.  We had Mallard, Black and Wood Ducks, some saw a Kingbird, then we all saw a cooperative American bittern, and a close Virginia Rail.  A great start to the day.  We hoped for some specialties on a walk on the Northfield-Lake Placid Trail, but only had more of what we had been seeing and hearing - Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, vireos, and woodland warblers.  

The Adirondacks Visitor Center in Newcomb provided not only a bathroom stop, but also a very nice trail walk.  Here we added Ruffed Grouse, heard by two, a Sharp-shinned Hawk which seemed to be guarding a nest, and a Hairy Woodpecker, which we had hoped would have been a Black-backed instead.  

This trip always ends with car birding through the grasslands and farms near Fort Edwards.  The skies turned sunny for us as we neared and we were rewarded with some very nice birds.  In addition to those we expected such as Catbirds, Kingbirds, Finches and Swifts, we had Bobolinks, Meadowlarks, and Harrier.  Our hoped-for Grasshopper Sparrow appeared at the “usual location” and gave us the “best looks ever.”  Just before that we also had an active Baltimore Oriole family including a just-fledged youngster with its downy feathers still showing.  The trip that was supposed to be a wash-out seemed to get better with each stop, and with a total of 107 species, we were not disappointed.  

Seventeen participants gathered for the walk around this beautiful grassland habitat. The list below is in taxonomic order and comprises 44 species.  For certain birds, I noted the WMA they were found in. The numbers for some of the usual grassland birds were on the low side (for instance, a single Song Sparrow).  During multiple visits to the WMA, however, I’ve noticed that the number of singing birds can fluctuate dramatically from one day to the next.  The two Blue Grosbeaks, together with the excellent views we had of species like Prairie Warbler, made for a great morning of birding on a beautiful June day.

Mourning Dove

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Suffield, at the parking lot)

Great Blue Heron (flyby, Suffield)

Red-shouldered Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk (immature)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

American Kestrel

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Willow Flycatcher (2; one in Suffield, one in Southwick)

Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-throated Vireo (Chris heard)

Red-eyed Vireo

American Crow

Common Raven

Tree Swallows (2)

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Eastern Bluebird (4)

Veery (2)

American Robin (4)

Gray Catbird (2; one in Suffield, one in Southwick)

Brown Thrasher (3)

Northern Mockingbird (3)

European Starling

American Goldfinch (4)

Grasshopper Sparrow (2; one in Suffield, one in Southwick)

Chipping Sparrow

Field Sparrow (2; one in Suffield, one in Southwick; a low count there for this species)

Song Sparrow

Eastern Towhee (2)

Orchard Oriole (2; both adult males; one in Suffield, one in Southwick)

Baltimore Oriole (heard)

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird (3)

Blue-winged Warbler (heard by Janice and others [names?])

Common Yellowthroat (2)

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Prairie Warbler (3)

Scarlet Tanager (2; one in Suffield, one in Southwick)

Northern Cardinal (2)

BLUE GROSBEAK (2; both first-summer singing males; they exhibited discernibly different plumage patterns).

Indigo Bunting (4)

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Tyringham Valley is always a beautiful area to bird, and our half-day trip there in June did not disappoint, giving us a total of 63 species. Eight members spent some time walking a short way on the AT and at the Tyringham Cobble (a Trustees property), and again at Post Farm Marsh in Lenoxdale.  Otherwise, we did roadside birding.  Highlights included two Bald Eagles, a Kestrel, 3 Ravens, and 2 Black Vultures (seen by one who tried in vain to call attention to the rest of the group). At the Cobble we had nice looks at Indigo Bunting and Prairie Warbler.  We also heard a Blue-winged Warbler and one astute member heard and called our attention to a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. On Breakneck Road we saw about a half dozen Cliff Swallows, but did not hear or see any Snipe.

Post Farm Marsh did not disappoint either.  We all heard, and one person saw, Marsh Wren, and we all had very nice looks at a close Virginia Rail.  Both locations are easily accessible, easy to bird, and never fail to produce something interesting.

Most of the field work for this 20th annual Little River IBA Count was done on an evening of cloudy weather then rain with thunder (temps in the 70s, winds N at 2 mph), followed by a cool day with periods of misty precipitation (temps hovered around 60 degrees all day, winds ENE at 5-8 mph).  High humidity made birding less comfortable than usual on both days.  

Altogether, there were 7 teams and 12 observers in the field for a total of 61.5 hours.  The hours of effort were only down 0.5 from last year, but still well below the Count’s average of 71.2.  April and Bambi splitting the territory of Al and Lois for the first time added to the hours of effort, but we missed hours usually birded in West Granville by John. The total number of species counted was 104, falling below our average of 111.  The number of individuals at 2491 was the lowest ever, which might be due in part to the weather, but the past five years of counts have produced significantly lower numbers in several families of birds as you will read below.  

Misses of note include Hooded and Common Merganser, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, Acadian Flycather, Bank Swallow (holes in bank seen in usual spot, but no sign of the swallows), White-throated and Savannah Sparrows, and finally, Virginia Rail that had been identified in 5 of the previous 6 years.

To give more detail to the decline in individuals of some species, recorded in parentheses after each species is the count for this year, followed by last year’s count and finally the 20-year average.  Let us begin with Red-tailed Hawk (2, 10, 5.5) and Yellow-billed Cuckoo (1, 7, 2.5).  Also low in number this year were the woodpeckers, with Downy (5, 18, 7.9), Hairy (5, 11, 10.7) and Pileated (5, 14, 9.9).  Next is the hard-hit flycatcher family, Pewee (26, 52, 48.6), Willow (2, 6, 4.3), Least (7, 9, 14.1) and Eastern Kingbird (9, 20, 17.9).  The family of thrushes follows, with Veery (67, 102, 139.5), Hermit (6, 9, 22.6), Wood (16, 40, 45.9) and Robin (88, 172, 136.4).  Also having a low count this year was Catbird (49, 74, 73.8).  Then comes our prized songbirds, the warblers, with Ovenbird’s second low count ever (146, 175, 238.8), Louisiana Waterthrush (3, 3, 6.3), Black-and-white (43, 61, 77.7), Blackburnian (24, 30, 53.7), BT Blue (32, 47, 80.3), Yellow-rump’s lowest count ever (4, 5, 15.6) and BT Green (26, 21, 50.7).  The numbers for most of these warbler species have been lower in the last five years and more numerous in the preceding 15 years, so the averages, even as high as they seem, are masking the actual decline we are seeing on our count in recent years.

High counts were found in just one species, Wild Turkey (57, 16.7).  Even so, we did have several good finds this year.  Myles and Kathy recorded a Kestrel for the first time since 2017 and only found in 6 other counts over the 20 years.  Whip-poor-will made the count again after missing for 3 years.  Spotted Sandpiper was a lucky find by me and Gail at Cobble Mtn Reservoir.  Tom identified two Ruffed Grouse nearby Miller Swamp in Blandford, and I needn’t say that this species is always welcome.  He also gave us a reasonable count of Canada Warbler, finding 5 of the 6 counted this year.  John and Joanne contributed the only Woodcock on the count and Doug had the only Barred Owl (there were 8 counted last year).  One last piece of good bird news, the Brown Cowbird count was just 15, after 36 were counted last year and the 20-year average is at 29.  Woo-hoo!

Joanne Fortin graciously hosted the compilation get-together at her home in Westfield.  Appetizers, pizza and salads were feasted upon by all, not to mention beverages.  Lois treated us to home-made cookies for dessert.  Joanne gave us a sought-after tour of her lovely perennial gardens and provided gardening tips as well.  The compilation detail and sharing of birding adventures was as interesting as always.  Great fun was had by all!

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2023 June Count Results

Thirteen members participated and started birding right in the parking lot of the Quabbin Headquarters. First spotted was a group of Chimney Swifts flying overhead. Other birds seen at this location were Robins, Chipping and Song Sparrows, Eastern Towhee, Northern Cardinal, American Redstart, Gray Catbirds, and a White-breasted Nuthatch.  At the lookout area of the reservoir, we saw a pair of Common Mergansers, and a Great Blue Heron flying by.

We then got in our cars and headed to the 2nd entrance to Quabbin. We parked on the right soon after entering. In this area we saw Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, many Red-eyed Vireos, a Raven, Crows, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Pewee, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a half dozen Turkeys grazing in the grass on the dam.

Continuing down the road to a lookout on the left-hand side of the road, a favorite spot of Tim’s each year, we saw Prairie and Chestnut-sided Warblers, more Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Bluebirds, Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Buntings, Great Crested Flycatcher, Phoebe, Black-capped Chickadee, Wood Thrush, and Yellow-throated Vireo.

We then got back in our cars and headed toward the Tower Area, The Apple Orchard, and the Enfield Lookout. Birds spotted in these areas were Pine Warbler, Northern Parula, Blue-headed Vireo, Northern Flicker, Tufted Titmouse, and Hairy Woodpecker.

Next, we made our way over to the Artillery Area and walked down to the water.  We were unable to walk much of the shore because the water was very high.  Here we saw a Fish Crow, and a couple of Common Loons.

Running out of time, our last stop was just around the parking area at Hanks Meadows where we saw a Blackburnian Warbler to finish off the day!