
Gorgeous.
In the middle of January, right smack in the dead of winter, most people, when asked where they’d rather be, reply with wishes of lower latitudes and warm, tropical beaches. To me, that sounds great too, but this weekend my dad and I decided to do the opposite – head up to the Adirondacks with a group from Saw Mill River Audubon for a nice weekend of birding. We left for the “north country” soon after school ended on Friday, and made it up to Long Lake, NY, in the heart of Adirondack Park around 9 pm (with a half-hour dinner stop along the way).
Saturday, January 16
We started the day out early, waking up at 6:45 and heading to the local Long Lake Diner at 7:30 am for breakfast. Departing at 9 (we were the first ones to the diner and had to wait for the others), we made the 1 hr 20 min drive to the famous Bloomingdale Bog, which was my first taste of classic boreal habitat.

At the start of Bloomingdale Bog trail.
As we walked in, we ran into a man being led by a beagle with a rifle slung over his shoulder (encounters of this sort would become a common theme). He informed the group that there had been, in his words, “Canadian” Jays hanging out down the trail. So we set off down the bog trail, a relatively wide, flat road with hard packed snow — perfect for the many snowmobiles that passed us. About a quarter-mile in, we found the area the man had referred to, but no birds. I played my almost magical screech-owl/chickadee recording, hoping they would respond. At first, it seemed like nothing had happened. But several seconds later Gray Jays came swooping toward us through the trees, and all five landed within 10 feet of the group. Great looks were enjoyed by everyone there, and one jay even ate a few oyster crackers that someone happened to have. Our spirits rejuvenated, we continued on the path. After a few hundred more feet, we ran into a band of Black-capped Chickadees; but, as hard as I looked, none morphed into a Boreal Chickadee. We walked about a mile further, the only new birds being Red-breasted Nuthatches and many more chickadees (no boreals). It was 11 am, and we only had a bit more than an hour to get to our snowshoeing reservation at Paul Smiths VIC (Visitors Interpretive Center).

One member of a very inquisitive family of Gray Jays.
We left for Bigalow Rd, just 15 minutes away, a trail that parallels the Bloomingdale Bog trail. As we arrived, several hunters with multiple beagles were returning from a trek. I could hear birds calling from the start of the trail, so I played the recording. Within seconds scores of Chickadees (no boreals), nuthatches, and — wait — that’s not a chickadee… I had only a half-second look at the large finch perched on top of a spruce, but it was enough to take in the field marks of a Red Crossbill, a bird I only half-expected to see this weekend. Time was ticking as we walked down the trail (the same type of hard packed snow as our previous stop), and after only a few minutes most of the group felt they needed to turn back because of time constraints. However, I and a couple others decided to give it another shot. After walking a bit further I turned on the recording. Some chickadees. Lots of nuthatches. Ooh – a male Purple Finch. Some more chickadees. Even a Blue Jay. One of those chickadees sounded weird, but I couldn’t be certain over the noise of the playback. Then someone called out “I’ve got a Boreal! Wait, let me make sure — could’ve been something else…No, there it is!” I couldn’t find the bird in question — there were dozens moving around, all riled up because of the playback. Finally, the bird called again and I was able to locate it. We had so-so looks at the Boreal Chickadee, which unfortunately never emerged from the confines of the trees long enough for me to snap a picture. Still, a successful stop! And that is why you take your time while birding.

Walking Bigalow Rd, my favorite spot on the trip.
We tried some stops near Paul Smiths suggested to me — a feeder and some dead trees — but neither provided the birds I was hoping to see (Evening Grosbeak and Black-backed Woodpecker, respectively) in the few minutes we had to stop by (we did see a Wild Turkey perched in a tree, however). The snowshoe walk was fun and the area was gorgeous (as were the bogs), but mostly devoid of birds. After a great dinner at a restaurant in Long Lake and some unfortunately unproductive owling behind the motel, we called it a night.
Sunday, January 17
Determined to fit more birding into today than we were able to yesterday, we left the hotel at 7 am and, after picking up some breakfast, were on the road at 7:30. Our major stop for the morning was to be Sabattis Circle and the Whitney Wilderness Area, along Little Tupper Lake. After arriving, we decided to try Sabattis Circle Rd first, and started driving, looking for birds. The habitat wasn’t really pure boreal (lots of deciduous mixed in), and all we could find were some chickadees and nuthatches (well, White-breasted Nuthatch was a new bird for the trip). It wasn’t looking too productive, so we decided to head towards the main road. When Anne tried to turn her car around, however, it became stuck in the deceivingly soft snow bordering the hard packed road. We tried pushing the car backwards and forwards, tying a rope to the front and pulling with another car (the rope broke), and some more pushing. Finally we were able to get the car free, and were treated to an intense smell of burnt rubber. What a way to start!
The other spots planned didn’t turn out to be as good as we had hoped (in a couple places there were zero birds), and by 10 am some were getting frustrated. The group split up – a few (me included) decided to drive back to Bigalow Rd, the previous day’s best spot, while the others went to The Wild Center for some events we had scheduled. After driving over an hour to the Bloomingdale area, we approached the entrance to Bigalow Rd, and as we neared the turnoff an adult Ruffed Grouse materialized feet from the car, right on the shoulder of the road! Recognizing its mistake after a moment or two of contemplation (great looks), it fled back into the forest, flashing the ruffs on its neck as it went.

The view from Bloomingdale Bog. Wow.
The parking area was filled with bird activity — dozens of the common songbirds, as well as two Boreal Chickadees, one which spent some time on the ground right in front of me (only a few seconds, and my camera was in the car…). We continued up the trail, passed by the occasional snowmobile (which filled the air with the stench of gasoline for several seconds after), hoping for some more good luck. I heard Pine Siskins calling a few times from the treetops, and a Purple Finch called once or twice, but I wasn’t able to locate either species. We also saw a few Golden-crowned Kinglets, Common Ravens, more Boreal Chickadees and a flyover Gray Jay.

The best picture I got of a Boreal Chickadee. Bigalow Rd.
Bloomingdale Bog was our next stop (maybe, we reasoned, it would have more birds than the day before), but all that greeted us there were birds we had already seen, and not in large numbers either. A special treat after we finally arrived at the Wild Center was a Barred Owl perched on top of a large shrub in the middle of a field, at 4 pm!

In the middle of a field...
Today wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but the species we missed will give me an excuse to come back to such a beautiful area.
Monday, January 18
The last day of the trip, we had a few good birding spots lined up to hopefully get us many new species for the weekend. I woke up a bit before 7, and before departing to pick up breakfast Larry and I decided to take a short walk behind the hotel to where he had seen a grouse the first day. We neared the spot and were about to turn around, when the sound of explosive flapping came from the trees. I looked up just in time to see the tail end of a Ruffed Grouse disappear into the treetops. Oh well. Then another one took off from a nearby treetop (they were eating berries), and then Larry spotted a third sitting quietly straight ahead, munching away on treetop berries.
Breakfast was good (bacon, egg and cheese on a roll), and I stepped out of the cafe to listen for a bit. Many Goldfinches were eating from a feeder nearby, and their characteristic call filled the air. Then I heard something else — soft (but distinctive) dry, atonal calls. I looked up and saw about five small finches fly over the parking lot, fairly high, and realized that they could only be one thing — Common Redpolls! Unfortunately I was the only one outside to hear them.

Me, taking pictures...
Soon after, the group hit the road. Our major birding stop on the way back to Westchester was to be the Ft. Edward grasslands, but there was one thing we had to do first. Evening Grosbeaks had been sporadically reported from the Newcomb VIC, and though the building was closed on Sundays and Mondays, we hoped that there would still be birds at the feeders. We pulled into the parking lot and walked down the path. Not 20 feet in I looked up, and WOW — Evening Grosbeaks filled the trees, calling loudly and feasting on ash seeds. We estimated there to be about four dozen grosbeaks altogether. I hoped that they would come down from the treetops so my pictures wouldn’t be backlit, but that never happened in the half-hour we watched them for.

Evening Grosbeaks!!

A female Evening Grosbeak. The lowest any of them got (if only it was a male).
It was about two hours to Fort Edward, and immediately upon arrival our leader for the area from Southern Adirondacks Audubon pointed out a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk perched on twigs at the very top of a tree. It took off and flew around a bit, flashing its brilliantly white primaries contrasted with an all-black body, a very cool sight. We also flushed a Short-eared Owl which had been hiding out of sight not 20 feet away, and it ultimately landed on a telephone pole for everyone to enjoy looking at. We then drove around the area a bit, finding more hawks (mostly Red-tails), many common passerines, and (somewhat surprisingly) many Common Goldeneye and a couple of Common Mergansers. By that time it was 1:30 pm and we were all ready to head home after a great weekend of birding.

Short-eared Owl.