Return to paradise

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

It is a relief to finally be back in the Adirondacks, and back to sharing my experiences here. I couldn't have possibly chosen a better weekend to return home, as the entire weekend that I returned was sunny, warm, and full of bird activity. I returned home last Saturday evening, and was greeted by a lovely assortment of birds, many of which just returned from their wintering grounds. The highlight was two male Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks squabbling over space at my bird feeder, one of the most colorful large birds we have here. A pair of bluebirds has taken up residence in a box that my roommate placed near the house over the winter, and the pair has been courting one another right near my living room window. There is still a fair number of Pine Siskins visiting the feeder daily, and a young-looking bird was begging on the ground yesterday. Pine Siskins are normally a winter visitor, returning to Northwestern Canada to breed, but in some years they will stay on their wintering grounds to breed if the food source is good, and this seems to be one of those years. Our first hummingbird came by on Sunday, I quickly set out the hummingbird feeder and it was well received, there have been both males and females at the feeder. I've heard a few warblers singing in the woods around the house, including Ovenbirds, Black-Throated Greens, and Blackburnians. A Winter Wren, one of the most amazing calls from such a small bird, has been calling from the pines and hemlocks across the street. Blooms on the apple and crabapple trees are abuzz with bees and butterflies, spring has certainly arrived.

On Saturday evening I drove to Lake Placid to see the friends that I've missed, and on the way there I was able to admire a gorgeous sunset that painted the mountains in orange. A few hours later on my drive back the mountains were painted in a different light--a warm white glow from the "supermoon" that graced the sky Saturday night. It is truly spectacular to drive past the Loj Road and admire the high peaks under the light of a full moon.

Bellwort

Purple Trillium

 On Sunday I was anxious to get on a trail and on top of a mountain, to get a view of the mountains that I've missed. Being in flat Michigan so long has weakened my hiking muscles though, so I opted for a fairly easy hike to Owl's Head Lookout. I chose this trail because I was also hoping that the winding streams and lower elevation would make it a good spot for birds and wildflowers, and I especially wanted to find some trillium in bloom. That was certainly the case, as Purple Trillium was in bloom along most of the trail, and warblers were abundant. There were good numbers of Yellow-rumped, Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, and Black-throated Blue warblers, and a fair amount of action from Hermit Thrushes and White-Throated Sparrows chasing their mates around the forest floor. The forest floor was also alive with wildflowers, Trillium were most abundant but there were also smatterings of Bellwort, Trout Lily, and Spring Beauty in bloom, and a number of other species were still budding. With the rich forest floor and moisture from the streams this trail looks like it will be blanketed in wildflowers in a few more weeks.

Red Admiral

The top of Owl's Head lookout was just as I remembered it, with a nice clear view of the north side of Giant and a view that stretches to the shores of Lake Champlain and Vermont to the east. It was a gorgeous day to bask in the sun, not a cloud in the sky and only a faint wind, so I laid on the summit for over an hour, happy to have found solitude. The trailheads at Hurricane and Baxter were full of cars, but here I only passed two other hikers all day. While sitting on the summit I was visited by a number of butterflies, mostly Red Admirals and Mourning Cloaks, that are also in peak migration right now. It always amazes me that creatures so small, with such fragile wings, can migrate hundreds if not thousands of miles.

View from Owl's Head lookout

Yesterday I had to begin work at my new job here in the Adirondacks, so I couldn't spend the entire day hiking again, but it was such an amazing morning that I had to get out for a little while to at least see some birds. I decided to hike a trail off of River Rd. in Lake Placid that was once in the guidebooks as the North Notch Trail that is no longer maintained by the DEC, but is still passable. The trail starts at a stream that empties into the Ausable, but quickly leaves the stream and follows the edge of a wetland, which makes it an excellent spot for birds. There were birds everywhere, including the first arrivals of Magnolia Warbler, a bird that is abundant in coniferous woods in the Adirondacks, and is strikingly beautiful if you can get a good look at one.They like to skulk in the thick undergrowth of young trees, making them difficult to spot, but if you can identify them by song they will usually respond to pishing. The highlight of my morning was when I pished and a Magnolia and a Black-and-white Warbler both popped out of the woods onto a branch just a few feet away from me, they were both such handsome birds! I followed the trail as far as Holcomb Pond, where a campsite sits on the edge of a serene pond, where Tree Swallows darted through the air and Red-winged Blackbirds called from the pond's edge. I sat there a while just taking it all in, feeling the cool morning air, the sun on my face, listening to the bird song that filled the forest. It was a perfect feeling of being in paradise.

It's good to be home.