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| This Rough-legged Hawk was one of the highlights of the Magic Triangle |
Of the four counts that I'm participating in this year two of them were entirely new to me. The first of those was the Ferrisburg, VT count, which includes much of the Lake Champlain shoreline on the NY side spanning from Westport to Essex. Since the count spans two states there are count organizers on each side of the lake, and just a small group of 8-10 birders helped cover the NY side. Even though the count area is small it has a variety of habitats, including open water, open fields, and mixed forests, thus providing the opportunity to see a diverse array of bird species. Our count morning started at the Westport boat launch, where we were able to find Common Loons, Horned Grebes, Common Mergansers, and an adult Bald Eagle on Lake Champlain. From there we ventured to the wastewater treatment plant where we were surprised to find a male Green-winged Teal, an attractive duck that is usually further south by mid-November. At that same spot we also heard a Carolina Wren, a species that is widespread further south but has become a more frequent sight in the Champlain Valley in recent years as the species' range expands north. From there our group broke off into pairs to cover the remaining territory, and I was fortunate to be sent north of Westport to cover the area known to birders as "The Magic Triangle". This area is comprised of Clark, Cross, Whallons Bay, and Lake Shore Roads, which run through features such as open farm fields, Webb Royce Swamp, Whallons Bay, and Split Rock Mountain. The "magic" triangle gained it's fame when the swamp at its core provided excellent habitat for marsh birds and was home to a large rookery, but the swamp has filled in over the last decade and most of those species have been lost. The triangle is still quite magical in the winter months, however, as the open fields make it the best place in the region to see wintering raptors, sparrows, larks, and buntings. The lack of snow thus far delayed the arrival of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings to the area, but the open fields did produce a good number of wintering raptors. Throughout the day we were treated to 3 Rough-legged Hawks, 3 Northern Harriers, 4 Red-Tailed Hawks, and 2 more Bald Eagles. Last year a small number of Short-eared Owls were seen in this area on the count, but we didn't have any luck with those. While scanning the fields for raptors we were surprised to see a late flock of about 400 Snow Geese flying so far overhead we couldn't even hear their honking, just a gorgeous site against the deep blue sky. We didn't see any birds along the recently constructed DEC trail to Webb Royce Swamp, but a late-day walk into the woods of Split Rock Mountain from the trail that begins across from Cross Rd. was more productive, as the scrubby woods around one of the beaver ponds was bustling with a large flock of Tree Sparrows. These birds breed in the far north and are an uncommon sight here in winter, making them a nice end to a productive count day.
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| Pine Grosbeaks are often seen in ornamental crabapple trees in early winter |
The very next day I woke up well before sunrise yet again to volunteer for the much more familiar Plattsburgh CBC. We began the day at Ausable Point, walking the roads in the campground in search of waterfowl on the lake and songbirds in the woods. We saw many of the expected waterfowl species, including loons, mergansers, goldeneye, and a lingering Great Blue Heron. Out in the marsh we saw a perched Red-tailed Hawk, a hunting Northern Harrier, and a fly-by Bald Eagle. We spent the remainder of the day in the warmth of the car driving the roads of Peru, searching people's yards for active feeders where chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers would be found. While the increasing price of bird seed has resulted in a lot of empty birdfeeders we did find quite a few elaborate feeding stations where less common birds like Tufted Titmice and goldfinches (most of which have flown south) were found. One house had at least a dozen birdfeeders tucked into the woods behind their house, and perched just above them was a Cooper's Hawk planning its next meal. Coopers and the smaller Sharp-shinned Hawks are common sights at bird feeders, as hawks in the Accipiter family are agile flyers and quite capable of taking down other birds in flight (By comparison the better-known Red-tailed Hawk, in the Buteo family, is much bulkier and unable to manuever quickly enough in flight to hunt other birds). Earlier in the day we had a quick glimpse of another Cooper's Hawk flying at top speed in pursuit of a smaller bird in a housing development. Our last bird of the day was a small flock of Pine Grosbeaks that we found feeding in some crabapple trees outside the Valcour conference center. Just a few weeks ago there were numerous grosbeaks in the area, but most of them continued further south where fruit is still abundant. The erratic weather of last spring, with warm temperatures followed by late frost, made for a very poor fruit crop in our region and forced most frugivores to venture further south, making our sighting a good one to end the day with.
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| A Northern Shrike is only the size of a robin but is a fierce predator, capturing and impaling smaller birds |
The following weekend I participated in my third count, the Elizabethtown count. This count circle is actually the closest to where I live, but most years it falls on the same day as the Plattsburgh count so I've never been able to join this count before. As count circles go the E'town one probably has the least number of potential species in the region, as it doesn't have any large bodies of water for waterfowl, and it has few open fields. Most of the count circle is mixed hardwood and coniferous forests, but it includes a number of trails for an enjoyable hike, including Hurricane, Bald, and Giant Mtns. My area of the circle included the small town of New Russia and the trail to Bald Peak (which continues on to Rocky Peak and Giant Mtn.). I wasn't expecting much in the way of unusual species on this count, but was pleasantly surprised when our first bird of the day was a Northern Shrike. Northern Shrikes are one of the coolest birds, though they look like a songbird they are actually fierce predators that prey on smaller songbirds. They lack the large talons and bill of larger predators to kill, so to compensate for this they impale their prey on sharp objects such as thorns or barbed wire (cool, huh?). On the breeding grounds males will impale multiple birds on a single tree to impress a female shrike, proving he can provide for her. Though shrikes are uncommon in the Adirondacks they can be easy to spot in the right habitat, as they often perch in the very top of a bare tree alongside an open field. While the shrike was certainly the highlight we still had a number of interesting birds throughout the day, including 5 Brown Creepers, 2 Tufted Titmice, and a male Northern Cardinal. Titmice and cardinals, like the Carolina Wren, were rarely seen in the Adirondacks until about 5-10 years ago, but become more common each year. At the end of the day we took one last look at some birdfeeders where a flock of about 100 Common Redpolls were feeding throughout the day and added one more species, a lone White-throated Sparrow, to our list before heading to the count dinner.
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| Gray Jays are one of the rewards for braving the cold temperatures of the Saranac Lake CBC |
Tomorrow I'll conclude my Christmas Bird Count season with the Saranac Lake count, which I've been participating in for over a decade. Despite being one of the coldest count circles, the Saranac Lake count is always popular with birders because it includes a number of boreal bird hotspots such as Bloomingdale Bog and the Chubb River. It's one of the few counts where one can expect to see Black-backed Woodpeckers, Gray Jays, Boreal Chickadees, and crossbills and so it always attracts a few out-of-towners. With two feet of fresh snow on the ground and temperatures in the teens it should be quite the adventure and I can't wait to see which unexpected species turns up this year. And as usual I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some old friends at the end of a very cold day as we all warm up by the fire and enjoy some delicious food.
