NY State Birding Adventure - Day 2

The second day of our four blogger birding extravaganza began not too long after the first day ended. Shortly before 2:00 AM, after 2.5 hours of sleep, we woke up and headed for our destination - Wakely Mountain. It was a little over a two hour drive northwest to get there. We picked up Will on our way and we were off to search for boreal breeders - specifically Bicknell's Thrush. This specialized breeder of spruce-fir habitat is only found at high elevations from the Catskills north to a few points in southeastern Canada. It would be a life bird for both Mike and me.

We drove traffic-free through the night and found the dirt road that would take us to Wakely Mountain. Along the road, we tried to avoid hitting deer and toads while trying our best to stay awake (kudos to our driver Corey for being good at being awake). We encountered a Porcupine sauntering off the road (a life mammal for me) and a Luna Moth coursing across the headlights of Corey's car. Around 4:15, we arrived to the base of Wakely Mountain for our 6+ mile roundtrip hike. All of us secretly prayed that the potentially strenuous hike would reward us with our quarry.

I'd never hiked in the dark before, but it was really fun. By the light of our flashlights, we proceeded up the trail only to be met by a HUGE beaver dam blocking our way. After a moment of fear that we'd need to find a new mountain, we were able to find a trail around the dam. We moved on with Corey being sure to make loud noises to scare away bears as we progressed. The terrain was flat for the first 1.5 miles or so. Birds began singing before daylight with Blackburnian Warbler, American Redstart, and Swainson's Thrush being some of the first I remember hearing. The trail also had what to me was an abnormal amount of toads. There seemed to be one every 100 feet or so and some of them were HUGE! As we moved along gradually gaining elevation, more birds chimed in - Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, and Hermit Thrush among others. Daylight could be seen periodically poking through the canopy, but it was still pretty dark in the forest.

The trail up the mountain

We reached a fork in the road. One fork led to another beaver dam and a beautiful lake, the other led steeply up. No time to enjoy the lake now... we had a mission. Up we went! The climb was pretty steep, but did not require hand over hand climbing (to my relief). As the daylight increased, I could really see the beauty of this forest. Hemlocks, spruces, and firs dominated with aspens and maples sprinkled in. Lichen and moss-covered rocks and trees created a very different feel from the oak and poplar-dominated forests I mostly see in NJ. The ascent was strenuous and a bit tricky in spots where the trail was comprised of large smooth, exposed rock. A few slips by each of us, but we were all no worse for wear. As we reached higher and higher elevations, we frequently stopped in hopes of hearing the Bicknell's. Each stop yielded the same results... no Bicknell's singing or uttering their "VEER!" call. All was not lost though. We heard Sapsuckers doing there irregular tapping rhythms, encountered a probable nesting Red-breasted Nuthatch and even had a flock of Red Crossbills fly over. Flora was plentiful too. I saw two new wildflowers: Yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis) and, finally, my first trillium - Red Trillium (Trillium erectum).


Red Trillium, AKA Purple Trillium, AKA Wake-robin

We climbed higher and higher and made more frequent stops to listen. No luck yet. The bugs were getting pretty bad as daylight increased. Black flies and mosquitos forced us to re-apply our repellent on a few occasions. For me, they weren't biting, but they were a real nuisance. With no Bicknell's yet, I could sense a collective concern growing in our group about whether we had made the right choice of mountains. I still trusted my NYers though.

After several hours, we reached the summit. A fire tower, the tallest in the Adirondacks at almost 90', stretched into the clouds. Visibility from the summit was limited to the whiteness of the cloud that had encroached the mountain top. We explored the area which also housed a cabin, an outhouse, and a sleeping deck for workers. A flock of Pine Siskins paid us a brief visit and several Yellow-bellied Flycatchers gave their "chu-wee" calls. One even posed right in front of me. Even with all these great birds, it was difficult to forget our original goal which we had not achieved.

Corey and I climbed the tower about halfway to look at the tops of the trees. Around this time, the sun started to poke through the clouds and the fog started to burn off a bit. The gorgeous view from the summit made a few brief appearances before the fog covered it again. This sun must have triggered something in the birds because we suddenly heard a loud "VEER!" come from within about 20' of the base of the tower. We listened intently and heard it again. "VEER!" It called a third time, but this time it was followed by an unmistakable song with an upward slur at the end - the song of a Bicknell's Thrush. We searched the trees, but couldn't find it. Corey and I bolted down the tower and we all gathered to peer through the trees. Corey was the first to spot the bird sitting on a branch about eye-level. Mike and I were able to get on it for spectacular "life" looks at this endangered species. We were able to watch it call and got excellent looks at the large amount of yellow at the base of its bill. Our fears of not seeing the bird instantly washed away and all was right in the world. Will appeared from the trail (he smartly took his time on the trail instead of racing up it like we did) and confirmed that he had heard a few on the way up and reported a few other bird sightings he had.


The fire tower

We celebrated briefly, then began our descent. Going down wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It was a little rough on my knees, but I didn't fall on my butt. We tried to make quick time because we had other spots in the 'Daks that we wanted to see. The best sighting on the way down was a Ruffed Grouse that was obviously trying to distract us from a nest. Will even saw it do a broken wing display in front of him.

At the bottom of Wakely, we rested and refueled on coffee. It was only about 9:45 and there was still some birding to do. We got back on the dirt road that took us to Wakely and continued on for another 30 miles or so. At a roadside pond, we encountered an Alder Flycatcher and a Great Blue Heron, but few other new birds.


A serene roadside stop

Our final destination was Ferd's Bog, which aside from a Winter Wren with his amazing song and a few other birds we'd previously seen, was incredibly quiet. I still enjoyed being out on a boardwalk in a really gorgeous bog. The local birders, Corey and Will, were pretty disappointed that this spot didn't produce the hoped-for birds like Black-backed Woodpecker and Olive-sided Flycatcher. I could live with it though. We had done an amazing hike in the wee hours of the morning with a tremendous payoff. I had a real satisfied feeling about the hike and a little birdless territory couldn't take that away. I got to spend a few splendid days birding with some great people too. Will and Corey really know their area - not just the birds, but the geography and history of the area too. It's always fun birding with Mike too and I enjoyed getting some lifers together.


Ferd's Bog

We headed home to Mike's in the Bronx and I traveled on to Piscataway, NJ. To end this, I need to apologize to my girlfriend, Beth, because I quickly fell asleep for the next 13.5 hours.

NY State Birding Adventure - Day 1

On Friday, Mike from 10,000 Birds and I traveled to the Albany, NY area to meet up with Corey from Lovely Dark and Deep and Will from The Nightjar. Our mission was simple: see a Bicknell's Thrush on one of the Adirondack mountains where it breeds. But that was for Saturday... we still had some birding to do in Friday's stifling heat.

I picked up Mike in "da Bronx" and we hopped on the NY thruway for our 150 mile drive up to Albany. The AC was cranked and we cruised up the highway with visions of boreal breeders dancing through our heads. Corey and Will were waiting for us when we arrived around 4:15. Enough with the pleasantries... we had some birding to do! Our targets for Friday were grassland species and marsh birds. Will and Corey are completely wired in to the local birding and they knew some great spots. We headed west (I think) to the farmlands of Schoharie and Montgomery counties.

We stopped at our first field and ticked off Savannah Sparrow and a distant singing Vesper Sparrow, both of which are tough breeders to find in NJ. Our next stop was the one I was most looking forward to. It was a field of tall grass with some small shrubs that hosted a small sparrow which uttered a small "Tslisk" that it calls a song - a Henslow's Sparrow. This bird has elluded me on several occasions, but this guy was very abiding. After a few moments of searching, he perched on a shrub and gave some excellent scope views - ABA bird #498!

We piled in the car and continued our search for grassland species. Bobolinks called from every open field. Another field held a pair of circling Upland Sandpipers - a lifer for Mike. They didn't stop and pose for us, but they did make their "wolf whistle" call which is always neat to hear. Continuing on to other fields, we found more Savannah Sparrows, Harrier, Kestrel, and Eastern Meadowlark. We were racking up the grassland specialties, but the regularly-occurring Grasshopper Sparrow was peculiarly missing. We finally did find one calling, but the views for Corey and Mike were less than spectacular.

The grasslands had produced well for us and we headed to our next habitat - Black Creek Marsh. Our target: Virginia Rail (a lifer for Mike) and other marsh birds. Most of the great marshes close to me are closed at night to the public. This marsh was very accessible. A path along railroad tracks leads to some awesome marsh habitat where we did hear, but not see, Virginia Rail. We also heard Marsh Wren and Swamp Sparrow and had a Willow Flycatcher circle our heads in the waning daylight. We returned to the car in the dark and finalized our plans for the next day. It must have been our inhalation of too much marsh gas, but we decided to return to Corey's house (after dropping off Will at his house), eat dinner (at 10:00 PM), sleep for a few hours, and then leave for Wakely Mountain at 2:00 AM. That's exactly what we did... we drank a beer, ate some great prosciutto and mozz sandwiches, and got a little sleep. Tune in tomorrow for our phenomenal adventure up the mountain.

Be sure to check out Corey's poetic rendition of Friday's birding, as well as Mike's and Will's versions of the day. It's interesting reading to get everyone's perspectives.

Anhinga in NJ

While driving south on the Garden State Parkway yesterday evening, I noticed an odd bird circling near a radio tower among some crows. The shape was distinctive - a fan-shaped tail, an long thin neck, and a long, thin, sharp yellow bill. The length of the neck and the shape of the bill and the overall gestalt of the bird separated it easily from a Double-crested Cormorant (which can soar in a similar manner). It was a male Anhinga!

Anhingas are an almost annual vagrant to NJ. This is the first of 2007 to my knowledge. From what I know, the furthest north that they breed is a small population in Virginia. Very cool indeed! This is actually my second sighting of an Anhinga in NJ. During the 2004 World Series of Birding, three birds flew over our group at Sandy Hook.

Red Knot Update

"Scientists Scramble to Save US Shorebird"
June 4, 2007

FORTESCUE, New Jersey - A tiny shorebird is edging closer to extinction, threatened by fishermen who destroy its food staple for bait and loved by ornithologists who are drawn from around the world to count it.

The red knot, once a numerous springtime visitor to the beaches of the Delaware Bay on the US Atlantic Coast, has declined to an all-time low of 12,300 birds, down from some 15,000 last year and around 100,000 in the mid-1980s. Biologists led by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection have been monitoring the bird for the last 23 years amid signs that it may soon join the dodo on the list of birds never to be seen again.

After a month long ground and air search of the beaches of Delaware Bay in New Jersey and Delaware, scientists this week concluded that the red knot's population is now even closer to the level where it may not survive. They consider the population would be sustainable at about 100,000.

The 10-inch-long bird with a rusty red breast and mottled gray back could be extinct by 2010 or shortly thereafter if its Arctic breeding is disrupted by bad weather or by attacks from predators, undermining the ability of the perilously small population to regenerate, said Larry Niles, former head of New Jersey's endangered species program and the leader of the annual red knot count.

"Because the population is so low, it's vulnerable to a lot of other things," Niles said.

The red knot's numbers have been decimated by overharvesting of horseshoe crabs, whose eggs are its staple diet. With enough food, the 4.7-ounce (135-gram) bird can put on sufficient weight to complete its 9,000-mile (14,500-km) migration from southern Argentina to Arctic Canada each spring, and will hopefully breed successfully when it gets there.

The crabs, used mostly as bait by conch fishermen, have been removed by the thousands from the bay beaches that are a crucial refueling stop on its epic migration. Despite a two-year moratorium on harvesting them on the New Jersey side of the bay, the number of crab eggs is down by a third from last year, Niles said.

Even if the crab harvest is banned indefinitely throughout Delaware Bay, it will take a decade or more for its population to recover to the point where it can feed increasing numbers of knot because the crabs take nine years to reach sexual maturity.

ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST?

The bright spot in this year's count was that captured birds were found to be of a healthy weight, suggesting that for now there are enough crab eggs to feed a dwindling population.

Niles urged New Jersey to extend the moratorium when it expires later this year and called on the federal government to add the bird to its endangered species list. In Delaware, officials have proposed banning the crab harvest but that is being challenged in court by fishing interests.

Concern over the bird's fate draws ornithologists to the annual count. This year they came from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Britain and Mexico.

Clive Minton, a shorebird specialist from Melbourne, Australia, has been coming to the New Jersey beaches each year since 1996 to contribute his expertise.

"The red knot decline is steeper, longer and greater than any other shorebird decline around the world," he said.

Get Better at Counting Birds

If you don't get the ABA PEEPS e-Bulletin, written by fellow blogger and birder extraordinaire Rick Wright, you should. The most recent edition has a link to two articles on eBird about how to count birds.

Counting 101

Counting 201

I'll be the first to admit that I don't typically count birds when I'm not doing some type of formal census. Reading these two articles makes me want to count birds more and to record them in eBird.

Crown Vetch

If you've spent time out birding during the summer in the east, you may be familiar with Crown Vetch (Coronilla varia). This attractive member of the Pea family has been planted along slopes on highways and roadsides since the 1950s. Its strong root system helps prevent soil erosion and the pink/purple flowers are very attractive. Like many things, though, too much is never a good thing. Crown Vetch is native to the Mediterranean and has become invasive in many areas where it has been planted. It is very aggressive and will easily crowd out native plants in dune and grassland habitats. The plant has a "nitrogen fixing" ability whereby it helps replenish the nitrogen in the soil where it lives. This can adversely affect some native plants that may require infertile soil to grow.

All is not bad in Crown Vetch land. A small butterfly, the Wild Indigo Duskywing, has added the Crown Vetch to its list of caterpillar host plants. The prevalence of this plant has increased the population and expanded the range of this cryptic butterfly.

Many states have reduced or eliminated the planting of Crown Vetch. I'm sure enough has spread around to sustain the Wild Indigo Duskywing population for many, many years

New Dragonfly Field Guide Coming

I just read that Ed Lam, author and illustrator of the outstanding Damselflies of the Northeast, has been hired to write a new field guide to the dragonflies of North America for the Peterson Field Guide Series. Ed is chronicling his journey to create this guide in sort of a blog format. It's very interesting reading. Check out Ed's photos and artwork while you're there too. As a big fan of dragonflies, I'm really excited about this. The current guides on the market that cover all of NA aren't very good. Regional guides that use photos have done a great job filling in the holes though. Ed's illustrations in his damselfly guide are amazing and the format is very user friendly. This guide will help turn a lot more people on to the beauty of dragonflies.

I & The Bird #50

#50! Wow. That's a whole lot of blog posts. Congrats to Mike and all of the participants in the last 50 installments. #50 is up at A Blog Around the Clock.