5/3/14 Long Lake (Hamilton Co.) and Minerva (Essex Co.)
I visited Sabattis Circle Road and then hiked 5 miles round trip on the Roosevelt Truck Trail. There is still some snow and ice on the trail and in the forest, plus the ground still feels frozen! For the past several days, I've been photographing and taking videos of a pair of Common Loons at the Little Tupper Lake outlet. I added a video of a loon consuming a huge fish to my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian (Anthony Collerton identified the fish as a Lake Trout already!). The video shows just the last minute - the loon wrestled with the fish for over 10 minutes. The fish that I have observed the loons consuming have all been this large. This is info that I also posted with the video: If you are curious how loons accomplish this feat, here is a description from the Common Loon account in the "Birds of North America" (BNA): "Grasps prey between mandibles and manipulates it to swallow it headfirst. Rearward-pointing, sharp denticles on roof of mouth and tongue assist retention of prey by interdigitating with scales or carapace. Using tongue, presses prey against roof of mouth while repeatedly retracting tongue in conjunction with extensions of head and neck." Something I have also observed, that was not described in the BNA, is that shortly after the fish tail disappears down the loon's throat, the loon pulls up into a position where its throat and upper body are straight and briefly out of the water with wings extended - this appears to assist in getting the fish down. Then, the loon puts its head underwater. It is fascinating to watch! Migrants continue to trickle in slowly: *Blue-headed Vireo (only 3) and *Black-throated Green Warbler (only 1) were new today. 5/2/14 Massawepie Mire (St. Lawrence Co.) David Buckley and I continued our tradition of sharing the harrowing drive to Massawepie Mire before town spring road-work! This year, David drove his truck. The road was very bumpy, rutted, and washed out in places, but there was no deep mud to sink into if you took your foot off the gas! It was cold and we had some rain on our 6 mile round trip hike, but it was wonderful to be there after a long winter. We found 30 species. *Lincoln's Sparrow (only 1 singing) was the only new arrival. The mire was filled with singing Palm Warblers (we found a few Pine Warblers on the drive in and there were also many Yellow-rumped Warblers). 5/1/14 Sabattis Circle Road *Yellow-rumped Warbler (3) and *Pine Warbler were the new arrivals. This is a rather late arrival date for Pine Warbler - Bill Labes, Long Lake, has been reporting a Pine Warbler at his bird feeders since sometime in April. There were 2 Rusty Blackbirds vocalizing near Sabattis Bog from the Bog Stream/Sperry Brook area, which would be likely breeding habitat. (This property is private and posted, so there is no way to hike to them.) 4/29/14 Sabattis Circle Road *Osprey was new near the Bog Stream/Sperry Brook area near Sabattis Bog. A Wild Turkey was in full display with two females nearby at the bog - I took a few videos. 4/28/14 Sabattis Circle Road A large *Black Bear was walking down the road toward me at Sabattis Bog! I posted a few photos to my Facebook page (link above). It didn't turn around until it either saw or smelled me. It looked very healthy! As I was photographing the Black Bear at 4:30 p.m., a Northern Saw-whet Owl began to toot! 4/25/14 Long Lake A Barred Owl vocalized at dawn outside our house. 4/22/14 Long Lake *Brown-headed Cowbird - observed at a feeder in town. 4/21/14 Long Lake *Swamp Sparrow at the outlet of Little Tupper Lake. *Spring Peepers were heard for the first time this year. 4/17/14 Long Lake *Vesper Sparrow (1) and *Field Sparrow (2) migrants were found at the outlet of Little Tupper Lake. Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
