On Thursday, June 30, 2016, I stopped along Raquette River Drive in Tupper Lake to see if I could spot the Sandhill Cranes. There have not been any recent observations of the cranes in the open field along Stetson Road, so I assumed they were likely nesting in the marsh this year. I spotted one adult Sandhill Crane with a juvenile at the edge of the marsh - closer to the Raquette River than Simon Pond! I was just about to take a photo when I had a negative experience with a person temporarily staying at one of the houses (similar to Dana's recent situation at Massawepie). All the home owners along the road are quite excited about the cranes, and I believe the young man has been spoken to, so the situation is likely resolved. The police assure me that it is perfectly legal to stop your car in a public road to take a photo as long as you are not blocking traffic (there is no "traffic" on this quiet road!).
I was out with some great people from NYC Audubon over the long weekend and we stopped at the Raquette River marsh in Tupper Lake on Sunday, July 3rd and observed 2 adult Sandhill Cranes with 2 juveniles feeding at the edge of the marsh along Simon Pond! A few people in the group took videos of the family of 4! This documents the first breeding record for this species in the Adirondacks - very exciting! The cranes were a good distance away and the scopes were set up high - the NYC group had a little stair stool for their van and we used that to reach the scope for viewing! There was a friendly homeowner watching us, and one person joked that we should ask to use their much higher deck for viewing the cranes, but we didn't go that far! There is a canoe outfitters right near this location (it would only take a few minutes to canoe from the outfitters to the marsh): http://raquetteriveroutfitters.com/ . When we observed the cranes on Sunday, I was thinking we would have had a fantastic view if we were in a boat on Simon Pond! The cranes were at the edge of the water. I haven't had time to post birds to the list serve or post photos to Facebook - I hope to catch up today. On Sunday, we also found Wilson's Snipes calling and winnowing as we watched the cranes. An Eastern Kingbird has an active nest on top of a dead snag in the Raquette River along the road also. I'll post more later today. Joan Collins President, NYS Ornithological Association Editor, New York Birders Long Lake, NY (315) 244-7127 cell (518) 624-5528 home http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/ http://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian -- 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/ --
