3/30/13 Hamilton, Franklin, Essex, Clinton Counties
Two Barred Owls are hooting back and forth outside our Long Lake house tonight as I write this post! It looks like we'll have nesting Barred Owls in our yard again this year. While returning to Long Lake after an all day birding tour, a Great Gray Owl was observed in southern Franklin County. A birder from NJ spotted the bird as I was driving 60 miles per hour! (I've birded with her before and she has "raptor eyes"!) She said, "Stop the car, I think I just saw a Great Gray Owl"! I 180-ed with the car, and looked into the beautiful face of a Great Gray Owl! We continued to watch the bird perch and actively hunt. Larry Master made it to our location from Lake Placid in record time! He took some wonderful photos which he plans to post. I didn't keep track of the time, but I suspect we observed the bird for about an hour and a half. The NJ birder stopped at our home yesterday at dawn to observe our Common and Hoary Redpoll feeder birds and then we spent the whole day birding today. Here are some of the 40 species found: Snow Goose - hundreds migrating north Ring-necked Ducks - filling in on open water Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Ruffed Grouse Turkey Vulture Cooper's Hawk - Bloomingdale American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon - Plattsburgh Barred Owl - Sabattis Bog Great Gray Owl - southern Franklin Co. Black-backed Woodpecker - at least 5 (probably 7 since we heard two more drumming that would have been a long bushwhack); two pairs and a solo bird in the Bloomingdale area. We spent a lot of time watching one pair communicating back and forth through tapping. Pileated Woodpecker - 2 today (1 yesterday at my home) Boreal Chickadee - 6 (groups of 1, 3, and 2 in Bloomingdale) Brown Creeper - singing Golden-crowned Kinglet American Robin - Bloomingdale area Pine Grosbeak - 2 in Plattsburgh feeding on crab apples along Montcalm Rd. near the intersection with Ash Road. 3/29/13 Long Lake, Hamilton Co. Sharp-shinned Hawk - preying on the redpolls at our feeders Northern Saw-whet Owl - 1 vocalizing outside our home (dinner time) Hoary Redpoll - 3 (1 male and 2 females); For the first time ever, I had two female Hoary Redpolls in one scope view sitting near each other! 3/28/13 Long Lake, Hamilton Co., and Plattsburgh and Chazy in Clinton Co. A Barred Owl was vocalizing outside our home at dawn. I found two flocks of Bohemian Waxwings: ~60 at Lake Alice Wildlife Management Area and 5 outside Hawkins Hall at SUNY Plattsburgh. The Bohemian Waxwings at Lake Alice were fly-catching at the wetland near the intersection of Ridge and Macadam Roads (it was over 50 degrees at the time). A Peregrine Falcon tried to catch a Rock Pigeon as I watched the Bohemian Waxwings at Hawkins Hall - the same location where a Peregrine was observed today. 3/26/13 St. Lawrence County Waterfowl (Snow & Canada Geese, Amer. Black Duck, Mallard, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded, Common, and Red-breasted Mergansers), 2 Bald Eagles, and 2 Pine Grosbeaks outside Pizza Hut in Massena! 3/25/13 Long Lake, Hamilton Co. Black-backed Woodpecker at Sabattis Bog 3/24/13 Long Lake, Hamilton Co. Barred Owl - 2 hooting back and forth at Sabattis Bog (late afternoon) Black-backed Woodpecker - 1 at the boreal forest by the Round Lake outlet into Little Tupper Lake We still have ~2 feet of snow on the ground in Long Lake (lots of lake effect snow). There is very little snow in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, and no snow in Plattsburgh. The temperature difference between Plattsburgh and Long Lake has been about 10 to 15 degrees. It doesn't feel like spring in Long Lake yet. 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/ --