1/31/11 Leonard Pond Trail (Colton, SE St. Lawrence Co.) A rare blue-sky winter day, calm winds, 1 degree, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Midday, Mary Beth Warburton and I cross country skied the beginning of the Leonard Pond Trail to check on conditions ahead of our field trip on Sunday. The first mile of the trail is not groomed (after this section, the trail is groomed for the next 1.5 miles for snowmobiles) and there was no broken trail. It was fine for Mary Beth and me, but our dogs (3) struggled in the deep snow. The first birds heard (near the road) were Red Crossbills! This is a very reliable location for this species every winter. As we neared the end of the large Red Pine stand, we heard a woodpecker. We had to bushwhack/ski to the location. The acoustics in this large stand of tall trees deep in snow produced conditions that made it difficult to locate the exact tree the woodpecker was on. With 3 dogs running around, and the woodpecker not moving, it had to be a Black-backed or Pileated. It was a male Black-backed Woodpecker, foraging on a Red Pine not the typical tree species that I usually find Black-backs on. As we were watching the woodpecker, another flock of Red Crossbills called nearby! I was so excited that I was ignoring my hands and feet going numb from the cold. We decided to turn around at this location (just over ½ a mile in) due to the cold and our struggling dogs. On our ski out, we heard another Red Crossbill calling. Other species found included Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, and Golden-crowned Kinglet. We drove a short distance to the road-kill dump area at Sevey Corners to check for Bald Eagles. There was a deer carcass, with Common Ravens, a Downy Woodpecker, and Black-capped Chickadees feeding on it. (Mary Beth did find an adult Bald Eagle in Hannawa Falls on her drive to meet me.) Long Lake (northern Hamilton County) The Barred Owl continues to perch right outside our house Ive had beautiful scope views. Unfortunately, only about 30 Evening Grosbeaks showed up today, and they didnt stay long which is very unusual on such a bitter cold day. Im afraid the owl may scare off many of our feeder birds. Although, there were just as many redpolls today, and I had a nice view of a female Hoary Redpoll. She was on a tube feeder with several Common Redpolls. This morning, the redpolls spent a lot of time snow burrowing and tunneling (in the snow on tree branches and on the ground). One of the birds tunneled through the snow on top of a boulder. It popped out where there was a vertical drop and fell about a foot into the snow below! Mary Beth and I kept marveling at how beautiful the Leonard Pond Trail was today with all the trees coated in snow it was gorgeous. Views of the brilliant white High Peaks on my drive were also breathtaking. It was great to see the sun before the next storm moves in tomorrow Joan Collins Long Lake, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
