Hi Everyone,
Two different Winter Birding Weekends were held in the central Adirondacks the past two weekends - January 29-30, 2022 was cosponsored by the Town of Long Lake Parks and Recreation Dept. and Northern New York Audubon, and February 5-6, 2022 was sponsored by the NYS Ornithological Association. Both weekends featured extremely cold weather with some difficult wind chills! (Hand and foot warmers were used by all of us!) We had some participants cancel as a result, but still had quite a few intrepid birders brave the weather and the birds were terrific! Normally, both events would feature a speaker and social dinner, but due to the pandemic, we decided to just hold field trips. Hopefully, we'll be able to have some indoor events once again next year. The Red and White-winged Crossbill irruption is quite remarkable in the central Adirondacks. It is the second largest White-winged Crossbill irruption I've observed in over two decades and the largest Red Crossbill irruption. Both species are abundant in the central Adirondacks. The southern Adirondacks has a large Red Crossbill irruption with some White-winged Crossbills also. I birded with Matt Young and Ryan Mandelbaum on the Friday afternoon (1/28/22) before the first weekend event (they were up to observe, record, and photograph crossbills). Matt remarked that this is an overall record year for crossbills since both species are in such large numbers at the same time. If you enjoy watching crossbills, this is a fantastic winter in the central Adirondacks! We tallied 19 species the first weekend and 25 the second weekend by staying within boreal habitat. All of our birding was in the Long Lake - Newcomb - Minerva - N. Hudson region. Here are a few highlights from each day: January 29, 2022 (all Long Lake locations in Hamilton Co.) Ruffed Grouse - 2 (1 in Sabattis Road and 1 feeding in a deciduous tree on the drive to Sabattis Station) Black-backed Woodpecker - 2 (1 drumming north of John Dillon Park on Rt. 30 and a female we hiked through snow to observe foraging along North Point Road) Canada Jay - 6 (groups of 2 and 4 along Sabattis Road) Boreal Chickadee - 2 near a marsh along Route 30 Brown Creeper - 1 Purple Finch Red Crossbill - many White-winged Crossbill - many Pine Siskin - many American Goldfinch - many January 30, 2022 (Newcomb - Minerva - N. Hudson locations in Essex Co.) Ruffed Grouse - 2 (1 on Tahawus Road and 1 feeding in a tree at the Wolf Pond Trailhead on the Blue Ridge Road) Sharp-shinned Hawk - hunting Red Crossbills in the village of Newcomb Black-backed Woodpecker - 2 (1 foraging bird at Hyslop Marsh and 1 female observed along Tahawus Road - we had several White-winged Crossbills singing around us as we observed the BBWO and I can't believe I was ignoring the WWCRs!) Pileated Woodpecker - heard on Tahawus Road Boreal Chickadee - 6 on both sides of the road by the Boreas River on the Blue Ridge Road Purple Finch Red Crossbill - many White-winged Crossbill - many Pine Siskin American Goldfinch February 5, 2022 (all Long Lake locations in Hamilton Co.) Common Merganser - 2 females on a small patch of open water at the outlet bridge of Raquette Lake (quite a surprise!) Bald Eagle - 2 adults (1 perched in the sun along Route 30 and 1 at the outlet bridge of Raquette Lake) Black-backed Woodpecker - male observed north of John Dillon Park along Rt. 30 Canada Jay - 10 (4 along Rt. 30, 2 at the Round Lake Trailhead, and 4 at Sabattis Bog) Brown Creeper - 2 together along the North Point Road Purple Finch Red Crossbill - many White-winged Crossbill - many Pine Siskin American Goldfinch February 6, 2022 (Newcomb - Minerva - North Hudson locations in Essex Co.) Ruffed Grouse - 2 feeding together in a deciduous tree along Tahawus Road Black-backed Woodpecker - we had brief views of a foraging and rattle-calling bird at Hyslop Marsh Canada Jay - 3 (2 at Hyslop Marsh that wanted to be fed - fortunately, several participants had nuts to share! And 1 at Sand Pond Marsh along the Blue Ridge Road) Boreal Chickadee - 3 east of the Boreas River bridge on the Blue Ridge Road - fantastic views! It is a dangerous place to stop (narrow and twisty with no shoulder) and I only stopped because I know the logging trucks don't run on Sundays. I used to regularly bird this entire road until major logging operations started many years ago making it dangerous to pull over. Golden-crowned Kinglet - 4 with the BOCHs (very low numbers this year for this species, which makes two winters in a row with low numbers) Cedar Waxwing - 2 in Newcomb Purple Finch - many Red Crossbill - many White-winged Crossbill - many Pine Siskin - many American Goldfinch - many American Tree Sparrow - 4 at a feeder in Newcomb Northern Cardinal - vocalizing in Newcomb! It was really cold the morning of 2/6/22 and we celebrated seeing our car temp indicators hit zero! When it hit 10 degrees, we took a walk on the Tahawus Road and all the finches were in remarkable numbers. The highlight of both weekends came for me on that walk when we stood listening to a male White-winged Crossbill singing away at the top of a conifer along the road with a male Red Crossbill a couple trees over also singing away (lots of beautiful variation in the Red Crossbill's song) - my ears were in heaven with both songs going at the same time! It was interesting watching the Red and White-winged Crossbills interacting and gritting together. Just an update on snow conditions - it is thigh deep for me when I venture into it! So bushwhacking without snowshoes or skis would be tricky! Joan Collins Adirondack Avian Expeditions & Workshops LLC Editor, New York Birders Long Lake, NY (315) 244-7127 cell (518) 624-5528 home http://www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.adirondackavianexpeditions.com/__;!!K Ec8uF_xo8-al5zF!GfHT2hIZWqp2Gk9-sTfBm2wUrji0-E-TjyV-DrpAQ-fEqYj9N_f1IND3Pxel UH0u1w$> http://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian__;!!KEc8 uF_xo8-al5zF!GfHT2hIZWqp2Gk9-sTfBm2wUrji0-E-TjyV-DrpAQ-fEqYj9N_f1IND3PxdMdmQ UBg$> -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
