Birding the Adirondacks - Day III

Our last day in the Adirondacks, started off in spectacular style, which has a story behind it. The day before, I had engaged a volunteer at the Paul Smith's VIC in a conversation on the pressure the center was facing with regards to budget cuts and the threat of closing. That conversation led to talking about birds we were trying to see. Evening Grosbeak and Gray Jay were our target birds at Paul Smith's and neither showed. When I mentioned both birds, Nancy, the volunteer extended an invitation to the group to visit her home where she had "42" Evening Grosbeaks showing up at her feeders. You bet, I accepted her offer. I called Joe over and he was open to the idea, so we got the address and directions, with the caveat that it was in the Adirondack, so finding the location by GPS would not be easy.

That night we ended up calling Nancy and reviewing the directions with her husband Jim, because we had difficulty mapping it out. It all worked out. Jim, met us at an intersection and guided us to his home and like Nancy had promised, there was a flock of Evening Grosbeaks around her house. As soon as we exited our vehicles we heard them. What a thrill that was to hear and see them. It would have been nice to sit around for a good photo, but we were under strict time management since we wanted to make few more stops along the way back to NYC.

The Jones Beach Boys L-R: Sy, Joe and Sam

It was the third day in a row we had started the day with a spectacular bird. Huge, huge thanks and appreciation to Nancy and her husband Jim for their generosity (we could not stop talking about their kindness). After reluctantly saying goodbye to Jim and Nancy, we made a quick stop at a local eatery, Gus' Diner, for a bite and then we were on the road again. Our next stop was at the Newcomb VIC. Here we picked up more birds and had another look at Evening Grosbeaks; this time, we were able to get some photos. A nice addition to the trip list was Purple Finch another species like the Pine Siskin that has not been reported (as far as I know) in the 5 boroughs of NYC, so far this Winter.

The grasslands at Fort Edwards

From Newcomb, we headed to Fort Edwards adding birds like Pileated Woodpecker and Red-shouldered Hawk as we birded along the way . At Fort Edwards, we were looking for grassland birds specifically, Rough-legged Hawk and Short-eared Owl. We got the Rough-legged Hawk very quickly, but had to wait until dusk for Short-eared Owl, which we got. Then it was the long haul back to NYC concluding a very successful trip!

My day list consisted of the following:

1. American Crow
2. American Goldfinch
3. Black-backed Woodpecker
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. Brown Creeper
6. Blue Jay
7. Common Raven
8. Downy Woodpecker
9. Eastern Bluebird
10. European Starling
11. Evening Grosbeak
12. Hairy Woodpecker
13. House Sparrow
14. Mourning Doves
15. Northern Cardinal
16. Northern Harrier
17. Northern Mockingbird
18. Pileated Woodpecker
19. Purple Finch
20. Red-breasted Nuthatch
21. Red-shouldered Hawk
22. Red-tailed Hawk
23. Rock Pigeon
24. Rough-legged Hawk
25. Short-eared Owl
26. White-breasted Nuthatch
    

Tags: Birding The Adirondacks, Birding, Grassland Birds