Winter Ducks

Yesterday some friends and I went to Port Huron to see the long-tailed ducks (formerly old squaws) on the St. Clair River in Port Huron.  Last year, apparently they were there in rafts by the tens of thousands.  We didn't see that many yesterday, but we did see many, many hundreds.

It was a stunningly (blindingly) bright day, with temps probably in the single digits.  I was borrowing a 300mm lens from someone to test drive it.  All my photos came out rather washed out, and none too terribly sharp.  I needed to practice more, I guess.  Still, I was having a grand time watching the ducks.

Bridge over St. Clair River to Canada

Here's what the scene was like:

 

 Male long-tailed duck stretching...

 diving...

and vocalizing.

Here's what it sounds like:

 Female long-tailed duck.

 I think that's a red-headed duck sleeping, but it could be a canvasback.

 Male red-breasted merganser.

 Male red-breasted merganser.

 White-winged scoters, catching lunch.  And a mallard (they weren't eating the mallard).

Red-headed duck.

Greater scaup (on right) and common golden-eyes.

Female red-breasted merganser stretching.

 I thought this was just a freighter, but apparently it was an ice cutter!

Another find for the day was a female king eider, but she was too far away fro me to get any photos of her.  Got to see her through the scope, though, making her my second life bird this day! 

Many thanks to Gary, Don and Robin for letting me tag along!

Day Six - Adirondack Musuem, Bloomingdale Bog (again)

Monday morning we were expecting rain.  The rain never materialized, but the humidity was high.  Because we had flip-flopped a couple days, today was going to be a museum day, starting at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mt. Lake and visiting the Wild Center in the afternoon.  Plans change.

Our morning started with a wonderful sighting of a pair of luna moths on the side of the motel.  For some of our group, these were life list insects.  We watched the pair mating for quite some time, and finally we had to be on our way.  The next morning all we found were two wings in the grass.  Hopefully the female was able to lay some eggs somewhere.

Because the Blue Ridge Falls had been such a hit the day before, I decided to swing by Buttermilk Falls in Long Lake on our way to the museum.  Water levels were a bit low, so the rush over the rocks was not as impressive as it could be.

Gary and Paul pose next to the river just above the falls.

The Adirondack Museum is known internationally, and for some folks requires a full three days to visit.  We, however, only had about three hours to spend here.

Of course, I had to have the group sit in the big chair.

I think every time I visit I take a photo of Gordon the Guide - it's just such a great sculpture!

One of our group was very excited about the first boat he saw.  As soon as I saw the name on the motor, he said, I knew what it was!

This motor was made in Jackson, MI - where we had all come from just a week before!

I confess I left the group to wander on their own - see what they wanted to see - while I checked out some of my favorites.

Glaucous honeysuckle - a stunning native plant, and one of my favorites, which I now know thanks to my friend Jackie introducing it to me about five years ago.

View of Blue Mt. Lake from the cafe.  Probably one of the most photographed views in the Park.

After we left the museum, there were decisions to be made.  By now the day had cleared - it wasn't going to rain.  Did we want to try Bloomingdale Bog again for the boreal chickadee, or go to the Wild Center?  Six of our group chose the natural history museum, while the rest of us headed back to the bog.

Again, lots and lots of cotton grass in bloom!

The group that came out here on Saturday got some amazing photographs of the gray jays feeding from people's hands.  I sooooo wanted to do this.  Gary had some really high-end trail mix which he put out on the feeding station some people have put along the trail.  And we waited.  And waited and waited and waited.  It was about 2:00 in the afternoon...down time for birds.  Nothing was happening.  After we walked back down the trail, a crow finally flew in a grabbed a nut - that was as exciting as it got.

I did see some lovely dragonflies though, like this painted skimmer, 

and this harpoon clubtail (thanks to Don Henise for ID help).

Now, if you very closely just slightly left of center in this photograph, you will see a small splash of yellow-orange.  That is the crown of a golden-crowned kinglet.  It was flitting around in the trees above us, back and forth across the trail, agitated by the call one of our group was playing of a kinglet.  This bird thought his territory had been invaded.

We left the trail and drove through Bloomindale to another road that crossed the trail a bit to the north - more wooded.  Here was where the boreal chickadee could "always" be found.  So far our seeker was 0 for 2.  This was his third and final try to find the bird.

We played the boreal chickadee's call; we played a recording of chickadees mobbing a screech owl.  We listened, we looked.  We thought we heard a boreal, but never saw it.

We drove further up the road...there was rumor of a black-backed woodpecker.  The road was VERY challenging (as hard as it is to believe, it was worse than the one into Spring Pond Bog), but we found the log that supposedly pointed to the bird's nest, and sure enough, we found not only the hole, but the female was at home and two or three times poked her head out to see what all the fuss was about.  You can just make her out at the center of this photo.

On our way back out we tried once more for the boreal chickadee...for Paul.

All we got was a few black-capped chickadees, which were doing their best to sound like boreals.

We had to admit defeat.


On the way back to Tupper Lake, we stopped at the newly reopened Casa del Sol in Saranac Lake for dinner - another item checked off my Bucket List.  In 1983 I worked at a camp in Lake Placid for the summer and the staff (sans yours truly - I wasn't in the In Crowd) often ate here on their days off.  I heard about it, but never went.  Before leaving NY in 2010, I stopped by to try it, and it was closed.  But this spring I read in Adirondack Life Magazine that it was reopening, and we were there the week they opened!  I hope they can make a go of it.

Day Four - The Great Adirondack Birding Celebration

It was difficult to sleep in in the mornings.  There was the excitement of the day ahead, but also sunrise came at a "normal" time - it was fully light by 5:00 AM.  It's one of the things I miss in Michigan.  So, several mornings I found myself up and out by the lake, watching the fog lift and the day begin.

Today was the big birding day for our group - we were headed for the morning bird trips at the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration based at the Paul Smiths VIC (it still goes by that name).  Some of our group went to Bloomingdale Bog to get boreal birds:  black-backed woodpecker, gray jays, boreal chicakdees.  Two of our group went to Henry's Woods only to discover, unbeknownst to us, the trip there had been cancelled; they gallantly went on their own!

The rest of us were headed for Wilmington and Whiteface Mountain in search of the rare Bicknell's thrush.

It was a glorious morning, and at 5:30 there was little to no traffic.  We were able to stop and take photos of the Ausable River without worrying about getting run over by cars or cyclists (it was an entirely different story by noon).

We gathered with other Bicknell's hopefuls at the base of Whiteface, where we met up with our trip leaders, John and Pat Thaxton.  I know the Thaxtons from my time on the board of High Peaks Audubon.  Good people - they know their birds!

While we waited for everyone to arrive, put on bug repellent and work out carpooling arrangements, I was taking in the architecture and neat weather vane at the gate house.  To drive up Whiteface (the Veterans' Memorial Drive), one must pay a toll.  After driving it, I feel they should've paid us - the road is in terrible condition and is, fortunately, being reworked this summer.

So, here we are at our first stop.  Those black smears are IFOs - Identified Flying Objects, identified as black flies.  Yes - this was the worst place for black flies this whole trip.

According to the bird experts, Bicknell's thrushes like these rocky slides - openings that cut through the forest.  And sure enough, we did see and hear our first BT here.

Yes - those are all black flies on his back.  And this just proves that they are drawn to blue.  Word to the wise:  don't wear blue.

 

Our next stop was next to some lovely  rock walls,

with some fantastic views.  That's Lake Plaice, the actual Lake, not the village, which isn't located on Lake Placid.

Our third stop along the Memorial Highway was another old slide.  And sure enough, we saw the Bicknell's again...more than once (or maybe it was more than one bird).

And there it is:

At that stop we also had a yellow-bellied flycatcher and a Swainson's thrush.  My photos of both are not good enough to publish, though.

Next stop we were above the trees.  Here's the view out toward Vermont.  Lake Champlain is out there, but hard to discern in the haze.

A winter wren serenaded us from the top of this fir.  This is rather unusual behavior for this bird, but we were to discover some more unusual bird behavior,

 like this boreal chickadee, which normally just doesn't come this far up the mountains.  But on a whim someone played the boreal's call and bingo - out popped this fella.  Poor photo, but I just don't have a good long lens for taking distance bird shots.

The views were amazing, despite the haze.  Here you can see part of the Memorial Highway below us.

The Castle is the famous lodge at the top of the mountain.  As you can see, renovation work is underway on the road. Most of the group stayed at this level, where they caught another sighting of a Bicknell's thrush.

A couple others and I opted to climb at least partway up toward the weather station at the summit.  We didn't have time for us to go all the way up, and while part of me wishes I had, I am glad that I got to at least get this far up Whiteface - I never visited while I lived here.

 

After a brake-burning trip back down the mountain, we headed to the Paul Smiths VIC for the catered lunch that was part of the GABC.  Then we had a whole afternoon ahead of us to play with.  The group that had gone to Bloomingdale Bog did not get to see a boreal chickadee, and that was on the Bucket List of one of our participants, so several of them and some of the Whiteface group headed back to the bog to try again.

The rest of us stayed at the VIC and walked the Boreal Life Trail.

A few painted trillium were still in bloom,

and we saw some lovely clusters of yellow clintonia.

Pink lady's slipper abounded, both in bud, 

and full bloom.

I was very excited to see this lovely pile of coyote scat - it was like meeting an old friend!  Coyote scat was as common as fleas on a dog when I lived in Newcomb; now I never see it.  I can't say the rest of our group was excited about this find as I was.

 We climbed the observation tower at Barnum Pond, where we also got to chat with the Thaxtons again, catching up on the news since I've been gone.

 This trail is noted for the 1/4-mile boardwalk through the bog, which enables visitors to really get out into this special wetland and experience it.

 Again, I was hoping we might see some of the orchids, like white-fringed, but we were still too early for them.  We got to see some of the plants we'd already seen at Spring Pond Bog, like cotton grass,

and pale laurel.

One different flower was there:  buckbean.  Isn't it just delightful with all those long fuzzy hairs?  They must serve a purpose, but I don't know what.

By the time we reached the end of the trail, the group was pretty well ready for a rest, so we got back in our vehicles and headed back to Tupper Lake.  It had been a good day.