Chirps and Cheeps

Third Visit to the ADKs

Published: September 05, 2015
Tags: General Observations, Adirondacks, ADK, Merlin, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Wild Turkey

My third trip to the Adirondacks this year was with the family. We stayed near Lake Placid in Wilmington in a rather plush chalet, complete with a view of Whiteface Mountain. Needless to say, when our week was over, none of us wanted to go home!

I got some great birding in each morning and discovered some wonderful spots. I made a new birding friend, Stacy Robinson, who is well known for her exceptional find of a Gyrfalcon in Wakill this past winter. Stacy and her friend, Ellie, took me along for a great day on our last day in the mountains, and I had a fantastic time in their company!

Some of the great birds seen included several Merlin. One sighting included a nice study of a female dodging Blue Jays as it attempted to catch and eat dragonflies. Another Merlin sighting was with Stacy and Ellie - we counted SIX Merlin out in a field while a Northern Harrier and two American Kestrels hunted in the same territory. Amazing!

Stacy found a pair of Buff-breasted Sandpipers at Noblewood Park and I was able to add an American Golden Plover to the nice group of birds there.

Warblers visited the grounds of our chalet every morning and my daughter, Kate and I, saw many as we hiked a few nearby trails. Kate and her little girl, Sam, had a very fun sighting of a family of Ruffed Grouse. She even got to see a male, which I've never seen yet!

On my last day, Stacy, Ellie, and I flushed what we're pretty sure was a Great-horned Owl - then later in the day, I had a Barred Owl fly right near me in the woods where I was hiking. Kate and I took our last hike for the trip later on that same afternoon and we flushed another Great-horned! A three owl day doesn't happen too often - sweet! Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of any of the owls, but I did get a few of some of the other birds...