Adirondack Birding
Camping and birding in the Adirondacks, July 2024
At this time of year, I am spending as much time as possible outdoors, so I thought I would post about a trip to the Adirondacks that my son and I did couple of years ago.
Our goal was to enjoy the beauty of the mountains and experience the incredible birds and wildlife there. We booked a campsite at the Buck Pond campground, and pitched our tent. A highlight for me there were the common loons. Their haunting calls would ring out across the lake through the rising mist of early morning.
We visited the Bloomingdale bog a few times, which has a long trail running through it. The Canada Jays were incredibly friendly and inquisitive, and would come down as soon as they saw us approaching. It appeared they were somewhat conditioned to people hiking the trail, and were looking for a handout. At one point my son held some food on his hand and the Jays came down and sat on his fingers to eat the food. It was a wild experience. We also had fun watching some red squirrels as they climbed in the trees and ate off of a bird feeder near the trail. There were loads of warblers, but the most common ones were Nashville and Palm. At one point an adult palm warbler showed up with two of its recently fledged young, and we watched as it fed them nearby.
One very special encounter was while we were driving down a back road at dusk. A roughed grouse appeared out of the woods and crossed the road. I stopped the car and we heard it calling to it's young. Although we waited for about 15 minutes, the juvenile bird never crossed the road. I thought for sure I had stumbled upon the perfect photo opportunity, but it wasn't to be.
On the second day we visited Whiteface Mountain. The Veterans’ Memorial Highway is accessible by car, and gets you to within 250 vertical feet of the summit of this 4,867 foot mountain. The views are breathtaking, stretching across the Adirondack landscape and into Vermont and Canada. Of course we spent a couple hours driving to the top, stopping all along the way to bird this spectacular mountain. Some highlights were a couple of singing Bicknell’s thrush, and Boreal Chickadees.
These are just a few impressions from an amazing trip, and I highly recommend a visit to the Adirondacks if you get the chance.
Gosh, those are gorgeous photos. That red squirrel is a little beauty...even though they can be quite sassy in my experience. I have been to the Adirondacks a number of times and they are magical in many ways...we had our honeymoon there. Amazing what you you managed to capture. Keep it up. Edie and David.
that loon photo is magical! Great birding trip, made me miss visiting the mountains!