With the value of hindsight I can say with absolution that Week Twenty-four was among my favorite weeks this year. If you had told me during the early days of the week, though, as rain plagued nearly every moment of every day and I struggled with a near-total lack of cell service, I would have found that eventuality hard to buy. To be fair to Vermont I am sure there is a lot of spectacular birding to be done, and the truth of the matter is I didn’t even make the most of the bad situation I found myself facing in the Green Mountain State.
I kicked off the week’s birding at the Windsor Grasslands WMA, there picking up a handful of highlights including Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Alder Flycatcher, Bobolink. At the Eleanor Ellis/Springweather Nature Area I tallied a Broad-winged Hawk, a Blue-headed Vireo, and an assortment of warblers. A brief stop by the Emerald Lake State Park produced the usual suspects such as Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Chipping Sparrow, and Song Sparrow. Finally I closed out Monday’s birding with a hike at the Equinox Preservation Trust, there picking up Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Swainson’s Thrush, and yet another hodgepodge of warblers.
While Monday’s birding was pretty solid, that unfortunately would not be the case Tuesday, a day defined by dreary rain. I slept in a bit to avoid the worst of the weather, and as I drove to the Chickering Bog Natural Area to manage some birding during a break in the rain I spotted a Ruffed Grouse along the side of the road – only the second I’ve had this year! The bog also hosted a few good birds in Canada Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. In addition to being the start of my birding for the day, the bog was also effectively the end as the rain returned. Quick stops at the Sodom Pond and Lake Elmore produced a Belted Kingfisher before I called it an early day.
My last day in Vermont – or more accurately my last morning – was perhaps my best. I kicked off Wednesday the 11th at the Colchester Pond, which held Caspian Tern, Common Loon, and Osprey. Upon working my way up to the Missisquoi I managed my best birding in several days, first at the Maquam & Black Creek Trails and then the Mac’s Bend & Jeep Trail. Between the two walks I racked up new birds and finally propelled myself to-and-beyond the century mark thanks to Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown-headed Cowbird, Black-billed Cuckoo, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Tern, Yellow-throated Vireo, Marsh Wren, and my first-of-year Black Tern. Before moving on to New York I made a few more stops, most of which were just a few minute stop-and-scans but there was one last walk at the Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area.
Despite entering The Empire State mid-afternoon on Wednesday, I didn’t actually get started on birding until Thursday morning when I woke to the sound of a calling Fish Crow – a locally-uncommon bird for northeast New York! Once I was up-and-at-em I headed to Point Au Roche State Park, where I got off to a great state on my Empire State list with Broad-winged Hawk, Double-crested Cormorant, Cedar Waxwing, Field Sparrow, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and nineteen other species. From there I made my way south along the Lake Champlain coast towards the Ausable Marsh Wildlife Management Area, where I heard a calling American Bittern as soon as I arrived. That Bittern would soon be joined by Common Goldeneye, Virginia Rail, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Marsh Wren, and Baltimore Oriole on the 49-species checklist I racked up in my two-and-a-half-hours there. After wrapping up at Ausable I began heading inland to get started on birding what has become one of my favorite areas I have visited all year: The Adirondacks.
Following advice provided to me by Robert Buckert, with whom I would spend much of the rest of the week, I made a detour by the Chapel Pond area on my way into the mountains in order to pick up a first-of-year Philadelphia Vireo. The Phili took a bit of time to get the looks required to confirm the ID, as they sound identical to Red-eyed Vireo, which were also present at the site, but after some effort I managed to get one in my bins and then hit the road to head to the Bloomingdale Bog Trail south entrance, passing through the small, scenic town of Lake Placid on the way – a name familiar to me and likely many others due to it being the site of the famous “Miracle on Ice” of the 1980 Winter Olympics.
While my birding in the coming days certainly will never gain the same international notoriety as a group of college kids upsetting the four-time defending gold medalist Soviet hockey team, I have to say that my birding fortunes would prove to be quite miraculous throughout the remainder of Week Twenty-four. Bloomingdale Bog would be a great start to that miracle, as during my hour-and-a-half there I tallied a solid list including Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Alder Flycatcher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Veery, Swainson’s Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and my first-of-year Canada Jay.
Once I made it back to my car from an out-and-back walk at the bog I headed a short ways west out of town to meet up with Robert and hop in his car for a brief evening tour through some of the nearby birding spots. At the Madawaska Flow we picked up a handful of decent birds, most notable of which were Hooded Merganser, Merlin, Winter Wren, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Palm Warbler, and Pine Warbler. The rest of our stops weren’t particularly noteworthy but I still had a great time learning some of the history of the Adirondack Park and talking birds with Robert as we headed back into Saranac Lake to get some dinner and make plans for the next few days.
The next morning, again following Robert’s advice, I rose fairly early to head to the Massawepie Mire – the largest bog in New York. Immediately upon getting out of my car in the small parking lot at the base of the mire’s trail I was besieged by some of the thickest mosquito swarms I have ever seen, but thanks to busting out my bug net, covering most of my body in permethrin-treated clothes, and washing my hands in deet I was able to avoid the worst of the swarm’s wrath. Quickly the Black-throated Blue Warblers, Blackburnian Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, American Redstart, and Scarlet Tanagers began to pile up as I headed through the woods into the bog itself. Upon entering the marsh I was greeted by a family group of Canada Jay who treated me to the first satisfactory looks of the species I’ve ever had, living up to the gregariousness the species is known for. Out on the bog itself I heard singing Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Canada Warbler, and Nashville Warbler, and as soon as I reached the woods on the far side of the bog I was again greeted by a great bird, though this time instead of Camp Robbers there were Red Crossbills.
After leaving Massawepie I stopped to make myself an early lunch at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park, where American Black Duck became my 100th species for New York – my 32nd state this year in which I’ve crossed the Century Mark. Having used up the last of my mosquito repellant in the morning I made the decision to head back into Saranac Lake to pick up some more before returning to birding, and as I drove by the Lake Flower Boat Launch I spotted an interestingly-small goose mixed in with the Canadas, and after pulling over to get better looks I confirmed that it was indeed a Brant – which while fairly common for the state as a whole only has a handful of Adirondack records and it seems as though mine was the first chaseable individual in quite a few years as nearly all of the (few) local birders headed to the boat launch throughout the rest of the day to pick up the little goose.
Once I had stocked up on bug spray I headed back to the Bloomingdale Bog Trail, this time birding from the “main” entrance. As I got out of my car I heard the call Canada Jay, and soon another family group was descending upon a few crumbs of food that had been dropped in the parking lot. It didn’t take long for this walk to yield my desired target: my first-of-year Black-backed Woodpecker, the last of the ABA woodpeckers I’d yet to track down so far in 2025. From Bloomingdale I began heading northwest out of the Adirondacks, putting in one last stop at the Dexter Road Bog on my way out.
Once out from the mountains I made my way to the town Potsdam where I once again met up with Robert, this time at his house where he treated me to dinner before we hit the road southwestwardly to spent the weekend birding together in the North Country and Fingerlakes areas. Our first stop was at the Upper and Lower Lakes Wildlife Management Area, where we counted an astonishing 31 Black Tern in addition to Pied-billed Grebe, Gadwall, Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, Wood Duck, Common Tern, and Yellow-throated Vireo. At Ideauma Road we tracked down American Kestrel, Eastern Meadowlark, and Bobolink before continuing on to the Fish Creek Bridge area to pick up the locally-challenging Sedge Wren as well as some Purple Martin occupying a nearby martin house as we left the site.
Eventually we found our way to the Lonesome Bay State Forest, which would serve as our campsite for the night. Before dark set in, though, there was more birding to be done – birding that was kicked off by my first-of-year Golden-winged Warbler, of which many were heard singing as soon as I stepped out of my car. Not long after starting our short walk there we also heard a calling Yellow-billed Cuckoo, one of which yielded nice looks, followed shortly by a pair of Barred Owls. As dusk finally came we heard the awesomely-haunting call of a Common Loon from some nearby lake as well as our main target for the site, Eastern Whip-poor-will.
In the morning we went for another brief walk at Lonesome Bay, this time finding a Brewster’s Warbler in the mix of Golden-wingeds – a hybrid Golden-winged X Blue-winged Warbler. As a bit of a tangent, one of my “favorite” bird tidbits I have learned over the years is that Golden-winged Warbler and Blue-winged Warbler, despite looking pretty distinctively different, preferring slightly different habitat, sounding different, and having both different breeding and wintering ranges, are genetically nearly identical. In fact, the two birds are even more closely related genetically than the “Myrtle” and “Audubon’s” subspecies of Yellow-rumped Warbler – two formerly-separate species that were lumped primarily due to their genetic similarity. In fact, it is somewhat probable that in the coming years Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warbler will be lumped into a single species as a result of this similarity, at which time I will possibly be even more upset than I was when Hoary Redpoll and Common Redpoll were lumped.
Back to the birding… after leaving Lonesome Bay we headed to Dog Hill Road, where we were quickly greeted not only by our targeted Henslow’s Sparrow but also by Cliff Swallow – two great pickups for the state! Our birding luck would not only continue but in fact ramp up when we arrived at our next stop, the Fort Drum Conservation Area, which in order to access I’d had to fill out a form to get a permit the other day, which Robert then printed for me as I don’t have ready access to a printer on my travels.
Immediately upon getting out of our cars we heard a singing Vesper Sparrow, and moments later Robert had an Upland Sandpiper in his scope – both birds which we had expected to take some time to track down. The pair was followed quickly by another as we started on a short walk, this time singing Prairie Warbler and my first-of-year Clay-colored Sparrow on either side of the road. As we headed back to our cars a Grasshopper Sparrow cooperatively teed up on a post for us, followed closely by a flyover Horned Lark and a group of Bank Swallows. Robert had budgeted a considerable chunk of time to hopefully pick up at least a few of these species during our time at Fort Drum, but after just a half-hour we were back on the road having tallied every single one of them. The luck continued at the Black Pond Wildlife Management Area when a seemingly-out-of-place Northern Harrier flew overhead shortly after we started our walk from the parking area to the shore of Lake Ontario, and upon reaching the lake we were greeted by several Caspian Terns.
Throughout the next few stops at Selkirk Shores State Park, the Derby Hill Hawk Watch site, Wright’s Landing Marina, and West Barrier Bar County Park things began to slow down a bit, but they picked back up in full-swing at Sodus Point where we tracked down not only our targeted American Herring Gull but also some late over-summering Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Great Black-backed Gull, plus a pair of Mute Swans on the way out. From there we headed inland, south towards the “Fingerlakes” region of the state, where we dropped off my car at the Guy Baldassarre Marsh and consolidated into Robert’s vehicle to spend the evening birding a handful of sites around the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge and Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area. There at the parking lot I heard a calling American Coot and Common Gallinule, the latter of which we would have plenty more of at the Refuge’s Wildlife Drive. Also on the drive were a pair of Sandhill Cranes, several Trumpeter Swans, some Semipalmated Plover, and a few more Black Tern.
The Wildlife Drive produced a decent haul, but the nearby East Road was where the second-best birding of the evening was had, as mixed in with the many Wood Ducks were several Redhead, a Ruddy Duck, and along the pond’s edge one of the most well-camouflaged Black-crowned Night Herons I have ever seen. After East Road we headed over to Armitage Road, where we heard several singing Cerulean Warbler. Where East Road had hosted the evening’s second-best birding, the best came at the Railroad Road Marshes, where Robert and I spotted Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, White-rumped Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and American Bittern. At the nearby Marten’s Tract we picked up more Sedge Wren and another couple Black-crowned Night Heron, and at the Morgan Road Marshes we tracked down a Least Bittern. Finally we closed out the night with some owling, the first of which was at the Deep Muck and Mitigation Marsh and produced an Eastern Screech-Owl and at Carncross Road, where there were no owls but instead a peenting American Woodcock.
The next morning we made one more stop in the Montezuma area before heading out, picking up Prothonotary Warbler at the Frost Hill Marsh. After picking up the Protho we bid Montezuma farewell, and on our way to Cayuga Lake State Park boat launch we spotted a Northern Mockingbird along the side of the road. At the boat launch we heard a singing Carolina Wren and spotted a Red-headed Woodpecker, and from there we headed to our last stop of birding together, the Geneva Lakefront Park. What a last stop it was, too, as shortly after arriving we picked up a group of Common Mergansers out over the water – a group soon to be surpassed by the outstanding sight of very late Long-tailed Duck, a pair of continuing White-winged Scoter, a small group of Snow Goose, and a couple Bonaparte’s Gull. Before parting ways Robert treated me to breakfast at a local diner, after which I headed over to Lake Cayuga to try to track down some of my very few remaining New York target species. At the Taughannock Falls State Park Overlook I picked up Tufted Titmouse, and after leaving the park a Cooper’s Hawk flew the road ahead of me. The Salt Point Natural Area yielded Orchard Oriole and at the adjacent Ludlowville Fishing Access I heard a singing Louisiana Waterthrush.
The state birds continued to rack up at my next stop, Sapsucker Woods. In addition to providing me with Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Blue-winged Warbler, and Northern Waterthrush, Sapsucker Woods is home to a rather notable facility: the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, developers and maintainers of eBird, Merlin, and the Macaulay Library. On my way to my last stop of the day, the Thatcher’s Pinnacles portion of the Danby State Forest, I picked up a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and on my walk at the state forest I picked up Red-shouldered Hawk but dipped on my main target, Worm-eating Warbler.
The walk at the state forest concluded my birding for Week Twenty-four, a week which despite its slow start will go down as one of my best this year. Next week my birding will face a few bumps in the road, the most notable of which being probably the most intense seasonal allergies I’ve ever experienced – so bad, in fact, that I would find myself both sidelined from birding and unable to focus on writing this post for a couple days – hence why the post is coming out late Thursday night instead of Wednesday afternoon; apologies for that!
Despite any hiccups, I am sure my birding in Week Twenty-five will still have some highlights, but that’s a story for another week. In the meantime, Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
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Thank you again to those of you who have supported me so far, it's tremendously generous and greatly appreciated.
Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
