LOCALadk Magazine

20 Spring 2017 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk Mire is the largest bog in New York and the best site to observe abundant numbers of nesting palm warblers. This remote loca- tion, like many others, is not plowed in winter. Birders anxiously await snowmelt in April! Warblers, known as the butterflies of the bird world, have brilliant colors and lovely songs. The most sought-after warbler species, and one of the latest to arrive, is the mourning warbler, so named because the dark hooded head and breast make it appear as if in mourning. It prefers thickets with tall trees for singing perches. Areas regenerating from logging are the best places to find this species. Northern New York is considered the best location in North Amer- ica for observing nesting warblers, as 28 species breed here. March arrivals include American woodcock, red-shouldered hawk, northern saw-whet owl, belted kingfisher, northern flicker, chip- ping sparrow. Waterfowl includes wood duck, ring-necked duck, common goldeneye, hooded merganser, and pied-billed grebe. April brings in a bigger wave of migrants that includes the sand- hill crane, Wilson's snipe, common loon, American bittern, great blue heron, osprey, broad-winged hawk, yellow-bellied sapsucker, eastern phoebe, blue-headed vireo, tree and barn swallows, win- ter wren, hermit and wood thrushes, brown thrasher, purple finch, yellow-rumped warbler, swamp sparrow, rusty blackbird, and the mascot of the north: the white-throated sparrow. The tail-pumping hermit thrush lures with a captivating and en- chanting flute-like song. Like most thrush species, they prefer to sing at dawn and dusk. The song of the hermit thrush is purport- ed by many to be the most beautiful song of any North American species. It is the song that I most look forward to hearing each spring. Hermit thrushes sing their lovely song until mid August: much longer into the summer than most species. Later arrivals fill in during May and include chimney swift, ru- by-throated hummingbird, olive-sided, yellow-bellied, alder, and least flycatchers, Philadelphia and red-eyed vireos, Bicknell's and Swainson's thrushes, Canada warbler, scarlet tanager, Lincoln's Sparrow, and more. In our rapidly warming climate, some species are nesting earlier. In 2016, wood ducks had young in April, and common loons nested a full month earlier because of a very early ice out. Like the gray jays, not all species nest in spring. Red and white- winged crossbills, members of the finch family, can nest at any time of year, as long as they have enough cone seeds to feed their young. In the Adirondacks, they tend to nest in the heart of winter during years with a good cone crop. In the spring, heavily striped crossbill young can be viewed foraging with their families. One of my favorite spring activities is finding black-backed wood- pecker nest sites by listening for the sounds of the male excavat- ing the nest cavity. The male performs most of the nesting work. He excavates the nest cavity, incubates the eggs all night and most of the day, performs most of the feeding, and has been shown to take away fecal sacs (diaper duty) in 50 percent of his visits to feed the young, with the female removing fecal sacs on only 3 percent of her feeding visits. Last year, a female black-backed woodpeck- er fledgling had just left her nest and called relentlessly for food. In the two hours that I observed her, only the adult male fed her. Nesting is underway in June for most species, and singing activi- ty is at its peak. By late June and July, family groups can be ob- served, with most young still being fed outside the nest. Blackpoll Warbler Canada Warbler Joan Collins Larry Master

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