The only good thing about the pandemic is the ability to work remotely. This allowed us to spend our first full summer in the Adirondack Mountains. On arrival, the first thing we saw was a large rabbit sitting on a stump nibbling the new buds off a pine branch. After doing some research we found out this is a Snowshoe Hare and we named him Harold. Harold seemed to change color every day and eventually lost all of his white fur, and turned to a dark brown color for camouflage. In early fall a small Hare came to the yard and we promptly named this one Son of Harold.

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Each morning a family of Wild Turkeys followed a path they made through a wild raspberry patch on our property. At first, the young poults’ bodies were not much larger than a baseball. It was fun to watch them grow throughout the summer. 2020 turned out to be a banner year for chipmunks in the Adirondacks and we overheard quite a few camp owners discussing how to keep them under control and out of their buildings. We never had a real problem at our place, and in fact, we enjoyed watching them scurry around as we sat by the fire pit each evening.

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Deer are morning and dusk visitors and liked to eat the birdseed we left out to attract Black-capped Chickadees and other local birds. There was a very small spotted fawn and at first, it stayed on the edge of the woods while the adults ate. Eventually, as it grew the fawn became braver and would move out in the open to pick up the scraps on the ground. We even had a young buck come up to our truck.

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Birds

Now for the birds! We saw a total of 42 yard birds on our property during the summer. This included eight warbler species: Ovenbird, Black-and-White, Nashville, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Yellow-rumped, and Black-throated Green. Some were easily visible while others took a while to locate with our binoculars. Also, we found a new app BirdNet that records birdsong and identifies the species. It helped our ear birding immensely, so we needed it less as the summer progressed.

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We installed the newly built Barred Owl nest box on the side of a large White Pine tree and hoped it might attract some interest. It did not take long. About a week later in the middle of the night, we heard this scary growling sound outside our bedroom window. BirdNet identified this as the male Barred Owl signaling to the female that he had found a suitable nesting sight and could she please join him. Unfortunately, we put the box up too late in the season and she was not interested. Even so, he persisted with the growling for several weeks. We hope next spring the two will mate and put the nest box to good use.

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Summer sunrise comes early in the Adirondacks and it is usually light around 5:00 am. We woke up many mornings to the sound of Common Loons calling from nearby Fourth Lake. The yard birding in Eagle Bay was so good that we made just a few road trips. Ferd’s Bog/Raquette Lake area, Long Lake, and the Circle Road by Sabattis are always good birding. At Sabattis we found a family of Canada Jay’s who came out of the bog for us and delighted our non-birder friends. Another fun day trip was to Moss Lake where we saw Eastern Bluebirds and Wagner Farms for the amazing sunflowers.

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This was a great summer for us in the Adirondacks and surely the first of many to come. The weather was perfect and so comfortable compared to the Florida summer heat. Can’t wait to get back there this year and see what new birding adventures await us!

Trip Birds: 56  Year Birds: 18 New York Year Birds: 43 Life Birds: 0

Next Up: Trying for a new January Record