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| Common Grackle with a dragonfly |
This year's event is in the books. I thought I would share with you the report I submitted on it. I had a great time birding and the blackflies had a great time gnawing on me.
2024 Fulton-Montgomery County
Over the course of sixteen hours, starting at 4AM, traveling two-hundred-and-four miles in Fulton and Montgomery Counties, our team found 103 species of birds. Participating were George Steele and myself, Marianne Friers.
Our day began when George picked me up at 4. We headed south through Glen, Charleston, Esperance, Sprakers, and the surrounding area for owls and other early birds. Although Barred Owls were the only owls we found, American Woodcocks and Wilson’s Snipe were calling and displaying. Even in the darkness, each swampy area featured groups of Tree Swallows twittering from their dead tree roosts. At first they sounded like amphibians and since we are both familiar with the locals we were puzzled, but figured it out quickly.
Dawn chorus was a delight at one of my favorite spots, Rankin Grove, where mixed forest meets extensive marshy areas. It was hard to count the number of Veerys calling from as near as the other side of the road.
Habitat!
Later we traveled toward Amsterdam and nearby productive spots, up through Johnstown and Gloversville to Fulton County’s lakes and wetlands, ending the day at Cline Road Marsh (where I can testify that the blackflies were quite active.)
There we heard a loud bird calling from inside the phragmites that we didn’t recognize. Its calls were so brief and sporadic that Merlin couldn’t get it and it didn’t show itself. After listening to multiple recordings of all the suspects I could think of the next day, I concluded that it was probably a Sora, but we didn’t count it. I hope to return soon to try again to id it.
For me the highlight of the trip, (besides the opportunity to spend the entire day birding) was a Bufflehead in Peck’s Lake. My cousin had been reporting it from her camp there, but the chance that we would find it immediately in that great big lake, seemed slim at best. However, as soon as George set up his scope he was on it, right across the lake from the marina. From what I was able to research it is probably a young male. It was diving and resting between cabins one and two.
Notable absences were Brown Thrasher and Hermit Thrush.
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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2 comments:
Sounds like a perfect day for you (except the bugs). I've been thinking of downloading the Merlin app to my phone, or should I go with e-bird. Are they the same app? I have so much bird song here I don't know, it would be nice to figure them out.
Sbirley, the two apps work together very nicely. EBird is a place to list what you see or hear and Merlin is there to help you identify birds. Although it makes mistakes sometimes it is really a wonderful tool. I have learned so many bird songs thanks to its ID powers. I also use it to help me notice and sort out familiar calls that I have gotten into the habit of ignoring. If you are not into listing you could start with Merlin and see how you like it. I am a fanatical lister so I use eBird every day.
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