March 21, 2013

The other day I took a walk at a property in Lake Placid where I go birding. My friend the landowner is a retired biologist who manages his property for wildlife which makes it a great place to check out for birds. He allows folks to go birding there, but asks that you email him first at lawrencemaster@gmail.com. Officially the property is called Intervale Lowlands, but many local birders who go there just refer to it as "The Farm".

The landowner was there on the day I visited the property and we looked together through a flock of perhaps 300 common redpolls, finding a female hoary redpoll among them. Hoarys are a paler relative of common redpolls and in this region are generally only found within large flocks of commons. The property maintains an impressive bird feeder array which was responsible for attracting such a large flock of redpolls to begin with. The feeders also lured in a variety of other birds such as red and white breasted nuthatches, tree sparrows, and downy and hairy woodpeckers. It makes The Farm a great local place to go birding in the winter since there will always be bird activity there even if the woods are cold and quiet.

common redpolls - the farm
The array of bird feeders on the property attracts a variety of feeding birds, such as these common redpolls.

The birds attracted to the bird feeders have also enticed a northern shrike to hang out much of the winter and the landowner has seen it regularly. Unfortunately we did not see it on the day we were there. I hiked around (snowshoes are helpful, but you can also walk along the roads), but I did not find it. It was evidently feeding elsewhere. I did, however, find an adult Cooper's hawk which flashed through the feeders while I was eating my lunch at my car. The bird did not appear to stop, so I assume it did not catch its own lunch in the process. I hiked back out and looked for it, but didn't see it again.

The Farm also offers good habitat for a variety of other species of raptors and it is an official monitoring site for golden eagles – using carcasses to attract them. When I was there, the carcasses had brought in a few ravens. Golden eagles are a rare species in our area which moves through in small numbers, and they are consequently a species of interest for monitoring. As spring spreads its warmth north through the region, the chance of finding an eagle migrating north increases, and so it is worth keeping an eye open for them. After all, despite our snowy, cold March weather, birds of a variety of species are trickling north into the region.

cooper's hawk - Larry
The Farm is good for raptors such as Cooper's hawks which are drawn to the open, brushy fields and the birds at the bird feeders. Photo courtesy of www.masterimages.org.

I returned to the Intervale Lowlands the following week to check out the area again, and found a similar collection of birds. On this visit I found several red-winged blackbirds – recently arrived from the south – a nice find in the wintry March conditions. The AuSable River was also open and the group of mallard and black ducks had two male hooded mergansers with them – another sign of the approaching spring. They are exciting precursors of things to come.

common redpolls - the farm
The array of bird feeders on the property attracts a variety of feeding birds, such as these common redpolls.
cooper's hawk - Larry
The Farm is good for raptors such as Cooper's hawks which are drawn to the open, brushy fields and the birds at the bird feeders. Photo courtesy of www.masterimages.org.

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