Death of a red-throated loon

A red-throated loon was found injured with a badly broken wing near Old Forge Pond two days before the annual Audubon Christmas Count in the Old Forge region. Red-throated loons, which breed in Alaska and northern Canada, are considerably smaller than the common loons found in the Adirondacks. The bird apparently hit a power line. It was put to sleep.

The injured loon. Photo by Gary Lee.

On the count day, observers spotted 803 birds, representing nineteen species. New birds included six tufted titmouse, seen at feeders, and wild turkey (forty-two, in all). Seven more species were seen during the week of the count but not on the count day itself.

I saw a barred owl the day after the count, on the Woodcraft Camp ski trails. This week I had one at my feeder during the evening, trying to catch mice that come out after the dropped seeds. This bird has been back several nights, so the hunting must be good. Many things roam around in the night world that we never see.

Bird notes

The snowstorm that hit on Friday, December 11, brought to the feeders a lot of birds that had been living off the natural food in the woods.

I got all kinds of calls about the geese, both Canada and Snows, that were flying all day and night to escape the instant winter. While it was snowing the hardest, flock after flock of Snows were going over at tree-top level, barking to each other and to flocks that were following right behind. At times I could see some wing movement through the falling snow.

The smaller birds mostly went early this year because there was little wild food in the woods. The late frost this spring hit many of the flowering bushes and trees, preventing them from producing berries or seeds. Most of the ones that I saw with fruit were on lakeshores and river edges where the temperature from the water kept the flowers from freezing.

This winter is going be quiet in the woods. You may come on some scattered flocks of Black-Capped Chickadees with a Nuthatch or two tagging along. A lone Hairy or Downy Woodpecker tapping here and there, but no big flocks of Crossbills or Siskins working the evergreen cones as there are none.

I did see a lone Cedar Waxwing eating some fruit from a tree at the Old Forge Bank the other day.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The birds are counting on us

The 110^th National Audubon Christmas Bird Count will soon be going on across North and South America, the Caribbean, and, for the first time, Antarctica. The count starts on December 14 and ends January 5. In the 109^th count, a record 2,124 count circles took part.  

Black-capped chickadee

Right here in the Adirondacks there are five bird counts. Only the Ferrisburg, Vt., count (Dec. 12, leader Mike Winslow), which includes the New York side of Lake Champlain, has enough observers. The other counts could use your help.

So if you want to get a little fresh air and watch some birds along the way, contact one of the leaders below. Feeder watchers are also very important as there isn’t much wild food out there. Many of the birds will be tallied at feeders. The more participants the merrier at this time of the year when we are in between the fall and winter seasons. 

The leaders, or compilers, follow:

Old Forge count: Dec. 19, Gary Lee, 315 357-5150.

Elizabethtown count: Dec. 20, Charlotte Demers, 518 582-2157.

Plattsburgh count: Dec. 20. Judith Heintz, 518 563-5273.

Saranac Lake count: Jan. 2, Larry Master, 518 645-1545. 

For more information, visit the Northern New York Audubon website.