This accessible path is one bike-birder’s dream
By Larry Master
I am a lifelong birder and outdoors enthusiast, a retired conservation biologist and a wildlife photographer. Yet, at 77 years old and dealing with progressive axonal polyneuropathy, I can now just manage a slow walk, and thankfully, a bicycle.
I love my e-bike. It provides exercise and allows me to reach places I can’t walk to in search of birds. I welcomed the opening of the Adirondack Rail Trail.
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From mid-May through June, the woods, fields, and marshes of the Adirondacks are bursting with life, most notably the singing of millions of neotropical migrants that have returned from their wintering grounds in the tropics. These insect-eaters include flycatchers, swallows, thrushes, warblers, orioles, tanagers and other birds.
Birding on two wheels
In mid-May I did some bike-birding on the Adirondack Rail Trail from the Lake Placid end to the Route 86 crossing of the trail outside of Saranac Lake, a distance of seven miles.
The trail’s surface, packed stone dust, is great for walking, running and biking, but not for hearing birds over the noise of rolling bike tires. So, I stopped every tenth of a mile (70 times in all) to listen for birds. I used hearing aids that help detect high frequency birds, an ability I lost 55 years ago from exposure to loud sounds.
I was also aided by Merlin, an app designed by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology that identifies birds that your smart phone hears. Merlin is not 100% accurate, so you can’t count everything it thinks it hears, but it alerts you to what might be in the immediate vicinity in case you didn’t hear it yourself.
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I started the outing at 7:30 a.m. and, after the stops of a couple minutes each, finished at 11:15 a.m. In retrospect I should have started earlier because by 10:30 a.m. the birds quieted as the day heated up.
Hearing birds unseen
Most of the birding was done “by ear” as trying to see every species would have taken more morning time than was available, even if starting earlier.
It was a fantastic morning of birding not to mention a beautiful ride past forests, swamps, marshes, mostly away from houses and traffic sound. There were a few other friendly and courteous bikers as well as walkers and runners on the trail but many times there was no one else in sight. Every time I stopped to listen, I heard birds, typically five or more species.
I heard 353 individuals of 61 species, including 128 individuals of 17 warbler species. Highlights included 30 white-throated sparrows, 25 vireos (red-eyed and blue-headed), 19 black-capped chickadees, 15 alder flycatchers, four brown creepers, three spotted sandpipers, two golden-crowned kinglets and a hooded merganser.
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Almost all of these species were on their breeding territories. Of course, the numbers of individual species represent only a tiny fraction of the birds actually present along the trail as I counted only singing birds (mostly males) and ignored birds between my stops. I missed hearing a few species that were undoubtedly present including ruffed grouse, ruby-throated hummingbird, merlin, Cooper’s hawk, raven, Virginia rail and three woodpecker species.
Reflecting on the rail trail
I’ve been asked if I had a favorite sighting or aha moment on the trail. Well, it was all wonderful but among the pleasant surprises were three spotted sandpipers feeding on a mudflat in Lake Placid and the male hooded merganser that suddenly swam into sight on a pond in Ray Brook.
Birds were not the only wildlife attraction. I also saw a beaver, muskrats, a garter snake, and countless dragonflies and butterflies. In the spring and summer, the numerous wildflowers along the trail will attract a plethora of butterflies and other pollinators.
I look forward to biking and birding the next sections of the trail as they become available—Saranac Lake to Lake Clear this year and to Tupper Lake in 2025. These sections pass through some amazing boreal habitats, providing an opportunity to see black-backed woodpecker, boreal chickadees, Canada jays and others.
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If you bike the trail, be sure to stop frequently to observe the surroundings and listen. It’s an experience for young and old, not to be forgotten. Gratefully, it’s accessible for all, including people like me with disabilities.
At top: Larry Master, who likes to get close to birds, feeds raisins to a Canada jay at the Bloomingdale Bog. Photo by Luc Jacobs
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This article first appeared in a recent issue of Adirondack Explorer magazine.
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Great article Larry!
I was wondering if the “vegetated” areas adjacent to the hardened trail are planted with native grass/flower species or just plain old grass mix. It would be nice if at least some areas were dedicated to low-mow and/or annual-mow native plants and grasses. On slopes, plant what will best avoid erosion, but try to think of species that pollinators can use throughout the season. A trail with lawn grass on each side is incredibly boring and needs to be mowed often, but I have not heard much about this detail.