Massawepie Mire

       We have journeyed north up into God's Country....the Adirondack Mountains......for a week of birding with our friends in South Colton, NY.  My roots are in the "Dacks" as my Dad was born and raised in the north country and many a fond memory was made as we vacationed up here during my childhood.

Cedar waxwing

      Yesterday, we took our first birding venture out to Massawepie Mire, the largest mire in the Adirondack preserve.  Our targets are the boreal species....Boreal chickadee, Gray jay, Three-toed and Black-backed woodpecker, and Lincoln's sparrow.  On the road into the "back country", we encountered many a warbler.....Black and white, Black-throated blue, Common yellowthroat, Yellow, Blue-winged, and more.  Great sightings of Cedar waxwings and Ovenbirds afforded me fine opportunities for photos.

Ovenbird

      But the sighting of the day was a mammal rather than a  bird. We spotted two Fishers, an adult and a youngster, walking down the wood-road and heading directly towards us.  The adult, noting our presence, veered off the trail and into the woods, leaving the young fisher to its own resources.  The little fellow looked lost as it wandered back and forth, into and out of the woods apparently looking for Mom.  We watched for 10 minutes or more before we started to continue down the path.  Eventually, the young fisher headed back into the wooded edge of the road.  We can only assume that he found Mom impatiently waiting for her offspring to rejoin her.

Fisher

     We still have several more days of opportunities to find our target species, and the sighting of the martens more than made up for our "misses".  The Adirondacks are indeed a place which borders on the spiritual and we are blessed to be able to spend time up here with our good friends.  This morning (Friday), its back into the mountains in search of whatever the "dacks" will yield and once again, the mountains treat us to a fine display as an American bittern is hiding in a wet grassy area right next to Route 68 in Pierrepont.  As cars sped by, the bittern would raise his head allowing him to check out his surroundings while remaining all but invisible to the passers-by.  Were it not for our "eagle-eyed" host, Rosie, we undoubtedly would have passed by with the rest of the travelers.  Got to love the mountains "inside the blue line".

American bittern