Bloomingdale Bog in the Adirondacks

Bloomingdale Bog

     My last posting dealt with the birds of Massawepie Mire.  At that time I mentioned that we still had a couple of days to search for the elusive boreal species....specifically the Boreal chickadee, the Black-backed woodpecker and the Gray jay.  Although the Three-toed woodpecker is also technically on my "wish-list" as we head into the Dacks, I'm realistic enough to know that this bird is the toughest to find and I don't have high expectations regarding this species.  None-the-less, we head out to Bloomingdale Bog on a day that is overcast and with showers in the forecast.  In route, we encounter several heavy downpours and we are wondering if we will even have a chance to get out of the RAV4 when we arrive at our destination.  As luck would have it, however, the storms have abated (at least for the moment) and we head down the old railroad bed in search of our quarry.  Our first encounter is with chickadees!  We listen, we watch and eventually we come up short with nothing more than the common Black-capped chickadee.  We know that the Boreal species of this bird often associates with the BC, but we don't see any such behavior today.  We move on.  Further down the trail, we have marsh wetlands on both sides......perfect habitat for the Lincoln's sparrow.  It is only a short time before we have two Lincoln's flitting back and forth along the trail.  We have great looks, but the birds refuse to come out from within their cover of thick conifers.  With the limited lighting due to the cloudy skies, a photo is all but impossible.

Gray jay

      As I continued to stalk the Lincoln's, refusing to just give up on the image, one of our companions motions to me to come along down the trail.  He has something I might be interested in.  And so it is! A life-bird...the Gray jay. Not just one, but four of them, and these birds are not shy.  They fly back and forth, feeding in the pines and coming in close to see if we have any better fare.  Apparently, folks around here feed these birds and they have become quite tame.  No excuses for not getting a few decent shots here!  With the threat of rain, I have only carried the "Point and Shoot" camera which I can easily keep under cover, but the birds are close enough so that I really don't need the "big guns".  The rains do in fact return return and we continue down the trail hoping for one quick look at the Black-backed, but the rains intensify and we head back with at least one life bird checked off on the list.  Tuesday, I'll head down to Ferd's Bog in one last attempt to capture an image or two of the "missing" boreals.

Gray jay