Day 175: June 23rd – Brooks Lake

Sunny, calm and mid 70s

       Well, the heat wave has finally broken and this morning was a delightful time to be up and out on the trail in search of whatever Mother Nature had to offer.  I decided to hike around Brooks Lake in Fort Montgomery, NY.  Several years ago, I worked with a group who had decided to reopen this old trail after years of neglect.  With the efforts of the NY/NJ Trail Conference, funding from some local groups and the state, and volunteers from a local action group called VISION and the O’Neill High School Environmental Club, the trail was cleared and reopened and is now used regularly by many of the locals.

       My welcoming committee consisted of a good many Canada geese including many youngsters.  The young have matured to the stage where they are beginning to have the color patterns of the adults.  Gone is the fluffly yellow down, being replaced by the feathers of the adult birds.  The pond is fairly shallow and between the duck weed and the fertilization provided by the plethora of geese, the pond is not looking quite as pristine as it did earlier in the spring.

       Walking around the trail, bird song was constant if not varied.  Red-eyed vireos were singing their monotonous refrain, an occasional trill of a Chipping sparrow was heard, and the resident Red-bellied woodpecker was heard both singing and drumming.

       More visible were the dragonflies and butterflies which are beginning to show up in good numbers.  This Northern pearly-eye found a nice warm spot in a shaft of light penetrating the dense canopy.

       As I rounded the bend about two-thirds the way around the lake, I spotted a Great blue heron along the shore.  As I approached, the bird grew wary of my presence and flew out onto a small rock outcrop in the middle of the lake.  As I followed the heron, I was pleased to see a mother Wood duck and one young one swimming out on the pond.  Only one….that concerned me.  I wondered how many were in the original brood and if this was the lone survivor. 

       I rounded the corner and came out at the trail’s end.  What a pleasure it was to have walked around the entire lake and have only an occasional deer fly to agitate me.  The weather is so dry and pleasant today, it almost makes you forget about the oppressive heat of the last few days.  The forecast for the upcoming week is just as good, so we’ll have to get out to some of your favorite summer birding haunts once again in the next few days.