Pileated Woodpecker adult male

 

Snowy Sojourn in the Adirondacks
28 November – 2 December 2021

After Thanksgiving I had the urge to experience old-fashioned Winter. I went online and checked out weather forecasts for various northern destinations. Old Forge, in the southwestern Adirondacks, offered several days of winter temperatures and the promise of snow. So I packed the car and drove 8 hours due north to the Adirondack Lodge in Thendara, just a short walk down Route 28 from Old Forge. I had stayed at the Lodge in February 2020, about two years earlier, and liked the location, offering access to some diners, restaurants, abundant walking tracks, and birding locations.

 

      vista down Adirondack Scenic Rail Bed, Thendara 

I had checked the winter finch report and the news was that aside from Purple Finches and American Goldfinches, things were pretty quiet. And the birding in November in the Adirondacks is pretty slow, so I planned to focus on snow-walking and conifer gazing, with birding only as a back-up. 

 

      Red-breasted Nuthatch, adult male

On my first morning in Thendara I walked the rail bed of the Adirondack Scenic Railway. This I had done in February 2020 and I knew it was a good place to start testing out my legs. It had snowed the night before, so the trees were frosted. In fact, I would see snow falling for parts of four days, and every evening produced snow, so the timing of my visit was good.

That morning I had hopes of completing a walking loop that would end up in downtown Old Forge, but an unbridged (and unfrozen) branch of the Moose River prevented that. So I back-tracked to my motel, and then walked into town for a late breakfast at the Front Door Diner. After four hours out and about, having walked a bit over 5 miles, at 11 AM I sat down in a warm and well-lit room and had a hot cup of coffee and a big plate of breakfast. That was supremely satisfying.

That became my mode—long early morning walk followed by a late morning breakfast.

 

      vista bright ridge in sun and foreground in shade featuring various conifers

The nice thing about walks in the snow is one gets to see mammal tracks. This first morning I saw tracks of many Snowshoe Hare, some White-tailed Deer, and perhaps a Coyote. For birds, I encountered Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, both nuthatches, Dark-eyed Junco, and Raven.  

 

      Two White-tailed Deer in snow

 

I bumped into deer hunter, Mark Hudon, along the route, and he mentioned he had seen tracks in the snow of a Fisher. That made my heart skip a beat. I have always wanted to walk up on a Fisher in the woods. Maybe this trip would be the time...

 

      Red Squirrel in snow

Walking in winter is special. One gets extra exercise because of the need for one’s boots to push through the snow. And on those days when there is not a hint of sun, and snow is falling from the ceiling of dull gray, one really feels the impact of winter-ness. The tips of my fingers never were warm. It is a world apart. And don't forget the solitude and the absolute quiet.

 

     Lighted Christmas tree in downtown Old Forge

 At 6 PM, I walked from my motel north to my dinner location, at the Slicker’s Adirondack Tavern, a distance of 1.4 miles. I walked up in the dark, the snow falling steadily. The walk up and back made the dinner that much more memorable. I felt like I had accomplished something. And Old Forge had already put out its holiday lights. The town and its businesses go whole-hog on the Christmas lights in all their varieties!

 

     snow falling at night in town

The next morning I headed north to the Uncas Road, one of those most-favorite birding destinations. It is snowing and because there is no wind, everything is be-whitened. Driving this unpaved back road that links Eagle Bay and Raquette Lake is to enter the deep North Woods. The forests here are mainly state-owned low country dominated by a range of old growth conifers. Spruce and fir line the sides of this narrow road.

 

    Uncas Road - extremely snowy patch of hardwoods with their bare branches encrusted

 I see flocks of American Goldfinches acting like crossbills by lighting down on the gravel roadbed in search of grit. The road gets very little traffic.

 

American Goldfinches on roadbed gathering grit

My first stop is the trailhead to Ferd’s Bog. At the start of the trail, up above the bog, is remarkable old growth mixed forest with giant examples of Yellow Birch, Red Spruce, Eastern Hemlock, and Sugar Maple. This area has never been logged. As the trail drops lower and lower, more and more conifers appear. Back from the bog it is a mix of Red Spruce and Balsam Fir. Out at the bog fringe it is small Black Spruce and Tamarack (American Larch).

 

    Ferd’s Bog looking toward Cascade Mountain

The middle of the bog is open peatland and a slow stream—technically this may actually be a fen. A boardwalk makes it possible to walk out to the very center of the clearing. I walk this route four times on this trip. I never tire of the walk, even though the boreal birds that make this bog famous with birders are not to be seen. But the scenery and the snow and the chilly weather and varying sky conditions all make the walk worthwhile. Standing there, I recall finding, back in late June 1989, in a stand of dead spruces, an active nest of an American Three-toed Woodpecker, the parents bringing food to the noisy nestlings. The nest hole was about 7 feet off the ground. I could stand right next to the nest and the parents would ignore me and fly right in to provision their offspring. That I will never forget. It has been more than a decade since that rare species has been seen in the Bog or its vicinity. Its possible the American Three-toed no longer exists in the Adirondacks. I hope that is not true. We need to get out and find it!

 

    Black-capped Chickadee

 Instead, I see Black-capped Chickadees (not Boreal) and Blue Jays and a Raven. And I do happen upon some tracks on a fallen log that is snow-covered—tracks of a Fisher that has recently passed this way. So I am definitely in Fisher country!

 

                        Tracks of Fisher on snowy log  (glove for scale)

 

On the following morning I drive to Upper Brown’s Tract Pond and park there to walk the snowmobile trail out to the boardwalk onto Brown’s Tract Outlet Creek. This is another lovely walk though conifer country—across an esker from one catchment to another. What is remarkable is how the forest type is so closely related to the physiography of the countryside.

 

     Lower Brown's Tract Pond Outlet boardwalk

The boardwalk takes me out into a headwaters of a stream that drains from Upper Brown’s Tract Pond into Raquette Lake. It is boggy country and the catchment is lined with Black Spruce and Tamaracks. I listen for Black-backed Woodpecker, but no luck, even though this is their habitat. I do manage to see a Beaver foraging along a open patch of water. It sees me and quickly retreats. Birds are few, mammals are even fewer. If it was not for the tracks in the fresh snow, I would hardly know there are mammals here (except for the Beaver).

 

    Beaver doing its thing, ice be damned!

 

I stop and admire a stand of great White Pines that rise above the ridge of the esker I cross to return to my car. These trees have diameters topping three feet—they are the forest giants here. They dwarf the Eastern Hemlocks and Red Spruces and Balsam Firs that are scattered about (the hemlocks higher up, the spruces and firs mainly lower down the slopes).  

 

    White Pine giants on ridge above Brown's Tract Outlet

 One of the few common species here now is Blue Jay. I encounter them in ones or twos just about everywhere I go. The Canada Jays are nowhere to be seen for some reason. This spot, with the tall conifers, seems to be popular with flocks of Red Crossbills. I walk this trail three times on my trip and hear them every time, and occasionally see one or two perched atop one of the conifer spires.

 

     Blue Jay

 

 

    Small conifers encrusted with fresh snow

 

When one hears the tapping of a woodpecker, one hope for something rare, but often it is a Hairy or Downy—both of these common species like these woods.

 

    Hairy Woodpecker 

Still, it is the glorious scenery that is captivating on my walks. The shapes of the snow-clad conifers as well as the encrusted hardwood branches—so long as it stays cold and the wind relents. These scenes are ephemeral, gone in a morning if the wind decides to blow or if the temerature rises.

 

    Snowy Ridge

One afternoon I walk the town roads on the ridge east of Thendara and Old Forge. This is a woodsy suburb of these two tiny towns. Here on the well-drained hillsides the hardwoods dominate—American Beech and Yellow Birch and Sugar Maple. I hear the loud thwack of a Pileated Woodpecker at work on a big old Yellow Birch. It ignores me as I slowly edge closer and closer, until I am standing about twenty feet from the bird. And it continues to excavate. Why does it not fly off, as they usually do?

 

    Pileated Woodpecker attacking the rot

The chickadee flock is the most common of the avian phenomenon here in the snow. Black-capped Chickadees, usually attended by one or two Red-breasted Nuthatches, and perhaps a Brown Creeper, are actively hunting for winter food. I spish and the chickadees zoom right down to greet me. I love their friendliness!

 

    Sunlight on Red Spruce, Balsam Fir, Tamarack (bare of needles), and perhaps an Eastern Hemlock (left to right)

I did manage to see some Pine Siskins mixed in with American Goldfinches, but the latter were here in much greater numbers.

 

    Pine Siskin

The only other common winter finch is the Purple Finch. I encounter flocks of five or ten birds on several of my walks.

 

     Purple Finch adult male

White-tailed Deer seem to move into the towns in winter. Perhaps the browsing is better in people’s yards. I watch one deer reaching high to take the feathery end-branches of a Balsam Fir. I am surprised to see a deer take the redolent needles of this fir, but there is not much else to choose this time of year. Down in town, I see another pair of small deer. I spish and the smaller of the two slowly and directly walks up to me, hoping for a handout. I reach out my hand and it licks my fingers. I am able to reach out and pat it on the head. Its pelt is rough. Petting a wild White-tail is a first for me...

 

      White-tail browsing Balsam Fir

Wednesday evening I check in with weather.com. Winds are going to blow from the south and temperatures are going to rise above freezing on Thursday. The end of my early winter. I therefore plan to pack the car early Thursday AM and drive south back into the warmth of the Mid-Atlantic. I had three days of falling snow, 20+ miles of walks through the snow, and perhaps 20+ species of winter birds. And, of course, the encounter with fresh tracks of a Fisher in the powdery snow of Ferd’s Bog.

 

    Red Crossbill adult male