Ornithology

It’s been a full schedule with little time to get into the woods… but I had a few hours un-allotted and so I set out to ski a chilly February morning at the nearby Bass Brook WMA by Pokegama Dam. Temperatures were hovering just above -10F. I was hoping to see an owl or some other good bird activity, but the woods were pretty silent.

When I first passed through the gates, I was greeted by a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers, but after that not too much for birds. A distant crow, a distant blue jay, and a moment of company from some gregarious chickadees and nuthatches. Nothing more.

There was evidence of single track grooming a week or so before, but that had been covered in a light layer of snow. One set of boot prints accompanied by a dog. Some disturbance on the trail by romping deer with no respect for trail etiquette. The two hours spend on the trail on a chilly, overcast morning were refreshing in winter solitude.

We had planned a day of birding at the Sax-Zim Bog. The forecast kept dropping, but we stayed true to the plan. Even the day before, when we saw a forecast of -20F.

The morning we drove over, we watched the car’s thermometer drop down, down, down. For the most part it hovered around -27F, but once we reached our first destination it settled in at -30F.

It was a cold day to be in the woods, to be sure, and so after starting out freezing our faces on the bog boardwalk, we retreated to do most of our birding (though not all) from the comfort of inside the car. It was a good start to the day, however, seeing an uncommon Black-Backed Woodpecker pecking away out in the cold.

Here is the days’ list in its entirety, with a few favorites in bold:

Common Raven

Black-Capped Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Black-Backed Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

American Crow

Pine Grosbeak

(Red squirrel)

Pine Siskin

Snow Bunting

Northern Shrike

Magpie

(white-tailed deer)

Evening Grosbeak

Ruffed Grouse

Canada Jay

Boreal Chickadee

and on the way home:

Wild Turkey

Pileated Woodpecker

ArtesianMind

-arts and adventures among woods and waters-

Skiing Bass Brook WMA

-30F at Sax-Zim Bog