A Quick Stop at the Bog

I guided a canoe trip on the weekend that took us birding on the St. Regis River in Santa Clara off Route 458. Dexter Bog is near the put-in so we made a quick stop there first, briefly walking the quiet dirt road and spotting a coyote cross it in the distance. We found three Gray Jays in the bog and spotted a small flock of warblers which included a Tennessee Warbler and a Palm Warbler. We also heard an Ovenbird enroute to our destination so our warbler list for the day was off to a good start. The forecast had been for rain showers to begin in the afternoon, but it was already misting and spitting on us as we walked, and although the sky brightened as we reached the put-in, it was clear that the rain was starting earlier than originally forecast.

Undaunted by this we pushed off onto the wide expanse of the St. Regis and slid quietly along the shoreline in search of birds in the misty conditions. After all, drippy, wet days can often be good during migration and we were hopeful it might play to our favor. We were soon met by a small flock of Black-capped Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Red-breasted Nuthatches and we paused from paddling to see if there was anything else with them. We were not disappointed. We quickly found species like Northern Parula, and Nashville, Magnolia, Pine, and Yellow Warblers - the latter of which proved to be a latedate record for the county. We were already at about 8 or 9 species of warblers with miles to go on our day.

Rainy Weather and Great Birding!

For its part the rain came and went from mist to overcast to light showers, but the weather was warm so that we weren't cold even if we were getting damp. At times the sun tried hard to push its way out from behind the clouds and we went from drippy to wearing sunglasses for spells before the clouds beat the sun back. We continued to explore further along the river, watching a Common Loon dive, and eventually spotting an adult Bald Eagle sitting in a tree, preening in the dripping conditions. The rain stopped at that point so we paused to watch the eagle and photograph the splendid river landscape and the misty swirls of fog in the distance.

A short stretch further along the river someone spotted a Merlin perched high on a fir as the rain picked up in earnest. But just when I was beginning to wonder if our luck was running out on us, the rain let up and we paddled on to check out a marshy dead-end of the river. There are many such nooks and crannies along the St. Regis, making it a great choice for anyone who enjoys exploring - as each of these spots may hide something of note. In our case I had heard the chatter of another songbird flock and wanted to investigate it.

It was good that we did. We slid quietly along the alder-choked shoreline and watched as the bushes positively twitched with birds - led through the alders by the ubiquitous Black-capped Chickadees. Yellow-rumped, Chestnut-sided, Nashville, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, and Blackpoll Warblers were seemingly everywhere! In their midst we found a lone Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Blackburnian, and a Wilson's Warbler as well as Red-eyed Vireos and a Hermit Thrush. The birds were moving steadily along the shore and passed us and we tried to paddle ahead of them so they would pass us again. And so we leapfrogged our solo canoes down the shoreline until we reached the marshy end of the cove where we could go no further. The flock moved off the river and through the forest and we paused to catch our breath after such an incredible display of diversity on the go.

Exploring Every Nook and Cranny

We continued on through another bout of moderate rain and wound our way back into the marshier recesses of the river, spooking Great Blue Herons, Mallards, American Black Ducks, and Wood Ducks as we went. The sky lightened and we stopped for lunch, watching the mist play on the distant hills like spirits searching for a place to rest. Not far beyond our lunch stop, the marsh became thicker - which is great for birds and other wildlife, but it made for shallow and mucky paddling and so we decided to turn around. We had reached our turnaround time anyway.

We continued to poke into each cove and marshy margin we passed on the way back to the put-in, exploring those we didn't investigate on our way out. We found two Bald Eagles on our return trip, the one sitting quite low and close to the water as we glided past it. We also spotted two Grays Jays sitting high in the trees. The rain was just starting to pick up a bit again as we neared the take-out but a large contingent of Cedar Waxwings caught the attention of two of us and we probed the shoreline to see what else we could find. What we found was another enormous flock of birds beginning with large numbers of Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll Warblers which soon moved along the shoreline to bring an astounding diversity in their wake. We found 10 species of warblers in the flock alone with our first Black-and-White of the day and two more Tennessee Warblers. Red-eyed Vireos, Blue-headed Vireos, and a Philadelphia Vireo bounced along feeding as we nosed our boats into the grasses to keep us from drifting off in the light breeze.

I called to the others who didn't notice we had stopped and had paddled around the bend, but when they didn't respond I finally paddled out to wave to them to come back and see the spectacle. It was nothing short of amazing. But just as quickly as the wave of birds had arrived, it moved on and back from the shoreline leaving the twigs and leaves quiet and motionless again. And leaving us to ponder the manifestation of life we had just seen as we canoed the final few-hundred meters to the take-out. In all we had seen 17 species of warblers - as well as many other species - and we loaded up our boats in an increasingly heavy shower and drove home to get dry. That's what I call good timing.

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