The sunny, calm weather the last week made for perfect surveying conditions. After the Alpine Gathering in Lake Placid last weekend, where we experienced pea-sized hale, strong winds, and rain on Cascade Mtn, followed by hail and snow on Sunday even in the lowlands, I was worried. Monday proved to be pretty slow--not too many birds were singing on the hike up Algonquin with the ADK and Monadnock (NH) alpine stewards, but I did manage to call in a Bicknell's using playback which proceeded to growl a few times, fly across the trail in a blur, and call. The only one we heard all day, but it was a treat for those participating who had never seen or heard one before.

Wednesday night I headed up to northern Vermont and stayed at the Tillotson camp. I had no idea I was in for such a commanding view from the porch of the four-walled shelter, not to mention Belvidere Mtn looming off to the south. Tillotson was fairly uneventful, which is always a good thing on these solo backpacking trips, but I did manage to hear a couple of Bicknell's. They were quite a surprise to my trained eye (or rather ears), as the habitat did not look very "Bicknelly"--it was characterized by a tall canopy and had deciduous trees mixed throughout. But who says Bicknell's aren't full of surprises.

Thursday night I drove south to Lincoln Gap and hiked in to Mt Lincoln, or Abe as it's affectionately called. It's also called Sugarbush by the avid skiers among us. It was a long hike in, up and over Mt Abraham (one of only four peaks in VT with alpine vegetation), Little Abe, Lincoln, with the survey route starting between Lincoln and Nancy Hanks peaks. I found a nice mossy spot off the trail on Little Abe to pitch my tent. And what a fortuitous place it was for setting camp! I had some of the best and longest views of Bicknell's, while sitting in my tent with the flap open. I even got a blurry photo of it calling. Not worthy of a photo contest, but probably the best I'll ever get with my point and shoot and not having the bird in the hand.

Tomorrow VCE is running a natural history exploration event in Grafton, VT. After that, it's up to one of our long-term study plots on Stratton. Gotta take advantage of the great weather!

-Julie
Mountain Birdwatch Coordinator