![Bird count teams report soaring numbers, rare sightings](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/counting-mallard-and-black-ducks-on-the-rail-trail-in-millerton-for-the-trixie-strauss-bird-count-were-from-left-to-right-art.jpg?id=48190428&width=980&quality=90)
Counting Mallard and Black Ducks on the Rail Trail in Millerton for the Trixie Strauss Bird Count were, from left to right, Art Gingert, Mary King and Joe Gwazdauskas.
Photo by Don Heiny
SHARON—It was a day for the birds.
Continuing a 122-year tradition, small groups of birders spread out in a 15-mile radius on Sunday, Dec. 19, solely for the purpose of counting birds during Sharon Audubon Center’s annual Trixie Strauss Bird Count. Judging from the results posted by the teams, there was no shortage of avian sightings or of surprises.
The early-winter event, held on a pleasantly mild but blustery day, revealed great numbers of American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds and Bald Eagles, as well as some uncommon species to this region in December, including the small-bodied Cackling Goose, shaggy-headed Red-breasted Mergansers and several elusive Gray Catbirds and Northern Mockingbirds.
“This year my team covered a new territory providing us with some exploration and excitement around different areas,” reported Zach Adams, compiler of the Lakeville-Sharon count. “By 9 a.m. we had seen over 20 species, including some unusual species.
“With this excitement to start the day, we enjoyed our full day of birding sporting a few highlights including four Hermit Thrushes,” Adams said. He noted that it is often difficult to locate just one in the entire count area. Adult Hermit Thrushes are typically found hopping on the forest floor while foraging among the leaf litter.
North Sharon: ducks, geese, eagles
Big numbers were reported by George and Beth Wallace, first-time participants in the Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count. The Salisbury couple covered portions of north Sharon, including Mudge Pond and Beardsley Pond, as well as Wononpakook Lake, also known as Long Pond.
“Open water is not always a given on the Christmas Bird Count, but this year, all the ponds were open and hosting large flocks of ducks and geese including over 300 Ring-necked Ducks on Wononpakook and over 250 Common Mergansers on Mudge Pond,” George Wallace said.
In addition, the route captains identified six Bald Eagles soaring at once over Long Pond.
“It’s amazing to consider the incredible recovery that Bald Eagles have made, from rare to common in just a few decades,” noted Wallace.
“Particularly surprising to us were the four Gray Catbirds we found, three of which were in the vicinity of the Twin Oaks Preserve. While recorded nearly annually on the count, we are at the northern limit of their wintering range, and one has to wonder how they fare in these cold conditions, especially given that most Gray Catbirds prefer to winter along the Gulf of Mexico and into the Caribbean and Central America.”
In all, the North Sharon Route team saw a whopping 2,369 birds of 49 species.
Falls Village: ‘super cool’ Northern Harriers
Wendy Miller, Education Programs Manager for Sharon Audubon, served as route captain for the Falls Village count area, where she identified 31 species.
“I didn’t get some of my usuals, like Cedar Waxwings, Ring-neck Pheasant, Golden-crowned Kinglet or Bald Eagle, but I did see two Northern Harriers, which was super cool, as well as a ton of American Robins, which seemed to be everywhere.” At one point, she noted, they kept flying overhead nonstop. “I counted about 148 of them, but I’m sure there were more.”
Another “fun surprise,” she said, was the discovery of a large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds. “There had to be about 150 of them, with about 40 Crown-headed Cowbirds mixed in,” as well as a Fox Sparrow. Miller said she is especially fond of Bluebirds, and spotted 19 of them in her territory. “People always think they are not around in the winter, but I see them every year.”
South Sharon: 33 species identified
Bethany Sheffer, captain of the South Sharon route, was joined by participants Cheri Johnson and her son, Jonas Johnson, Joshua Harkness and Laura Marris. Sheffer, a volunteer coordinator and naturalist at Sharon Audubon, said her team found 33 species and were surprised by the presence of three Northern Mockingbirds.
“This species isn’t traditionally found on this region’s count, which begs us to question why those individuals didn’t migrate to the southern United States,” noted Sheffer. Also to their surprise, she said, the team counted 427 American Robins, many of which were congregating near fruiting woody plants such as Winterberry, Asiatic Bittersweet and Multiflora Rose.
The latter two plants, according to the naturalist, are nonnative invasive species, which prompted the group to ask whether their increasing presence across the landscape is prompting larger numbers of certain species — such as American Robins and Northern Mockingbirds — to remain during the winter months instead of moving south.
“We were excited to see a Northern Harrier exercising its ghost-like flight behavior at the entrance of Sharon Land Trust’s Benton Hill Preserve,” Sheffer said. “This species often hunts for small rodent prey by using its long wings to soar just above the tops of grasses in open habitats. It is also a species that visits northwest Connecticut and New York State from more northern territories during the wintertime, frequenting expansive open habitats.”
An exciting end to the South Sharon team’s bird count was marked by the discovery of 16 Red-tailed Hawks that were predominantly perched in large trees overlooking open fields and farmlands, the birds’ preferred habitat.
“It was fun to see a blurry shape in the distance and congratulate ourselves when we correctly called it as a Perched Red-tail — verifying with our binoculars,” Sheffer added.
Data on flock formations, migrations
The Trixie Strauss Christmas Bird Count takes place within a 15-mile circle with its center at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville and covers some of the prime birding areas in Sharon, Salisbury, Falls Village, Amenia and North East/Millerton.
Teams of experienced birders and backyard bird enthusiasts from all over Connecticut and the country take part in the annual Christmas Bird Count, and the numbers are compiled and reported to help better understand flock formations and migrations.
Abstract art display in Wassaic for Upstate Art Weekend, July 18-21.
WASSAIC — Art enthusiasts from all over the country flocked to the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to participate in Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from July 18 to July 21.
The event, which “celebrates the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York”, included 145 different locations where visitors could enjoy and interact with art.
On Saturday, July 20, The Wassaic Project hosted numerous community events. Will Hutnick, the director of artistic programming, said “We’ve been a part of it since the beginning, this is the fifth year of UPAW.”
Most of the action was based at Maxon Mills, the seven-floor grain mill located in the heart of Wassaic. On exhibit was work from 30 artists, 18 of whom were past residents of The Wassaic Project. “Artists can come and do a residency here, meaning they live and work with one another for a couple months at a time,” Hutnick stated.
The first floor held work by Petra Szilagyi, who uses dirt and linseed oil to construct images of paranormal concepts, most of which include bats. They reflected that a recent trip to a fifth sense competition in Vietnam was the influence behind the exhibit.
Across the floor was Tiffany Smith’s interactive installation which incorporated plants and wicker chairs, all of which were objects associated with her Carribean upbringing. “The room being filled with plants is symbolic of hurricane prep which often included bringing the plants from outside into the house,” Smith said.
As visitors made their way up the narrow wooden stairs, music could be heard from behind the walls. The echoing music was Daniel Shieh’s installation, entitled Mother’s Anthem, which played a recording of the American Anthem in 30 languages. The languages ranged from Spanish and Italian to Navajo and Bengali.
Each floor was filled with artwork of all mediums, including painting, fibers, collage and photography. Rachel Bussières, who switched her concentration after watching the 2017 solar eclipse, uses varying light sources to produce lumen prints. During the wildfires, she recounted that she “made a new exposure each day to capture the changing air quality”.
Luciana Abait also incorporates the natural world into her pieces, instead using maps. An environmental activist originally from Argentina, Abait’s work highlights “environmental fragility, specifically the impacts it has on immigrants.” Her installation that is currently on display at Maxon Mills, takes the form of a mountain range built solely from maps of the US and Argentina.
Throughout the day, visitors could “Arm Wrestle 4 A Popsicle”. Winners had the choice of 3 playfully flavored trout-inspired popsicles - Nightcrawler, Power Bait, and Salmon Roe. Artist Katie Peck, who spent the day in costume as a rainbow trout, encouraged guests to step up and try their hand at an arm wrestle.
Shibori Indigo dyeing, group meditation, and dance workshops were open for community members of all ages as well.
While the daytime activities fostered appreciation of fixed art, a dance party until midnight at The Lantern Inn offered guests a space for performative art.
When describing the environment of The Wassaic Project, Smith emphasized, “It’s all community, it’s all love.”
A serene scene from the Amenia garden tour.
AMENIA — The much-anticipated annual Amenia Garden Tour drew a steady stream of visitors to admire five local gardens on Saturday, July 13, each one demonstrative of what a green thumb can do. An added advantage was the sense of community as neighbors and friends met along the way.
Each garden selected for the tour presented a different garden vibe. Phantom’s Rock, the garden of Wendy Goidel, offered a rocky terrain and a deep rock pool offering peaceful seclusion and anytime swims. Goidel graciously welcomed visitors and answered questions about the breathtaking setting.
Amenia Finance Director Charlie Miller welcomed visitors to his Bog Hollow Road garden in Wassaic, a manicured expansive yard with well-placed garden beds framing a far-reaching view. He said he plans carefully each winter for the next spring’s improvement.
The organic, environmentally responsible Maitri Farm was next, a lesson in coordinating agriculture with natural balance. The farm stand and a walk among the greenhouses brought visitors together.
Near the center of Amenia was the garden of Polly Pitts-Garvin, offering a chance to visit a robust vegetable garden with raised beds to be envious of and a remarkable absence of any insects or usual vegetable garden problems.
At Chez Cheese, the vast garden acreage surrounding the 1850s historic home of Joan Feeney and Bruce Phillips in Millerton, visitors could begin at refreshment stations where walking tour maps of the 15-acre property were available. There were streams and ponds with docks, and a dozen bridges arranged around the landscape. In the 19th-century, the property had been the home of the Wilson Cheese Factory, inspiring the name of the estate.
The Amenia Garden Tour was supported this year by Paley’s Garden Center in Sharon.
Gary Dodson working a tricky pool on the Schoharie Creek, hoping to lure something other than a rock bass from the depths.
PRATTSVILLE, N.Y. — The Schoharie Creek, a fabled Catskill trout stream, has suffered mightily in recent decades.
Between pressure from human development around the busy and popular Hunter Mountain ski area, serious flooding, and the fact that the stream’s east-west configuration means it gets the maximum amount of sunlight, the cool water required for trout habitat is simply not as available as in the old days.
This is not a new phenomenon. It does seem to be getting worse, though.
Gary Dodson and I convened where the creek makes its final run into the Schoharie reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system, on a semi-broiling Thursday afternoon, July 11.
The goal was simple. Catch smallmouth bass, which abound in the lower section of the river.
This was hot stuff — as in an 80-degree water temperature.
The air temperature was actually slightly less at 77.
After negotiating the intensely slippery rocks, festooned with treacherous algae, the first major pool presented several difficulties, with a back eddy competing with a main flow and several large trees draped about the whole thing.
I hit on the simplest strategy, which was to flip a weighted attractor fly called a Tequilley into the start of the eddy so it would proceed slowly but steadily into the maelstrom, sinking all the while.
This worked. A proper adult smallmouth, with bronze coloring and vertical stripes, took the thing.
The point-and-shoot camera finally died, however, and I was not going to try to fumble my phone out for a nice but routine fish photo.
Why not?
Because I guarantee the fish would have made a sudden, last-moment bolt for freedom, causing me to drop the device into the drink.
Gary moved downstream while I continued trying to annoy the residents of the pool, succeeding a couple of times with different colored Wooly Buggers.
Then we all got bored and I moved off, where Gary was catching rock bass and cussing them out for not being something else.
I have to admit, they are not the most compelling critters. Something about the red eyes.
This latest trip was dominated by extremely tedious and distasteful Harry Homeowner activities, but on both Wednesday and Thursday mornings I prowled Woodland Valley Creek. By “morning” I mean “dawn,” because that was when the water temps were down to a barely acceptable 64.
I made the acquaintance of several stocked browns and of a handful of their wild cousins. The wild fish are smaller and nimbler.
The successful ploy was an Adams wet fly, size 16, drifted behind something big, like a Parachute Adams or Stimulator.