An amazing diversity

A trip to the marshes and wetlands is where the likes of American Bittern, Virginia Rail, Ring-necked Duck, Alder Flycatcher, Tree Swallow, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s Snipe, Wood Duck, and Swamp Sparrow can be found.

Or venture into deciduous woodlands for Eastern Wood-Pewee, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Philadelphia Vireo, Hermit Thrush, Veery, Black-billed Cuckoo, Winter Wren, Ovenbird, American Redstart, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Black-throated Blue Warbler. 

Many of the best coniferous habitats also offer you a chance to find the sought-after boreal species like Black-backed Woodpecker, Canada Jay (formerly Gray Jay), Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Palm Warbler, Boreal Chickadee, and even Spruce Grouse, a species for which the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is undertaking a reintroduction program. 

A few of these birds – such as Boreal Chickadee and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher – can be found in the montane coniferous forests on the tops of the mountains in the region (including the highest of the Saranac Lake 6ers). The bird communities in such high elevation habitats also include Swainson’s Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Winter Wren, Dark-eyed Junco, and of course, Bicknell’s Thrush. Like most of our breeding birds, the thrushes are here to nest before heading back south and so you only have a window of a few months to find them.