Deer Pond

The Onondaga Chapter of the Audubon Society held its Birdathon on the third Saturday in May again this year. I participated for the second year in a row by bushwhacking through the heart of the Pepperbox Wilderness of the Adirondack State Park for another opportunity to increase my disappointing species count from last year.

For those of you unfamiliar with this annual contest (and fundraiser), the Birdathon is an event where birders of all types break up into groups with an objective of identifying as many avian species as possible during a single 24-hour period. Although some limited prizes are awarded, the main motivation remains the joy of some friendly competition, the enjoyment of birding with some like-minded individuals and bragging rights for the number or uniqueness of the species encountered.

Several times over the last decade (and more), I have participated by traveling into the heart of either the Five Ponds or Pepperbox Wildernesses within northern Herkimer County. Typically, what I sacrificed in species count was more than made up for with adventure and some unique boreal species.

Like last year, I returned to the Pepperbox Wilderness to give the area a second try. My overly ambitious route covering many of the northeastern ponds and waterways of this remote area had to be severely truncated when it took me most of the day just to get around Sunshine Pond. In the process, not only did I find a lackluster number of species but I broke one of my lightweight hiking poles in the process.

This year I decided to try to accomplish the portion of last year’s route that was abandoned due to the lack of time. This included camping near the southwestern shore of Sunshine Pond followed by trekking roughly west along the Deer Pond outlet stream until reaching the southern Moshier Pond. After rounding Moshier Ponds to the north, I planned on turning south and following Moshier Creek until reaching the Cropsey Pond outlet. The route would conclude by heading up the outlet to camp at Cropsey Pond.

Wetland along Deer Pond outlet

Unfortunately, this abbreviated route too remained overly ambitious and resulted in me abandoning the second half after thundershowers hit while trying to find a crossing along a swampy stream north of Moshier Ponds. With the plethora of blow downs and thick spruce and fir second growth along the eastern shore of the Moshier Ponds I was already well behind schedule prior to the thundershowers. The first thundershower was the last straw that initiated an escape plan to Cropsey Pond to set me up for an early exit to report my results the next day. The escape route took me directly south with the final portion being much too similar to the previous year’s.

The whole effort resulted in only a marginally higher number of species as last year. But I did find some interesting boreal species, several of which were only observed by myself when the results of all groups in the chapter were combined. This included the gray jay, which I had suspected could be found in the Pepperbox Wilderness although I never encountered them there before.

Beaver Meadow along Cropsey Pond outlet

The next few posts will describe my 2011 Birdathon adventure in the Pepperbox Wilderness in detail. So stay tuned and enjoy.

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