Sunshine Pond

The following is an account of the first part of the second day of my trip to bushwhack my way through the Pepperbox Wilderness while participating in the National Audubon Society’s Birdathon. The Birdathon is a 24-hour contest to detect as many bird species as possible and this was the first time I participated since 2002 and the absolutely first attempt in the trailless Pepperbox Wilderness. The first part of the second day consisted of backpacking along the eastern shore of Sunshine Pond while hiking to several nearby wetlands.

Finally the Birdathon 2010 arrived…..

I awoke at 12:01 AM to my annoying radio alarm so I could listen for any owls. Reluctantly, I squirmed out of my sleeping bag and crawled out from my tarp shelter and checked the sky. Some stars were showing but other parts of the sky were obstructed by clouds. After getting back into my shelter, a single barred owl started hooting nearby. And to my surprise, another one started hooting back. Both of them were within 50 feet of my campsite off to the north. With the first species of the 2010 Birdathon reported, I slipped back into sleep until waking around 2 AM to the sound of rain drops hitting my tarp. The wind continued to gust throughout the night and between the rain and the wind I didn’t sleep very soundly before finally getting up around 4:30 AM. The rain had stopped but the strong wind gusts remained. I listened for bird activity while preparing for breakfast and performing my other chores around the campsite.

To see the bird species detected at the Sunshine Pond campsite click [popup url=”http://www.bushwhackingfool.com/Linked-Pages/Species-Lists/Birdathon/2010/Birdathon 2010 Birds Sunshine Pond campsite.html”]here[/popup].

By the time I disassembled the campsite, ate breakfast and checked out the pond it was 6:46 AM. Soon after I left my campsite and headed toward an open wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake to the east. I headed east and skirted the wetland adjacent to Sunshine Pond on its east shore. After following the border of the wetland for a while, I took a bearing of 117 degrees toward the large, open wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake. After ascending for a time through a mature hardwood forest it leveled off and then slightly descended down to the edge of the wetland. The mostly hardwood forest during this section consisted of mature hardwoods in the overstory such as sugar maple (Acer saccharum), yellow birch (Betula alleghenensis), American beech (Fagus americana) and black cherry (Prunus seotina). In addition, there was a fairly thick understory of American beech saplings and many large snags.

To see the bird species detected in the forest between Sunshine Pond and the wetland west of Raven Lake click [popup url=”http://www.bushwhackingfool.com/Linked-Pages/Species-Lists/Birdathon/2010/Birdathon 2010 Birds Forest between Sunshine Pond and Wetland West of Raven Lake.html”]here[/popup].

Southern portion of wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake

At around 8 AM, I arrived at the wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake. The southern portion of the wetland was an open water beaver pond, the middle section was a wet grassland and the northern portion was a boggy wetland with numerous small islands of vegetation surrounded by narrow channel of open water. A beaver lodge sat in the middle of the beaver pond but I saw no evidence of recent beaver activity. Spruce and tamarack trees lined the edges of this wetland. Spring peepers were actively calling in this portion of the wetland.

To see the bird species detected in the southern open water portion of the wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake click [popup url=”http://www.bushwhackingfool.com/Linked-Pages/Species-Lists/Birdathon/2010/Birdathon 2010 Birds southern wet portion wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake.html”]here[/popup].

Grassy middle section of wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake

I moved north along the edge of the wetland within the forest popping out twice; one to see the middle grassy wetland section and another to see the northern boggy section. Pitcher plants are located sporadically within the grassy wetlands but even more so within the boggy area. The boggy area contained many small islands of vegetation scattered about within the narrow channels of open water. A solitary sandpiper was flushed up from the edge of an island, only to return soon after to the same location while I remained more or less motionless. A turkey vulture flew overheard and the clouds broke slightly allowing a sliver of sunlight to stream down and illuminate a portion of the wetland.

To see the bird species detected in the middle grassy portion of the wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake click [popup url=”http://www.bushwhackingfool.com/Linked-Pages/Species-Lists/Birdathon/2010/Birdathon 2010 Birds middle grassy portion of wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake.html”]here[/popup].

To see the bird species detected in the northern boggy portion of the wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake click [popup url=”http://www.bushwhackingfool.com/Linked-Pages/Species-Lists/Birdathon/2010/Birdathon 2010 Birds nothern boggy portion of wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake.html”]here[/popup].

Northern boggy portion of wetland between Sunshine Pond and Raven Lake

Near the northern terminus of the wetland, I took a bearing of 298 degrees and reentered the surrounding thick coniferous forest at about 9:20 AM. The coniferous forest quickly gave way to a mature hardwood forest where the hiking was much easier and more pleasant. This forest was very similar to the one encountered on the way over except for it contained more young spruce in the understory. Ovenbirds, black-throated green warblers, black-throated blue warblers and blue-headed vireos were all heard singing in abundance within this forest. An American goldfinch is heard calling as it flew overhead when I began to descend down to the shore of Sunshine Pond.

At about 10:15 AM, I arrive back at the shore of Sunshine Pond right at the end of the second bay along the pond’s eastern shore. From here I spotted a mallard and a wood duck swimming along the far shore under some towering white pine (Pinus strobus) trees. Surprisingly, I heard a pine warbler singing its lazy trill from these gorgeous large pine trees. The overcast cloud cover had broken apart and many openings of blue sky were reflected in the pond’s surface. The wind started to pick up but with the arrival of the sunlight, so did the temperature.

Northern portion of Sunshine Pond

The going north along the shore of Sunshine Pond was filled with large rocks and shrubbery but the white pine canopy kept the dense spruce/fir saplings to a minimum. I changed out of my long underwear at this point and was greeted by the first flock of hungry black flies I had seen all day. After a quick change, I decided to visit a wetland located between Sunshine and Muskrat Ponds to avoid the cliffs along the northern most portion of Sunshine Pond’s eastern shore. At this wetland’s rocky outlet stream I took a bearing of 76 degrees and started climbing through a rocky uphill section covered in thick coniferous saplings.

Grassy wetland between Sunshine and Muskrat Ponds

After 20 minutes of slow going I arrived at the top of a hill overlooking an open grassy wetland. The wetland was roughly circular in shape and devoid of anything other than low herbaceous vegetation except for a few shrubs along the eastern side of the wetland. Also, a few snags were located near the clearing’s edges. After viewing the wetland from the vantage point on top of the hill, I worked myself down into the wetland itself. The ground was wetter than it appeared from on top of the hillside but I was still able to walk along the western edge without getting my feet wet.

To see the bird species detected in open grassy wetland between Sunshine and Muskrat Ponds click [popup url=”http://www.bushwhackingfool.com/Linked-Pages/Species-Lists/Birdathon/2010/Birdathon 2010 Birds wetland between Sunshine and Muskrat Ponds.html”]here[/popup].

The conclusion of the May 15th Birdathon will be coming soon.