#843 Ruffed Grouse on the Road to Ferd’s Bog
We woke up early this Friday morning to get to the first walk of the Adirondacks Birding Festival. The destination is Ferd’s Bog, a site I’ve heard about and wanted to visit for years. But when we got to the meeting location at a school it soon became apparent that the festival organizers had vastly underestimated the number of people who would show up on Friday. We had almost 50 people, way too many for a birdwalk, and frankly too many to bring to the site at one time, not that that stopped them.
We combined cars to some extent. I already had three passengers in my vehicle–Sandi, Monica, and Janet–so we added a fifth and headed down the dirt road. Luckily I was either the first or the second car so I got a clear view of a really weird looking chicken strutting down the road. Funny, this doesn’t look a farm road where people keep chickens, and that really is a strange looking chicken, and wait a minute, wasn’t one of the target birds a grouse? Shit! That is a Ruffed Grouse! #843 and one of the birds I was hoping for but really didn’t expect to see.
I’m afraid everyone behind us missed it as our caravan frightened it back into the woods. We continued down the road and eventually reached the Bog and Boardwalk. There were some nice birds there, especially warblers. The leader heard a Boreal Chickadee and maybe some woodpeckers, but I don’t think anyone saw one. We also whiffed on Gray Jay, and this is supposed to be one of the best sites in New York for both of those species. There were just too many people I’m afraid, and a lot of birds stayed away.
Following the bog we visited another site a ways up the road, the name of which I’ve forgotten if indeed I ever knew it (Raquette Lake perhaps?). Later in the afternoon we visited a Long Lake but it rained a bit and we didn’t come up with anything unexpected. Still Ruffed Grouse makes it a very good day.
