For the first time since Feb 8, I was able to get up to some of my favorite boreal areas on the Golden and Telos Roads today. A family from Mass wanted 3-toed woodpeckers, and who am I to argue with such a request?
We got lucky quick. A black-backed woodpecker has obviously been hammering a tree on the Golden Road for at least a month. Conveniently, it’s the same tree with mileage marker 23 (or 27…I don’t remember for sure, but it’s obvious. All the top bark is gone.) We caught him just as he flew off from another meal.
There was still quite a bit of snow in the woods up there, and my favorite boreal road was inaccessible. But my emergency back-up spot was more than sufficient. The Harvester Road is just north of the Telos checkpoint on North Maine Woods Association lands. There is a terrific black spruce stand roughly 2 miles down. Even before we got out of the car, a 3-toed woodpecker flew over. We got a fleeting glimpse before he departed eastward. Then one started drumming a few hundred yards to the westward side. Then another. We scooted into the trees far enough to see both – a male and a female - long satisfying looks. All the while, boreal chickadees were calling nearby.
As we later traipsed around Cuxabexis Road, we turned up two cooperative spruce grouse hens. Subsequently, a male on Rip Road also posed for pictures. Weirdly, not until we were farther down Rip Road did we encounter our first gray jay of the day. By 12:20, we had achieved the Boreal Big Five (American Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers, Gray Jays, Boreal Chickadees, and Spruce Grouse) and the rest of the day was gravy. Concurrent with the gray jays, there was a melanin-challenged shrike with virtually no mask or dark feathers. I’ve never seen one in such an ugly plumage. It was our second shrike of the day. In addition to the three spruce grouse, we enjoyed close looks at four ruffed grouse…none of which flushed! I love mating season.
So the day ends enjoyably. I post this report from the northeast end of Pushaw Lake in Hudson, where I am sitting on my deck for the first time in 2014, martini in hand. Pine warblers are singing above my head. Two American bitterns are calling from opposite directions, probably dueling. Nice day.
Bob Duchesne
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