Eastern Towhee on Pokamoonshine Mountain, Adirondacks

View from Pokamoonshine Mountain, Adirondack Park, New York

There are many reasons to climb a mountain (check out the top five I printed in my summer post): spectacular views, a good workout, and the wild exhilaration that comes from feeling on top of the world. Mountaintops are quiet, windy places that carry a comforting sense of isolation. Looking down, I feel far out of the fray. I feel like anything is possible as long as I can carry this lightness all the way down the trail and back into the world.

Female Eastern Towhee atop Pokamoonshine Mtn, Adirondacks, New York

For me, an added bonus to a mountain trek is finding a special bird at the summit. When I am several thousand feet above sea level and I hear the quiet chip notes of a bird flitting in a nearby bush, I feel a special communion with it. Perhaps it reflects the satisfaction of a hard-earned view or gratitude for the privilege of spotting a bird in places most people don’t get to see. This feeling comes as easily from a Dark-eyed Junco as the rare and endangered Bicknell’s Thrush.

This summer, my family and I climbed Pokamoonshine Mountain in Essex, NY, which is located in the heart of the Adirondacks. At 2,162 feet above sea level, Pokamoonshine is a steep vertical hike that winds for 2.4 miles through mixed woods and topping outcrops before reaching the granite-gneiss summit and fire tower. At the top are pleasing views of Lake Champlain and the High Peaks.

We’d been told that Peregrine Falcons are often seen riding thermals below the cliffs. This was a huge motivator to reach the summit, but when we arrived, sweating and panting at the top, there was no raptor in sight.

But all was not lost. In the slightly cramped quarters at the top, we heard che-wink!  ”Hey, kids, here’s an Eastern Towhee, a bird that says, ‘drink-your-teeeeee!’”

A male lit onto a dead snag to heed our presence. Soon after, his bride popped up from the leaf litter onto a fallen stump. She was quite the beauty, as you can see above.

Male Eastern Towhee atop Pokamoonshine Mountain, ADK, NY

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