The Great Adirondack Birding Celebration

The 2010 Great Adirondack Birding Celebration will be held June 4-6 at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths. The weekend features birding trips, lectures, workshop and the popular Teddy Roosevelt Birding Challenge. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Peter Marra, a terrestrial animal ecologist at Smithsonian Institution. For more information, visit http://www.adkvic.org/birdcelebration.html or call 518-327-3376.

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Hi-Ho! It’s Off to Bird We Go. This weekend, I will be in good company as I tour the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Joining me will be Chip Clouse, outreach director of the American Birding Association and Mike Powers, conservation scientist at Cornell Lab of ornithology.

Besides having a good time, we plan to comb the park’s boreal habitats and find birds such as the Spruce Grouse, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Black-backed Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Blackpoll Warbler, and Lincoln’s Sparrow. On Sunday, we’ll ascend Whiteface Mountain hoping for a glimpse of BICKNELL’S THRUSH.

I will share details of our road trip in a coming post, but now I want to remind birders that the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration is taking place THIS WEEKEND from June 4-6 (2010) at the ADK Visitor Information Center in Paul Smiths, NY. Registration is still open at $35 (518-327-3376).

The festival is an exciting introduction to boreal habitat and fantastic way to see the very special birds that evolved with it. In fact, we will be joining other festival participants early Sunday morning for the Whiteface-Bicknell’s quest.

Last year I toured the family-friendly, 3,000-acre ADK Visitor Information Center (VIC) and explored several of the key birding sites on the festival’s schedule. These sites are fabulous, remote, beautiful, and teeming with birds and other wildlife (you never know when a moose will cross your path, though I wasn’t so lucky!)

I also met several of the folks behind the festival, including its original architect, Brian McAllister. Brian is a licensed NYS naturalist guide and a first-rate birder with over 30 years of experience. Just ask anyone in the area who to talk to about birds, and they’ll say “Brian McAllister.”   I hired him to take me on a birding canoe trip down the Osgood River and he helped me spot Winter Wren, Canada Warbler, Broad-winged Hawk, Nashville and Parula Warblers, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, and more. You can bird with Brian at the festival, or hire him for a private tour. Reach him at Borealis Nature Tours (518) 637-1773 or birder64 [at] yahoo.com.

I hope you’ll go birding in the Adirondacks sometime. It’s a special place. Free free to ask questions via e-mail if you consider making a trip.

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If you’re ISO last-minute lodging, check out these options:

Park Motel and Cabins: a family owned and operated motel in Tupper Lake with comfortable, spacious rooms and separate cabins. Only minutes away from festival activities, the Wild Center, and The Paul Smiths ADK Visitor Information Center (VIC). (518) 359-3600.

High Peaks Resort: A swank but casual hotel in the heart of Lake Placid with good food and outstanding views of the High Peaks and Mirror Lake. The lodge has a lively, fun atmosphere and features three tiers of rooms to suit your budget. (800) 755-5598.

New York State ADK campgrounds: Check out the listing of Adirondack campgrounds or download the entire New York Camping Guide.

Additional lodging and tourism info can be found at VisitAdirondacks.com.