Outdoors: Birds' sweet songs brighten Whiteface Mountain

Birds' sweet songs brighten Whiteface Mountain

Birder Joan Collins leads group in search of species both rare and familiar

Some people ration their vacation time and travel thousands of miles to see the brown and white, robin-sized Bicknell's thrush.

Whiteface Mountain is an important nesting site — although, even with protected habitat, they are flirting with a spot on the endangered species list.

Collins, a Long Lake resident, is the owner of Adirondack Avian Expeditions; she was my guide for a day in the Adirondacks.

From a respectful distance, we watched both parents bring insect larvae back to the nest and leave again with small "diaper bags."

More than 40 birders from downstate were gathered, most followers of Collins' lively Facebook feed.

Deeper into the bog, a friendly man began to tell us where we could see gray jays before his buddy stops him.

Soon, a darker colored, juvenile jay landed also, and I had to keep myself from laughing out loud.

[...] I turned the car radio off, lowered the windows and listened to the opera of the woods as I drove home.