Birding Festivals in the Adirondacks:
2016 Great Adirondack Birding Celebration
Heaven Hill Farm, Henry's Woods, and John Brown Homestead Field Trip
This site is no longer being updated with current information on birding activities at the VIC. For current information on the events planned for the 2017 Great Adirondack Birding Celebration, visit: http://www.paulsmiths.edu/vic/gabc/schedule/. For information on birding in the Adirondacks, visit: Adirondack Wildlife: Birds of the Adirondacks. |
- Time: Sunday, 5 June, 7:00 AM
- Price: $40 per person. $36 for Friends of the VIC or Northern New York Audubon members. $20 for Friends of the VIC Warblers. Each field trip is limited to 20 participants. Please register early.
- Where to Meet: TBA
- What to Bring: Gear for a short day trip: hat, binoculars, sunscreen, snack, water, rain gear, insect repellent
The field trip to Heaven Hill Farm and the John Brown Homestead in Lake Placid -- part of the 13th annual Great Adirondack Birding Celebration -- offers the opportunity to see a wide variety of birds, including those which make their home in meadowland, successional meadows, and woodland.
Heaven Hill Farm is a 600-acre farm, formerly owned by Henry Uihlein and now administered by the Uihlein Foundation. The acreage includes meadowland, successional meadows, and woodland. Bird species usually seen here include Bobolink, Northern Parula, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Broad-winged Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Savannah Sparrow, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Harrier, and Cooper's Hawk. The walking is easy along farm roads.
Brown Thrasher at the John Brown homestead.
The field trip continues with a trip to the John Brown State Historic Site, located just outside of the village of Lake Placid. The John Brown homestead is at the end of John Brown Road – a dead end road off Old Military Road, about three miles from Heaven Hill Farm.
The birds normally seen at the John Brown homestead in early June are those which inhabit successional fields, such as the Brown Thrasher. A network of easy-access trails through mixed hardwood-conifer forest and hardwood forest provides opportunities to see a variety of warblers, such as Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Black-and-White Warbler.
A trip report from the Heaven Hill Farm/Henry's Woods, John Brown trip during the 2015 Great Adirondack Birding Celebration is available here.