Meet at the van at 18 Morton St., Manhattan by 7:50am for a prompt 8am departure. From here we will head north, making a number of stops along the way to break up the journey and look for birds in different habitats, exploring the great diversity of NY State. Possible stops include Bear Mountain/ Doodletown in Rockland County; the Albany Pine Bush Preserve in Albany County; and the Vischer Ferry Nature & Historic Preserve in Saratoga County. We will have lunch at one of these locations, and find a nearby rest stop or gas station for a bathroom break or coffee. We will arrive in Saranac Lake around 6pm to check into our motel and then have dinner in town nearby.

Weather permitting, we will get an early start (~ 3:30am) and join consummate Adirondack Guide & bird expert Joan Collins. Joan will take us up Whiteface Mountain, the highest drivable peak in the Adirondacks; normally it doesn’t open to the public until 9am but Joan can take us up early for the sunrise and the dawn chorus of Bicknell’s Thrushes, an endangered species that breeds in the stunted spruce forest on the highest peaks in the region. Other possible species include Blackpoll Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Winter Wren, and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. The rest of the day we will explore the lakes, bogs, and forests in the area in search of other breeding boreal species, and then return to the motel for a quick nap or cold beer before dinner.

We will get another early start to join Joan to explore areas deeper into the Adirondack wilderness. Possible destinations include Long Lake, Tupper Lake, or Bigelow Bog in search of Black-backed Woodpecker, Spruce Grouse, Northern Goshawk, Broad-winged Hawk, and more.

We’ll spend one more morning birding in the area, possibly visiting the Paul Smith’s College Boreal Life Trail, or Tupper Lake in search of Common Loon, Sandhill Crane, Ring-necked Duck, American Bittern, and other wetland species of the north country. We’ll buy lunch to take on the road, and then head back towards the city, visiting some additional habitats en route, possibly the grasslands at the Shawangunk Grassland area or Fort Edwards Grasslands to look for Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, Field Sparrow, and more. Return to NYC by about 8pm, in time for fireworks!