Arrival in the Adirondacks

Here we are in cool and dry Saranac Lake. It is sort of like the Blue Ridge Mountains with water, and much of it still has that 50s feel, with small motels, kids tourist traps, et al. We are staying at a motel overlooking Lake Flower on the east side of town. We arrived yesterday afternoon, and first thing we had to do was fix a tire that was leaking slowly because, as it turns out, it picked up a piece of welding metal when we drove out of the big city the other day. The rest of the day, we just took it easy, taking a short walk downtown, chilling out on the balcony and enjoying another good meal. It was the first time we have ever been served by someone older than us with a beard, though. No doubt he was the owner.

This morning, I finally dragged Mary off to find birds. We went to nearby Bloomingdale Bog, which  has walking and snowmobile trails. The potential was there for some first-ever (life) birds, but we missed on the likes of Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. However, we did hear and see some other nice species: Alder Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Cedar Waxwing, Broad-winged Hawk, Black-capped Chickadee, Purple Finch to name a few. We also saw a winter favorite in Winston-Salem, a White-throated Sparrow. We then went a short way up the road to the Paul Smith nature center, but we were too hungry to stay. We may go back another day.

Leaving for lunch had a good birding side benefit though. We made sandwiches and headed over to a picnic area on Lake Colby, just in time to see a mature Bald Eagle come in over the lake. We dipped our feet in the cool water and returned to Lake Flower for a canoe paddle. It was so peaceful and beautiful out there.

So there you are on our day so far. No dead people, but still a great time!