A Morning Hike In The Otter Creek Preserve In Alexandria Bay New York

I had another long drive ahead of me when I awoke in Alexandria Bay, New York last Wednesday , the second day of my adventure north.  I was on my way to James Bay ( not the Hudson Bay as I thought, and stated,  in my last blog post).  So , after having a cup of coffee on my balcony overlooking the St. Lawrence River,

and watching the beautiful sunrise,

I was off to explore the nearby Otter Creek Preserve.  Part of this  adventure was to visit  parks and forests and search for wildlife including the migratory birds that return to North America every Spring and Summer.   The preserve was located in Alexandria Bay,  less then five miles from my hotel. I arrived there around 6 a.m.. It was a sunny and  chilly  morning. 

This time I checked the trail map at the entrance and decided to first visit the observation tower.

The tower overlooks a shrub woodland that is home to golden winged warblers.  This warbler is becoming endangered and I hoped to see one from the tower. I had never seen one before. 

I listened to the symphony of bird song from atop the tower. It was a wonderful music being played by the many song birds below.

Unfortunately, from atop the tower the only birds I was able to photograph was a bird I thought was a Philadelphia vireo but my Merlin app tells me is a yellow warbler.  It would be my first sighting of a Philadelphia  yellow warbler,

and an American redstart.  I didn’t hear or see any golden winged warblers..

I climbed down the tower and walked  through the dew covered grass of the observation tower trail. The heavenly aroma of the Morrow’s and

Tatarian honeysuckle filled the  cool morning air. It was a wonderful walk and a great start to my adventure. And it would get better.

There were many birds singing in the poplar trees along the trail and I was able to photograph one of my favorites, a rose-breasted grosbeak. 

The is a male. 

I also saw this gray catbird. 

The trail crossed over Lynch Creek,

were I heard some frogs and into a deeper woodland. Here I  saw this colorful chestnut sided warbler,

feeding on some insects. 

This veery  was also singing in a tree along the trail. 

I followed the Main Trail and had to make a choice, I couldn’t walk all of the trails so I took the Northern Loop,

which took me into a  pine forest. 

Here I saw this red squirrel ,

some ovenbirds, and 

this beautiful pine warbler. So far I was familiar with all of these birds from my hikes  in my home state of Pennsylvania. 

There were also a lot of familiar plants and flowers. Bracken ferns,

marginal wood ferns,

Canada Mayflowers

 a trillium and 

the common dandelions were growing along the trails under mixed pine and hardwood forest. 

I then  followed the Kayak Trail down to a small pond along Otter Creek. Here I was greeted by the splashing of beaver tails. There were at least four of them splashing their tails from all ends of the ponds. I tried to get some photos but it was like playing the “whack-a-mole” game They kept popping up wherever I wasn’t looking. I still enjoyed this early morning encounter with the beavers. 

A kingfisher flew overhead, and there were some mallard ducks on the pond.

I left the ponds and followed the trail back to the parking area.  It soon became more open  fields  with poplar  trees and scrub woodlands. 

Here I  saw a familiar chipmunk,

some more familiar flowers including the Dane’s rocket flowers so common in Pennsylvania, and here too, it seems. They are invasive but the are edible and pretty too so I don’t mind them as much as some of the other invasive plant species threatening our native plants and flowers. 

There was also  the white wild sarsaparilla flowers and 

false Solomon’s seal flowers, and 

the yellow meadow salsify ,and 

meadow buttercup flowers. All of these flowers are very common in Pennsylvania.

When I returned to the parking area I walked  back to the observation towers, hoping to see a golden winged warbler, I didn’t but I did see a black and white warbler, 

an American goldfinch, 

and this  alder flycatcher. I was hoping to see the golden winged warbler but didn’t. Here is a link to a gallery on my website with  some more photos of the birds I saw on my hike. Alexandria Bay New York Otter Creek Preserve birds May 31 2023. 

I would have loved to stay in the preserve and continue to search for the golden winged warbler but I had a 300 mile drive ahead of me. I really enjoyed my short two mile hike in the  Otter Creek Preserve. It is a wonderful asset to already wonderful Alexandria Bay. It was like taking a walk back home. I was surprised how similar the flora and fauna up here is to the woodlands of my home in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It was nice seeing the familiar but I had  hoped to see some new critters as I venture further north. I also hope you can join my adventures and follow  me  here on my blog.  Here is a link to a gallery on  my  blog website with some more photos from  my hike in the Otter Creek Preserve. Alexandria Bay Otter Creek Preserve May 31 2023. 

. If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. —Laura Ingalls Wilder

fskokoski@gmail.com

This is my first post