ELEVATION: The Birding Secret Behind This VERY Hot Spot

Elevation greatly influences bird habitat. The variety of birds to be found in an area can change dramatically with just a few hundred yards of altitude change. There's a secret trail in the North Maine Woods that's a real adventure...if you can find it...

[@joshmaccallum-stewart2474]

Splitting hares 😄 Thanks for another great video, you and the Badgerland boys would make a great ventriloquists triple act.

[@ebinmaine]

Very interesting video. This came to mind recently when I was hiking up around Weld Maine. 3/4 of the way up the mountain and I got to see a boreal chickadee flock. Those little brown capped birds nearly don't exist at lower altitudes or any further south.

[@Jps3bs]

Very cool video Bob. Wish I could have seen a Bay Breasted Warbler and Black Throated Blue Warbler. I was thrilled to see and hear my first Indigo Bunting last week 😊 Love that Swainson's Thrush. Always enjoy your videos.

[@Bob_Duchesne]

Bay-breasted Warblers are HARD. The song is so quiet and they don't come out of the foliage very much, the little twerps.

[@raygiemza3690]

As always, your videos are informative as well as entertaining. Many thznks!

[@DeboraDiggins]

Hey Bob, That was very informative and makes me want to drive up there before the breeding birds leave.

[@roygbiv5164]

Hey, Bob, great spot! I imagine very few people would go to No. 4 Mtn! Believe it, or not, I was directed there by Norm Famous, who had done some survey work for the timber companies a while back. He informed me that he had detected BITH on No 4 during those surveys so, I went up there to see if I could track any down, my guess is 2010(?). I found that there were, indeed, BITH on top as well as, tons of (as you pointed out) SWTH and more BPWA than you could shake a stick at! Unfortunately for me, it was very foggy, and while I could hear BITH, I couldnt see a darn thing! I also hiked up to the fire tower on one occasion and did not record BITH. Great vid!

[@Bob_Duchesne]

Thanks. I've found them multiple times on Big Moose and Big Spencer, but never got around to Number 4. Wish I had. Might still try. They sing into July.

[@shermanobrien4899]

Awesome!! Just went up shaw mtn nearby and saw a few of these characters. Number 4 is next!

[@cliftonwhittaker260]

I always look forward to your videos, Bob. This is another good one. Reminds me of going to the Smoky Mountain Nat'l Pk with an elevation from about 300 ft (?) to over 6,000 ft. Like traveling from Tennessee to Canada for climate and vegetation.

[@89cw]

This content is as gold as a kinglet!

[@shreecreativearts5132]

Awesome 👍

[@StellarLimpkin]

Can’t wait for a north visit

[@StellarLimpkin]

Can’t believe I live at over twice that elevation

[@LynneH-ej6rx]

Another wonderful video, thank you!

[@Bob_Duchesne]

Just keeping myself amused. Thanks.

[@davisbalser203]

Great video bob! Use this hack all the time when I lived in GA! Not so much now that I’m in FL…

[@kathyporter6479]

Its so cool to see all those birds that I troop over to Mt. Auburn Cemetery just hanging out and breeding. Thanks for the video

[@CC-re1pu]

Once again, another great video! Thank you for sharing….splitting “hares” 😆

[@Bex22]

Another brilliantly informative and entertaining video on the birds of Maine. Thanks so much Bob, you have a fantastic energy and I love watching your videos to see all these species you don’t get here in Wales.

[@Bob_Duchesne]

I'd love to bird Wales, but I'd get lost. I can't pronounce the town names well enough to ask for directions. LOL

[@Bex22]

@@Bob_Duchesne LOL. Most people within Wales don’t speak the language, but at least the signs all have English underneath the Welsh. You’d just need to pack for wet, cool and dark-ish conditions as we don’t get much sun sadly. Clouds and harsh/low light for the most part throughout the year with lots and lots of rain. Maine looks like a beautiful place to live and so diverse for the wildlife.

[@jimeager]

Love hearing all those beautiful songs. Unfortunately we don't experience any of those songs here in Florida.

[@Bob_Duchesne]

I know, right? Carolina wren, white-eyed vireo, northern cardinal, red-bellied woodpecker...yeah, that's about it.

[@leobachand8408]

Excellent video!!!

[@Dtaberner]

Great video! Is this Meadow Brook Rd?

[@Bob_Duchesne]

Almost. There is a road just north of it that goes up the other side of Number Four. It's an ATV/snowmobile trail now, but the best part can be approached by vehicle, then walked. Meadow Brook Road is good, too. I surveyed much of it for the Maine Bird Atlas project.

[@susanmatako8469]

👍😊

[@libertymedicalcommunicatio4908]

Great stuff!

[@lancez8317]

Any recommend for photographing snow owl? Thank you

[@Bob_Duchesne]

Two things to consider: Snowy owls are very irruptive. Some years are great. Some years are poor. Last year was very quiet in Maine, but this year could be different. It all depends on the arctic food supply. Nowadays, there is a lot of concern for revealing the locations of some rare birds, particularly owls. Even eBird is on that band wagon. But those are speed bumps. Word of owl sightings gets around. And snowy owls do have their favorite places when wandering. Just get plugged into whatever rare bird alerts and FaceBook groups are available. Then...the next step is to photograph them without causing undue stress. In my experience, snowy owls are pretty tolerant when they winter in coastal areas near people. They're more skittish away from human concentrations.

[@dennisharris144]

Can you drive it? Or where do you park?

[@Bob_Duchesne]

It's drivable in a car with reasonable clearance, but I don't currently recommend it. My usual access was closed off by failed culverts and a bridge out. I went the back way, and there were logging operations underway. Besides, there are easier places that have a similar experience. One favorite is the 4-mile section above Nesowadnehunk Field Campground in Baxter State Park, especially starting from a little pulloff on the left about 2 miles up that section.

[@tusk242]

You are not nuts. Education is. Society has become. Where I live to get people to the park to help Maintain, they call it BEER in the Park, and then we have parking lot full of LOUD MOUTH DRUNKS, some racing their noisy remote cars around. or in the more open space their remote plane. Litter increased.. Bathroom stalls and some monuments have ALL been Spray painted. From Milwaukee , WI. It was Owen Gromme who taught me about the wildlife, when he would catch me skipping school to visit the museum he worked at. Wisconsin has about 344 birds that either breed , year around, passing through during migration, or the Accidental like the Mandarin, last year was the Pelicans, about 7-10 ended up in Lake Michigan due to the Hurricane in the Southern States. Right now in Wisconsin we are battling the Ash Emerald Borer. One big problem a park we visited known for many different birds. Planted large crop of wildflower but treated them, with toxins, warning people NOT TO PICK and to stay on the trail. They took out so many WHILD trillium , fire pinks, Jack in Pulpit, Wild orchids. Last time I was there they planted some new baby trees. One they should plant is the Ginkgo , We had 2 large trees down near Lake Michigan. but ops they were in the way where NOW a BRU\EWRY is. Small but again BEER IN THE PARK. They did save many of the seeds, from the TWO TREES a GIFT from Japan as a PEACE OFFERING. And this is what we did, ANY ways the tree is valued because of it's hardiness. Disease Resistance, bug resistance. Pollution resistance. It makes great healthy ancient TEA, and is considered part of the LIVING fossil because NO MAIN Vain in the leaf.