Greetings,

Taking some time off after work this afternoon, my girlfriend Betsi and I decided to go down to the Copake Rail Trail on Under Mountain Rd. off Rte 22 in the southeast corner of Columbia County. This region in the past has produced great birds for me including: Chestnut-sided, Yellow, Blackburnian, Cerulean, and Worm-eating Warblers. Aside from holding Worm-eating and Hooded Warblers in low numbers at the northern limit of their Hudson Valley breeding range, I also suspect that this region would be a great candidate for finding Golden-winged Warblers. In the past I have heard Blue-winged Warblers singing Golden-winged songs, and reports of Brewster’s Warblers (Blue-winged x Golden-winged) have come from there as well.

Today’s walk did not yield any Blue or Golden-winged Warblers, or their hybrid offspring, but did yield some nice unexpected surprises in the late afternoon breeze. We were fortunate in finding 2 BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS who responded very well to spishing among several RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS. Up to 10 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were also found. Interestingly the Yellow-rumps (butter butts/yumpers) were all observed feeding at different levels in the forest using different methods (gleaning, flycatching, etc.) showing the adaptability of this species. Other notables included a pair of Eastern race PALM WARBLERS, and a single mewing GRAY CATBIRD which did not reveal itself.

However, our best find of the day came not in the form of birds, but from the herp department. Walking along the trail I heard a frog call from the trailside beneath some bushes. For some reason I decided to stop and see if I could find it as I knew it was a Wood Frog and that Betsi has not observed one before. As luck would have, I was able to find this normally cryptic species…but it was not alone. Attached to one of it’s bleeding hind limbs was a snake (Eastern Garter?). Apparently the frog’s vocalization came from him being startled as the snake attacked him. Not wanting to interfere with nature, we decided to watch the hunt, and as nature would have it, over the course of about 20 minutes we watched the 18″ snake eat the 5″ Wood Frog whole…alive! Surely it is not a scene for all to observe, but for anyone interested in the behavior and ecology of any species, it was hard to turn away. What follows are some photos of the event. They were taken through my binoculars with my point-and-shoot camera as we did not want to get too close to disturb the snake, especially as it was finishing up at the end.

Other good sightings on the day came away from the trail. On Rte 23 near the Yorkshire Farms Restaurant, I noticed a single EASTERN KINGBIRD (FOS) on a wire, and CHIMNEY SWIFTS continue to be observed in the town center of Claverack at the junction of 23b and 9h. However, the Chimney Swift numbers in Claverack can’t compare to the spectacle I saw after band practice in Hudson on 3rd street at dusk. Literally hundreds of swifts were milling about coming in to roost for the night. Amazing.

From country snakes to city birds…what a day!
~Chad