This morning I woke up at 5:15 AM, not the easiest thing to do after staying up past midnight, and got moving. I brewed some coffee, fed the cats, got dressed, and headed out the door. My destination: Black Creek Marsh.

Black Creek Marsh is a wonderful state wildlife management area bisected by a little-used railroad track. It is an obligatory stop during the yearly Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club’s Century Run, when participants try to find at least 100 species in a day. Secretive rails and bitterns, a variety of passerines, waterfowl and who knows what else can be found early on spring mornings.

My drive there was mostly in the dark but as I got close to my destination the sky started to lighten. Rabbits abounded on the roadside and while I got myself ready to step out of my car a dog crossing the road behind me caught my eye in the side-view mirror. It came back onto the sparsely-travelled road so I used my binoculars on the mirror and the dog turned into a coyote! I stepped out of the car with the coyote not more than twenty-five meters distant and tried taking its picture but the light was nowhere-near sufficient. It sniffed the air and crossed into the marsh. Getting up in the dark has its rewards!

The dawn chorus started slowly and never fully developed. This cold spring really sucks. Robins tut-tutted and Mourning Doves cooed. An occasional honk of a Canada Goose or quack of a Mallard provided some background to the Song Sparrows that started up next. Then some Common Grackles flew from the marsh grasses and started grackling. Red-winged Blackbirds conk-a-reed all around and Swamp Sparrows, the first of the year for me, started their sewing machine song. An occasional chickadee “fee-be” could be heard from some brush and then a White-breasted Nuthatch honked crazily for awhile. A pair of Wood Ducks flew from the marsh (the coyote?) with their high-pitched cries that harmonized with the occasional squeaky gate sound of the Rusty Blackbirds. Small flocks of Canada Geese were now leaving their roosting spots and honking across the sky in their V-formations. Cawing crows made up for in volume what they lacked in melody and American Goldfinches potato-chipped as they flew their undulating flight.

No Soras. No Virginia Rails. No warblers, no frogs (except one peeper), no Marsh Wrens. Turkey Vultures were the only raptor and a single Great Blue Heron was the only wader. I did follow the calls of chickadees to a small flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets that contained one kinglet of the Ruby-crowned variety.

After that I drove over to Five Rivers to meet Will and Danika. Our adventure will be posted tomorrow (in verse!). I figured I should warn you…