I just got back from a 5 day long trip to the Adirondak Mountains of New York, a day in Vermont, and a day in New Hampshire. Overall it was an excellent trip with 5 lifers for me.
Day 1:After staying overnight in Lake Placid, my family and I went for a day hike through the Pharoah Lake Wilderness Area. As I stepped out of the car I was greeted by a singing Olive-sided Flycatcher, the first lifer of the trip. At a stop on scenic Tubmill Marsh, a bird was incessantly calling from some low shrubs by the lake. After some patience, this turned out to be a juvenile Lincoln's Sparrow, the second lifer of the trip. After another 2 miles, we ended up at a place called Lilypad Pond where a large group of birds had gathered, including 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a White-breasted Nuthatch, a Red-eyed Vireo, and the 3rd lifer, an Alder Flycatcher.
Day 2: At the break of dawn my dad and I left our hotel to travel the auto road up Whiteface Mountain, the famous site for breeding Bicknell's Thrush. As we climbed the mountain, the habitat consistently changed, eventually becoming a primarily Balsam Fir forest where I managed to locate several Pine Siskins. We then took the trail to the summit, where a very small thrush flew across the path. I immediately knew that this must be a Bicknell's Thrush. What a bird. I also had an extremely large adult Cooper's Hawk and 2 Broad-winged Hawks flyby the top.
Day 3:After spending the night in Vermont, we headed over to Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest peak in the Northeast at 6,288 ft. The way up was horrible, with powerful thunderstorms dumping rain an massive balls of hail on us, but when we reached the top it had cleared up, allowing me to spot the last lifer of the trip, an American Pipit, in its most southerly eastern breeding site.
Day 4:A drive down a long dirt road produced a Ruffed Grouse, Cedar Waxwings, and an immature Broad-winged Hawk which I was fortunate enough to photograph.
Overall it was a good trip, although I didn't get to spend much time in the true boreal habitat, I did manage to find some good boreal breeders.
Heres the photo