Big Spencer and Bicknell's Thrush

A night on Big Spencer
- A survey for Bicknell's Thrush

For most people, the Bicknell's Thrush is an elusive bird. It's also a seriously threatened bird. Because it is an alpine specialist, it is often studied because of its relative distance from people and industry. When toxics like mercury and brominated flame retardants show up in this species, it can only be because nature has transported these poisons great distances to mountaintops - a bad sign.

Because it breeds only around mountaintops in the northeast - a very limited habitat - it has never enjoyed a big population. With the advancement of windpower, the bird is now under unprecedented threats from development. Thus, when the Vermont Center for Ecostudies put out a call for volunteers, I jumped at the chance to survey Big Spencer Mountain, northeast of Moosehead Lake.

Whoops. Like many of the peaks in Maine where these thrushes live, access is not easy. At 3200 feet, it is not particularly tall. But the mountain is remote and not heavily visited. The summit is home to one of the oldest fire towers in the state and the trail that serves it is typical: fire wardens of yesteryear preferred the quickest way up, even if it was steep and rough. In several spots, old wooden ladders span the worst places.

Now, since I needed to be at the top before dawn, that meant either a nighttime ascent or hauling my camping gear to the summit. I chose the latter. It had been 20 years since I had last been up the peak and had forgotten what it was like to carry an extra 30 pounds of gear to the top. Oh, well. There was no rush and the birds were great. The lower half of the mountain is dominated by Blackburnian and Black-throated Blue Warblers. Blackpolls, Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, and Swainson's Thrushes become abundant after the halfway point. Sunrise the next morning was spectacular and, sure enough, one Bicknell's Thrush joined the chorus in front of me, while another briefly called from behind me. Success. And the singing Fox Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Winter Wrens were a nice touch, too.