Alexandria in Jefferson County, New York — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Indian River Lakes
Breeding Bird Refuge
—Natural History —
Important Habitat Refuge
This region provides an important breeding refuge for many declining species of birds because it contains a variety of habitats, few humans, and little development. Species such as the Golden-winged Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk and Whip-poor-will are still common nesters here thanks to public and private land conservation efforts.
Opsrey. Even in the depths of the DDT era, this region retained a small healthy Osprey population due to the lack of local agricultural pestcide runoff.
Whip-Poor-Will. This hard to see but easily heard night-calling denizen may be found by driving back roads after dark, looking for their red eye shine in your headlights.
Red-Shouldered Hawk. This beautiful woodland Buteo returns to the lakes in late March and graces the area with its shrill call. A lucky birder may find a pair as they soar overhead in courtship, as the species remains fairly common here.
Golden-Winged Warbler. The beautiful Golden-winged Warbler finds refuge here. It is being displaced elsewhere by its close relative the Blue-winged Warbler.
Grand Lakes Reserve
The Indian River Lakes Conservancy, a donor supported land trust, is providing a place for birds in perpetuity. With acreage on both Butterfield Lake and Grass Lake and miles of trails, this reserve
Indian River Wildlife Management Area
This diverse are contains many of the breeding birds of the region, including the rarer species. When combined with a visit to Grand Lake Reserve, birders could see most of these species.
Sparsely populated areas near the Seaway Trail are refuges for wildlife species.