Joan Collins

Joan Collins

Joan Collins, President of Adirondack Avian Expeditions & Workshops, LLC, leads birding trips year-round, is a New York State licensed guide, an Adirondack 46er, and has climbed all the Adirondack fire tower peaks. She is a past President of the New York State Ornithological Association and current Editor of New York Birders. She is a past Board of Directors member of the Audubon Council of New York State, and past President of Northern New York Audubon Society. Joan has published several journal, magazine, and newspaper articles on wildlife and conservation topics in various publications including Audubon, New York Birders, Conservationist, Adirondack Life Magazine, LOCALadk Magazine, and The Kingbird. She authored several warbler species accounts, in addition to serving as a peer reviewer for The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State. Joan is a frequent keynote speaker and teaches classes on ornithology topics.

Follow Joan on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/AdirondackAvian

 

Written by Joan Collins

Canoe Camping on the Essex Chain Lakes

Heading into the newly opened Essex Chain Lakes Tract on a Sunday night with a mid-September forecast for 30 degrees should be a guarantee of solitude. It almost was. With only one other camping...

15th Annual Adirondack Birding Festival!

06May2019
Topics:
The Adirondack Birding Festival is celebrating its 15th anniversary! New this year is a bonus day. The festival has been extended to four days, from its usual three, to accommodate popular demand for...

Winter Birding in the Central Adirondacks

As many of our region’s nesting bird species head south for the winter, some species that breed to our north also head south…into the Adirondacks! Each year, it is exciting to discover which species...

Spring Birding...with Crossbills too!

With a one-in-twenty year bumper food crop this past winter, Red and White-winged Crossbills irrupted into the Adirondacks, with the largest concentration occurring in Long Lake. Birders traveled...

Birding & Paddling Fishing Brook

  A lovely new area has been opened to the public for paddling and fishing in the Town of Long Lake. County Line Flow and Fishing Brook can both be paddled, and fishing is allowed from the shoreline...

Birders Flock to the Central Adirondacks!

 Winter Birds in the Central Adirondacks The winter birds of Long Lake, Newcomb, and Minerva have been a magnet for visiting birders this season. In addition to our year-round boreal species,...

Birding in March: A Transitional Time

In the Adirondacks, March and October are transitional months, with October representing life falling into a slumber, and March a reawakening. The stillness of winter settles in during January and...

Exciting Winter Birding along Sabattis Circle Road

Looking for a quiet back road with great boreal habitat for birding? Sabattis Circle Road in the Town of Long Lake fits the bill – no pun intended! This six-mile long, half-circle road leads through...

Climbing & Birding West Mountain

With our landscape still snow-free during this past December, my husband George and I decided to climb West Mountain in Raquette Lake. For boreal birding purposes, we opted for a longer route to the...

Lovely Views from the Summit of Mud Pond Mountain!

The short trail up Mud Pond Mountain in Long Lake rewards climbers with spectacular views! It is less than a half-mile in length, but quite steep with an elevation gain of 600 feet. The trail  is in...

Why Birding and How Do I Start?

Being "bitten by the birding bug" can be a positive, life-changing experience. Birding can become such an all-consuming activity that it is often hard to recall what life was like in the pre-birding...

Paddling Mud Pond in the Cedarlands Conservation Easement

Mud Pond A peaceful paddling and birding destination  Mud Pond, with a boreal bog mat bordering much of its western shoreline, is a scenic place to paddle. I count it as one of my favorite canoeing...

A Beautiful Weekend for the 11th Annual Adirondack Birding Festival!

The three-day annual Adirondack Birding Festival was held for the 11th year in a row with perfect weather! Sixty-seven people traveled to Hamilton County to attend field trips, dine on the W.W....

It's Mud Season, and the Birding is Great!

Mud Season In 1922, T.S. Eliot famously began his poem, The Waste Land, by stating, "April is the cruelest month." It may seem that way to some in the Adirondacks since it is also the start of "mud...

Spring Skiing in the Round Lake Wilderness Area

 Since "winter" seems to be continuing right into spring this year, I had another wonderful cross-country ski trip with terrific snow conditions! I skied on Round Pond Road in the Round Lake...

Ski Inlet to Raquette Lake

A Bitter Cold Day! On the morning of my recent March cross-country ski trip, the temperature was 24 below zero! I gave the day a few hours to warm up, and skied at noon with a more respectable 16...

A Fun Afternoon on the Three-Brook Loop Ski Trail

Over a decade ago, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation cut a cross-country ski loop trail off the Northville-Placid Trail in Long Lake. The trip totals 5.2 miles by taking the...

One Bird to Look For This Winter

08Jan2015
For an Arctic Bird, the Adirondacks are "South"! In the Adirondacks, most of our breeding birds migrate away for the winter. Many arctic species also head south, and fortunately for us, it brings...

The Taming of the Shrewd Gray Jay

Camp Robber, Whiskey Jack, and Gray Jay are but a few of the endearing nicknames used to describe a Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis). A member of the corvid family, which in our area also includes...

Chain Lakes Road South Opens to Public

Many new recreational opportunities are now available to the public with the newly opened Chain Lakes Road South access in Indian Lake. This region spans parts of the Blue Mountain Wild Forest, Pine...

The Lure of Lovely Lake Lila

Warming Octobers Thursday, October 2, and it still felt like summer with temperatures in the 70s. I raced from a long day at work and threw my camping supplies together at record speed. Friday held...

Hike into Spectacular OK Slip Falls

New Trail To the Falls Humans are inextricably drawn to water in all its forms. We are particularly captivated by falling water. The sights and sounds of waterfalls are mesmerizing. One of the...

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