BirdingWeek: Sterling Forest State Park and Doodletown

On Thursday, myself and two other area birders ventured down the Thruway to Rockland and Orange Counties, where we met up with a local resident to explore Sterling Forest State Park, and Doodletown.

At the end of Ironwood Rd. in Sterling Forest SP, the cul-de-sac intersects a power line cut that allows access to the Sterling Valley Loop trail. It is at this location that a distinct population of Golden-winged Warblers exists, side-by-side with its Blue-winged relatives. It is also good habitat for Indigo Bunting and Prairie Warbler, and the nearby woodlands host both Hooded and Cerulean Warblers.

We were able to hear two Golden-winged Warblers, but it is always desirable to see the singing bird to eliminate the possibility of a hybrid, or a bird that sings the "wrong" song. Here is some fascinating information on the subject.

We spent about an hour in the area, and came up with this species list.

Cul-de-sac at Ironwood Dr. power line cut (click to enlarge)

Trail access at Ironwood Dr. (click to enlarge)

Indigo Bunting, Ironwood Dr. (click to enlarge)

Doodletown is one of the premier spots in the Hudson Valley to observe transient and resident migrants; it is teeming with Hooded, Cerulean, and a few Worm-eating Warblers each spring, birds that are hard to come by just a bit farther north in the Capital District region. But what's with the funny name?

Doodletown (excerpted from Wikipedia):

Doodletown was first settled in 1762, at least partly by descendants of French Huguenots. The name is said to derive from the Dutch for "dead valley", or Dood Dal, with the "town" suffix added later by English-speaking settlers. Early residents worked as loggers and miners, and the remains of the mines are still visible today. There were also small farms and businesses.

The settlement was a crossroads for soldiers during the Revolutionary War during battles at Bear Mountain's Fort Montgomery when many hundreds of British soldiers marched through the tiny settlement prior to a bloody and significant battle with colonists.

In the 1890s, Thomas Edison bought a defunct iron mine in Doodletown to test his proposed technique for an improved method of refining ore. Nothing came of his project, although several iron mines had been successfully developed and abandoned in the neighborhood at a much earlier date.

Bear Mountain began to be developed as a park in the early 20th century.By the 1920s, the height of population for Doodletown, the settlement had a school, a church, several small businesses, two cemeteries and approximately 70 homes. At least several families had lived there for generations. Around this era, military and tourism-related enterprises on nearby Iona Island employed residents, as did the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

Other residences were maintained as second homes or were inhabited by retired people from the New York City area, and Doodletown's population thus reached its historic peak of hundreds of residents. Bear Mountain State Park began to expand around 1920, in part by purchasing property from the landowners in Doodletown. By the 1950s, most of the Doodletown residents had moved away, many to nearby Stony Point or into southern Orange County. Those who refused to sell lost their land through eminent domain by 1965, and most of the remaining structures were demolished or disassembled and moved out by the late 1960s. Debris was buried, the roads were closed, and the surrounding woods were allowed to grow over the properties. In the early 1970s, a dam was built on the Timp Brook, creating a sizable pond. The last remaining building, the stone school house, was kept as a shelter for hikers until vandalism caused the park commission to tear it down in 1980.

Doodletown map (click to enlarge)

Doodletown rises up the west side of Rt. 9W//202 across from the Hudson River. On the east side is the Iona Island Bird Sanctuary.

View from the bottom of the Doodletown trail (click to enlarge)

Iona Island (click to enlarge)

Hudson River estuary at Iona Island (click to enlarge)

Along the 1777 trail at Doodletown (click to enlarge)

We observed many Hooded and Cerulean Warblers, and even heard a White-eyed Vireo, which is uncommon to rare north of the New York City region. But the highlight for me was a migrant Olive-sided Flycatcher, singing his "quick, three beers" song from the top of a snag.