NH.Birds for Saturday, July 4, 2009

Messages are displayed in the order they were received.  Subject  From  Time   Cap's Ridge Trail - 6/30/09   Steve Mirick    4:17pm   Whale watch to Jeffreys Ledge   Len Medlock   7:09pm   Afternoon Whalewatch (3 species of Jaeger, 3 species of Shearwater)   Lauren Kras    9:18pm   Blue-winged warbler families   Kurk Dorsey    9:18pm

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Subject: Cap's Ridge Trail - 6/30/09
From: Steve Mirick <smirick(AT)comcast.net>
Date: 4 Jul 2009 4:17pm

Jane and I were on vacation  last week and started with a day hike up 
the Cap's Ridge Trail last Tuesday and finished with 3 days up in 
Pittsburg.  I'm sending out at least a couple of e-mails to summarize.

Steve & Jane Mirick
Bradford, MA

Observation date: - 6/30/09
Notes: - Hike 1 mile up Cap's Ridge Trail to rock lookout and then about 
1 mile down the Link Trail searching for Bicknell's Thrush.  Excellent 
weather with relatively calm winds and overcast and clearing skies. But 
late start (9:45 AM) likely hurt our totals.
Number of species: - 16.  Bird totals from one way count only.

BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER - 1 - Heard and seen briefly at rock overlook.  
Possibly two.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 6 - Fairly quiet.
Gray Jay - 0!  Disappointed to not get any birds at the rock overlook.
BOREAL CHICKADEE - 2 - The highlight of the hike.  Nest observed right 
along the trail in live spruce (?) tree which had been hit by lightning 
at about 3,640' elevation.  The hole was about 4 feet high and the two 
adults were actively bringing food into young birds which were loudly 
begging.  One adult (female?) seemed oblivious to us, while the other 
was more cautious.  Numerous fecal sacks removed suggests a good 
clutch!  Watched for about 1/2 hour.  Here's a fecal sack shot!

http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/borealchickadee1.jpg

Red-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Winter Wren - 12 - Singing continuously along the hike.
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
BICKNELL'S THRUSH - 1 - Remarkably only a single Bicknell's heard 
calling only all the way down the Link Trail.  I suspect the late start 
in the day hurt our effort for hearing more vocalizations.
Swainson's Thrush - 17 - Swainson's Thrushes seemed to be relatively 
vocal, however on our way down in mid-afternoon, even the Swainson's 
were very quiet.
American Robin - 1
Nashville Warbler - 2
Magnolia Warbler - 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 12
Black-throated Green Warbler - 3
Blackpoll Warbler - 10
White-throated Sparrow - 3
Dark-eyed Junco - 7

Steve & Jane  Mirick
Bradford, MA


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Subject: Whale watch to Jeffreys Ledge
From: "Len Medlock" <lmedlock(AT)myfairpoint.net>
Date: 4 Jul 2009 7:09pm

Location:     Granite State Whale Watch to Jeffreys Ledge
Observation date:     7/4/09

Jason and I took the 8:30 am whale watch with Granite State, where we were
joined by Denny Abbott and Paul Lehman. Captain Pete Reynolds and crew did a
fantastic job of locating whales (and birds!) all in NH waters!!! (we 
actually got to view the chart in the steering room). We had good
fortune at sighting all three jaegers and some other great critters.

Northern Fulmar     6 (http://www.pbase.com/lmedlock/image/114605764)
Cory's Shearwater     1 (http://www.pbase.com/lmedlock/image/114605786)
Greater Shearwater     80
Sooty Shearwater     225+
Manx Shearwater     2
Wilson's Storm-Petrel     300+
Northern Gannet     100 (great showing of subadults and adults)
Pomarine Jaeger     1 (Paul spotted this bird close to the Isle of Shoals. 
Jason's photo: http://www.pbase.com/tucky13/image/114604987)
Parasitic Jaeger     1 (Jason's photo: 
http://www.pbase.com/tucky13/image/114604995)
Long-tailed Jaeger     1 (Jason's photo: 
http://www.pbase.com/tucky13/image/114605000)

Mammals:
Fin Whale 2
Humpback Whale 1 (whale named "Solas" gave great views of bubble feeding, 
http://www.pbase.com/lmedlock/image/114605807)
Harbor Seal
Minke-some

Post-script: Jason visited Exeter Wastewater Treatment Plant after the whale 
watch and discovered that the American Wigeon is still visiting, pond 2. 
We'll post other photos at our sites if you're interested.

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)

Happy Fourth!
Len Medlock and Jason Lambert


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Subject: Afternoon Whalewatch (3 species of Jaeger, 3 species of
         Shearwater)
From: Lauren Kras <lauren.kras(AT)gmail.com>
Date: 4 Jul 2009 9:18pm

This afternoon Ben Griffith and I went on a whale watch out of Rye
Harbor with Granite State.  As always the staff were super friendly
and super helpful.  They even altered the route a bit on the way back
to take us on a second run past the Isles so Ben and I were able to
pick up Long-tailed Jaeger (which allowed us to save face and prevent
any mocking from Len, Jason, et al.).  We had spectacular luck picking
up 3 species of Jaeger (1 Long-tailed, 1 Parasitic, and 2 Pomarine)
all within 2-3 miles of the Isles of Shoals.  We spent all of our time
in New Hampshire and "no-man's land" and never went further than 13-14
miles off-shore never even making it to Jeffery's Ledge!  GPS
coordinates for all birds and flocks were recorded.

The first Pomarine Jaeger about 1 mile SE of the Isles chasing a small
flock of common terns.  The second Pomarine was about 1 mile ESE of
this bird.  It was an adult or near adult with a broad breast-band and
complete dark cap in a huge tern flock.  The Parasitic Jaeger was
about 2.5 miles south of the Isles a way east.  .  The Long-tailed
Jaeger was about 2 miles south of the Isles about a 1000 feet out.
This bird had a slate-gray back, dusky flanks and under-tail coverts,
a dark bold black cap, and an extremely long tail with streamers.

The largest numbers of shearwaters seen were seen in no-man's land
near a humpback whale bubble-feeding.

Numbers and other birds (NH/No-man's land):

Sooty Shearwater (30/60+)
Greater Shearwater (50/250+)
Cory's Shearwater (0/1)
Wilson's Storm-petrel (150/60)
Northern Gannet (1000+/200)
Laughing Gull (5/1)
Common Tern (2000+/60) including first summer "portlandica"
Roseate Tern (12+/0)
Arctic Tern (1/0) - adult with large tern flock
Parasitic Jaeger (1/0) - first or second summer
POMARINE JAEGER (2/0) - 1 adult/near adult, 1 first summer
LONG-TAILED JAEGER (1/0) - 1 adult with full tail streamers
Jaeger sp. (1/0) - small - either Parasitic or Long-tailed

Other birds of note during the day:
Black Guillemot - 1 off Pulpit Rocks pre-whale watch
Wild Turkey - 1 in Pease park and ride parking area

--
Lauren A. Kras
Dover, NH


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Subject: Blue-winged warbler families
From: Kurk Dorsey <kd(AT)cisunix.unh.edu>
Date: 4 Jul 2009 9:18pm

Birders
i poked around Durham some today, trying to see only birds with "American" 
in them--no Canada Warblers or Mexican Jays, and I even turned my head 
from the European Starling.  Well, that didn't work out too well.

On the neighborhood walk, the highlight was a family of Blue-winged 
Warblers.  Others in the area included
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-throated Vireo
Carolina Wren
American Redstart

Later I walked around the backside of the UNH horse barns and the Gables 
dorms, a place I haven't been despite teaching at UNH for 15 years. 
Nothing shocking, but the swallow show over the field, with one Cliff, was 
pretty nice, and the Savannah Sparrow that I flushed from the field was 
presumably on or close to a nest. Broadwinged Hawk and Pileated Woodpecker 
were nice, as was a Chestnut-sided Warbler eying me along the RR tracks.

Then I stopped briefly at the Packers Falls marsh hoping for rallidae (or 
bitternidae, why not be optimistic?).  I settled for Marsh Wrens, Swamp 
Sparrows, waxwings hawking insects.  On the road back out, I was pleased 
to find another Blue-wing family feeding fledglings.

Kurk Dorsey
Durham