Month: June 2019

Already I don’t have that much to search for here in the southern tier of the state. Yesterday I had a wish list of four species to search for in Concord. I picked up my field assistant in Laconia and we headed straight for Bog Road in Concord. The first bird, that was not on the list but was welcome indeed, was Broad-winged Hawk (417). Farther down the trail I added Northern Waterthrush (418) and Canada Warbler (419). I’ll look for Ruffed Grouse later when they have chicks and are more conspicuous. Done with Bog Road, we continued down Broad Cove Road to Mast Yard with its powerline habitat. Singing away was the targeted Field Sparrow (420) and my day was done.

Here I am with the state’s largest White Oak, over 400 years old, in Laconia, New Hampshire. “No Poaching.” Of oak trees??

I only had one target bird for today so after it stopped raining I went up Belknap Mountain to search for it. I could probably find it on a hike in the White Mountains but last year I spent 7 hours on the Carter Path and I only recorded one. But it should be a sure thing here in my back yard and I needed to take a nice little hike. These little guys are plentiful in this wet weather:

I couldn’t find the bird I was looking for on Belknap so I went next door to Gunstock Mountain. Both mountains have fine spruce/fir habitat just right for Golden-crowned Kinglet. And sure enough, there was the first pair right in front of me (416).

One thing I like about New Hampshire is that as a small state, everything is at a more human scale, it’s easier to run into people you know. Already that’s happening. Yesterday I had to take my car to the shop in Concord. I dropped it off and walked up the sidewalk and a familiar figure approached me. At ten yards I recognized him as David Souter, retired United States Supreme Court Justice. I wonder how many retired judges from the Supreme Court there are in the world. Not many. That is a job you keep until death. They say that after Bush v. Gore he had had enough. “Oh, hello your honor, how are you?” “Fine, thank you, how are you?” He seemed a little taken aback that he was recognized. But I know him alright. I wanted to thank him for what he did for me some 35 years ago, but I kept walking. This is a story that has never been told to anyone until now, now that so much time has passed. I only appeared before Judge Souter once. At that time he was sitting on the New Hampshire Supreme Court. I had missed the deadline to take the bar exam which would put me back 6 months until the next one. The following is a story of the power of connections, not corruption. My then-wife was secretary to Attorney Tom Rath, who was close to Justice Souter from their days in the NH Attorney General’s Office. I was instructed to file a motion with the Supreme Court, this at a time when I had never filed anything with any court. The matter was not assigned to just any justice of that esteemed body, but instead went directly to Justice Souter. In due time I was admitted to his chambers, a place of sobriety and solemnity if ever there was one. He asked some questions, I had no excuses, no blame was leveled, my motion was granted, I took and passed the bar exam, and practiced law for over 30 years. Although retired now for over two years, I still possess my membership in the New Hampshire Bar, having gone through so much to get in. As I passed Justice Souter on the sidewalk, I thought about how both of us are retired now, how 35 years have passed, and how all of the above is now completely moot.

This is why I spend summers in the Lakes Region – look at all that beautiful clean fresh water!

Still not wanting to go far, today I ran my old WOW Trail bird survey. The WOW Trail (Winnipesaukee – Opechee – Winnisquam – the three lakes of Laconia) is a paved biking/walking trail through the heart of Laconia. No map has this marked as a birding destination. There couldn’t be much to see in a city. You need good habitat to see anything interesting. I certainly had no expectation of adding anything new to my Big Year list. Wrong. Exactly because expectations are low is why the fun of urban birding is enhanced. I need to see what’s there – and what isn’t.

Today I added six new species to the WOW Trail survey AND a new one for the Big Year. Along the Laconia River Walk I heard a distinctive “song”: “fitz bew!”, putting Willow Flycatcher (415) on the list. While the habitat is good for this species, this is the first record for the survey. Unless a Nutting’s or Tufted shows up later this year, I’m down to one last flycatcher in all of North America – Yellow-bellied – and I’ll get that on a trip up north very soon.

Here is the complete list from today’s survey:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S57078459

Still not wanting, or even needing, to go far, today I went to Gilmanton to round up a few easy local ones. The Cogswell Mountain Conservation Area is behind the town library with many acres of woods and wetlands. I drew up a list of 7 species and got 5. Least (409) and Alder Flycatchers (411) were both present, giving me 32 flycatchers to date with just two more to go, namely, Willow and Yellow-bellied. Swamp Sparrow (410) boosts my sparrow total, if you will allow me to count towhees and juncos, to 32, with several more to come. Blackburnian Warbler (413) is the 36th of its tribe, with about 4 more to go. New Hampshire’s state bird, Purple Finch (414) was the 5th and final new bird of the day. We met a couple on one of our bird walks this past spring at San Pedro House who spent five years searching for and finding every state bird in its respective state. Is there any end to the nutty projects birders come up with?

Funny, when I was here on almost the same date last year, the weather was identical – overcast, 50’s, threatening rain. Summer is slow to arrive here. I didn’t feel like traveling far today and besides, there were a few new birds to be found here. I had a target list of four birds. I got three of those plus a bonus bird. Without trying, I added Winter Wren (405), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (406), and Red-breasted Nuthatch (407). Then I heard a familiar voice, one that gives that extra thrill when you don’t expect it. “Quick! Three Beers!” Olive-sided Flycatcher (408). It only sang 3 or 4 times; it was another case of being at the right place at just the right time. Good, that saves me a long trip somewhere else to look for this one. Over the course of this week I should add several more of the easy ones before I have to start digging deeper.

I rolled in to New Hampshire yesterday sometime after 4 pm. Along the way, I saw a Herring Gull (402) at a rest stop on I-95 in Connecticut and I heard a Black-capped Chickadee while driving up I-395, also in the Nutmeg State.

It’s great to be here. A long road trip deserves a reward, and what better reward than a little Skynyrd, especially knowing this is their farewell tour – last time, no more. Now I saw them last year at Great Woods down in Mansfield so I was a little surprised to see they were playing here this year. I wanted to see them one last time. Again. I have no doubt this is their farewell tour. What I think they might not be telling us is that this farewell tour runs for 16 years.

One bird I needed to get right off was American Woodcock since their activity drops considerably after June 1. I thought I would have a good shot at one in the fields at the corner of Route 11 and 11B or Old Lake Shore Drive in Gilford. Soon after 8:30 tonight I heard an American Woodcock (404) peenting in the soccer field. That gets that one out of the way and saves me the trouble of driving to more familiar territory to get one. Good, my first NH bird of the year and one I needed now. Tomorrow I’ll do some relaxing birding in the area before I start shooting for the other targets on my NH”Wanted” list.