Fw: Hooded Warbler in Seabrook, NH AND Salisbury, MA
Paul Garrity
FYI: Forwarding this rare bird sighting from NH Birds posted by Steve Mirick. Posted also on Mainebirding.net at: http://www.mainebirding.net/news/item774
Paul Garrity
Mainebirding.net
www.mainebirding.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Mirick
To: New Hampshire Birds
Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2010 4:13 PM
Subject: Hooded Warbler in Seabrook, NH AND Salisbury, MA
Jane and I found a young female HOODED WARBLER this morning in a wooded area adjacent to the Seabrook wastewater treatment plant, which lies almost directly on the MA/NH state line. The bird was first seen very briefly along the access road (in NH), but then we managed to relocate it (after 20 minutes of searching) at the sunny, lee edge of the forested island in the salt marsh (in MA). It stayed in this area, right along the edge of the salt marsh, foraging low to the ground, often in the vicinity of a couple of blow-down cedar trees. There was a flock of Juncos, a few Chickadees, a Song Sparrow or two, and some Goldfinches here as well. For a bright lemon-yellow bird, it was surprisingly hard to find and we lost it for another 20 minute period before I finally got my camera and got a few photos. Can you see it in this photo?
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarbler112710-5.jpg
It was fairly active, flicking its tail, exposing the white outer tail feathers and calling. A rare bird at any date in NH, it is more unusual this late in the fall. There is a very late November 21st record from 2000 in Hanover, NH according to NH Bird Records, but I believe this is likely the latest record for the state.
The precise locations where we had it are marked in red on this aerial Bing photo, which (I think) reasonably approximates the state line boundaries. After the initial sighting in NH, it was clearly in Massachusetts the rest of the time:
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarblerLocations.jpg
I know Jason Lambert and Lillian Stokes got to see the bird, but I'm not
sure if others got it or not. Here are some photos:
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarbler112710-1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarbler112710-2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarbler112710-3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarbler112710-6.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~smirick//photos/HoodedWarbler112710-4.jpg
Steve & Jane Mirick
Bradford, MA