Black-backed Woodpecker in Jefferson

[David Govatski]

I did a five-mile hike at the Pondicherry NWR on a gorgeous Sunday to check trails. I watched a Black-backed Woodpecker on the Mooseway Trail for a few minutes. The black-backed was in a swamp section of this winter trail. I did not have a big list for the day. The other birds included two pileated woodpeckers, one hairy woodpecker, two ravens, one crow, three chickadees, and a flyover of four evening grosbeaks.

The Mooseway is a popular winter route for skiers, snowshoers, and hikers. The Mud Pond trailhead on N.H. 116 in Jefferson is plowed. The Mooseway is also a popular route for moose that like to use the winter trail for travel. The trail was heavily pockmarked with hoof prints. All twelve miles of trails at Pondicherry are in great shape and I suggest you wear microspikes because of icy conditions.

On Saturday we did the N.H. Audubon Backyard Winter Bird Survey. The highlights were 76 Evening Grosbeaks and 4 Pine Grosbeaks. The grosbeaks love using the heated bird bath for drinking water. The numbers of evening grosbeaks is lower than the previous bitter cold weekend and that is likely due to the need for birds to eat more. Our low temperature that weekend was -26 with a wind chill of -58. On the positive side of the low temperatures was knowing that these temps will kill off many of the hemlock wooly adelgids killing our hemlock trees. We could use a few more -24 or lower nights to help with this.

Idea for your consideration: Do you save your bird seed bags like those from 40 pound bags of sunflower seed? You should because they make the best litter bags because they are rugged. So reuse those bags and fill them up with litter from the roadside this Spring.

David Govatski
Jefferson, NH