I conducted my sixth annual Walpole-Stoddard BBS Route on Saturday and tallied 77 species, which I believe is a tie for my highest count ever on this route. In all birds were up from past years with 725 individuals tallied across the usual 50 stops from start to finish. The expected top finishers were red-eyed vireo, chipping sparrow, American robin, ovenbird, cedar waxwing, and song sparrow, in that order. Highlights included 15 species of warblers including Nashville and Canada, 20 sapsuckers, 2 American kestrels, and a visual of a black-billed cuckoo at close range across from the Nelson Elementary School.
The day prior I conducted my third running of my unofficial 'Hancock-Henniker' BBS Route that follows the same protocol and found 78 species and 743 individuals. Highlights included 13 species of warblers including Canada and Northern waterthrush, 2 Eastern towhees, 2 barred owls, 1 green heron, 1 American kestrel, and surprises (for the location) 1st year male orchard oriole flying over Bennett Road in Henniker, as well as blue-gray gnatcatcher in Antrim.
Now for the field trip: to learn more about breeding birds and forest management, join myself and several other co-leaders for a joint pre-harvest tour and introduction to breeding bird surveys, this Friday, June 24, 8-11 am at the NH Audubon Kensan-Devan Wildlife Sanctuary in Marlborough. The listing follows here:
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Phil Brown
Hancock, NH